Wacom Cintiq Displays

[Commy1]

Hey everyone, I'm a life long artist and I've been doing digital arts for awhile with my little old Graphire 4 (LOL) tablet... obviously by now I'm looking to upgrade. I've had my eye on the Cintiq series, those beautiful interactive drawing displays sooo above my price range in my younger years.
Soo now that I'm older I'm looking at the new 13" Wacom Cintiq (soo pretty) and want to know users opinions with Wacom's previous displays. I'll be heading back to college soon for Art and want to make sure I'm equip with the proper equipment.

~How durable are they? When you hold it does it feel like a thin piece of plastic or is it alright? Does the screen get really messed up after a lot of use?

~How true is the color? I've heard from others that the 12" display is terrible for color. True?

~How about the new pens? Do they fall apart in a light breeze or are they alright? A lot of warranty exchanges?

~Cables? What kind of connections does it need, I assume an HDMI/DVI/VGA and likely a USB?

Sorry for all the questions, I just want to know before I invest a minimum of 1000$ in something that I'll very likely be using every day for years to come.

 

[dmax35]

Check out the review Terry White did with a 24" Cintiq 24 HD http://terrywhite.com/?s=Wacom+Cintiq+Displays

 

[Acorn]

I have used a few cintiqs. The 12wx was built really well. it was light, had a massive 6 foot cord. I could place a laptop on the desk and close it. Then the cord would reach over to my bed and I could curl up with the cintiq and draw.

People didnt like that it had a convertor box attached to the cable, however the cable was so long if you were not transporting it then the convertor box wasnt a problem.

When i first got the 12wx I had no clue how to use a cintiq. so i was trying to draw with all my tools on the same drawing screen. this made it cramped. I didnt realize it until later but you can place all your palettes on a second monitor and use one of the buttons to switch which was the active monitor. so you can quickly switch grab a color then switch back. adobe can also save your workspace positions.

Some people had trouble with the edges of the 12wx. it would make drawing straight lines near the edge difficult. this never effected me. however my biggest complaint was the brightness. it was under 200 nits. this really annoyed me. thankfully the 13hd is way brighter.

I dont care for the 22hd. they used way to much anti glare coating. I like my second generation 21ux. its anti glare is much better and built well.

The 13hd looks very promising. better resolution, better brightness, better pressure sensitivity. I wouldnt mind giving this smaller size a second shot. the 21 and 22 models are massive. it would be nice to have something simple and light again.

 

[turtlez]

Check out this Feng Zhu Cintiq review - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOm9lkHS7Hw

I own the 21UX 2nd gen. I like it for digital sculpting and drawing but colouring I stick with my intuos. I find drawing is still a wide gap from paper because the gap between the glass and the screen plus I cannot hold the stylus the way I would hold a pencil for sketching. Using menus is a bit annoying because the hand covers the menu you open so you have to have an awkward position while opening up sub menus to select an option.

My only advice is to try before buy because it seems a lot of people love it and a lot of people don't. Very personal preference stuff.

That new 13" version looks comfortable to use in a portable situation.

 

[Commy1]

Very helpful guys thank you all. I'm looking into the 13" version, unless I find a pot of gold somewhere... then I'd probably upgrade..

 

[Acorn]

Very helpful guys thank you all. I'm looking into the 13" version, unless I find a pot of gold somewhere... then I'd probably upgrade..

if you dont mind having 1024 levels of pressure instead of 2048 then the first generation 21ux can be had on ebay from 750-1100. basically you could get the 21 inch the same cost as the 13 inch HD. it just wouldnt have that new smell. you would double your working area though for the most part.