Best Graphics Tablet: Buying Guide

Are you a drawing enthusiast and would you like to try your hand at digital art? Are you taking your first steps in the world of technical drawing and you need a tool to draw precisely on the computer? Then there is no question, you need a nice graphics tablet.

Graphic tablets are devices that allow you to draw directly on your PC using special nibs or airbrushes (which can virtually transform into brushes, pencils, and many other tools). Their appearance vaguely resembles that of a trackpad, but this is of little importance.

To understand how a graphic tablet works, you have to think of it as a virtual sheet, more or less large, which transfers everything that is drawn on its surface to the computer screen in real-time (through electromagnetism).

There are many different sizes and types, from the cheapest ones for users who do not have very advanced needs to the more professional and expensive ones.

Today I would like to introduce you to some that I find particularly interesting. But first, let me help you "decipher" their technical characteristics, otherwise, you won't be able to know which one is best suited to your needs!

How to choose a graphics tablet

As just mentioned, to identify the most suitable tablet for you you must learn to evaluate the technical characteristics of this type of device. So let's take five minutes of free time and see, together, what are the specifics to which we need to pay more attention.

Pressure Levels

The stroke of the drawing and the intensity of the coloring change according to the pressure exerted on the tablet. It is therefore important that the tablet can recognize as many pressure points as possible.

In fact, the greater the number of pressure points recognized, the greater the accuracy of the tablet in recognizing the pressure exerted by the user and greater fidelity in the reproduction on the screen of the strokes made on the tablet.

Mid-range graphics tablets can recognize 2,000 to 3,000 pressure points, but there are also more advanced tablets that can recognize over 8,000 different pressure points.

Response rate

The response rate is a value that indicates the frequency with which the tablet communicates the position of the user's pen or hand to the computer.

It is measured in PPS (points per second), in RPS (report per second), or in the case of graphics tablets with integrated display, in ms (milliseconds ).

The best graphics tablets are those that have 150 PPS / RPS upwards, as they can communicate more quickly with the computer and report the user's movements more precisely.

Graphics Tablet