review – If you are a professional or amateur digital artist, you know what a drawing tablet is. You might even have one. And that tablet might be Wacom, since they’ve been the “big guy” in the tablet market for years. They actually invented the drawing board.
what you might be do not What you know is that, lately, Wacom has gotten some good (and sometimes very good) competition. Today, if you’re on a tight budget, you can also have your own digital cake and take advantage of it. Introducing the XP-Pen Deco LW tablet. Is it as good as Wacom? No, it’s not – but it’s close!
What is it?
The XP-Pen Deco LW tablet is a drawing tablet that can be placed on a table while the artist looks up at the monitor screen.decoration indeed no has a built-in monitor as more expensive tablet possible.Here’s the XP-Pen’s affordable answer Wacom Intuos A line of professional tablets with some notable differences. The tiny Deco has a slate design with a row of quick keys (more on that later in the review) and a wireless pen that doesn’t require charging.
The horizontal drawing area of the Deco LW is 10″ x 6″. It’s light, thin and easy to move around the table, but has rubber feet to prevent slipping. There is a row of eight shortcut keys on the side. The tablet can be turned so the keys are on the left or right, depending on whether you’re right or left handed.
One of the unusual features of the Deco LW is wireless Bluetooth 5.0. Also new is that the XP-Pen has rebuilt its wireless pen (stylus) from the ground up. The X3 Elite pen has a ridiculous 8192 levels of pressure at a high resolution of 5080 LPI (lines per inch).
The XP-Pen Deco LW Pen drawing tablet comes in four colors: green, pink, blue, and black (this review). It features rubber-coated trim for added drop protection.
Glasses
- Dimensions: 12.5″ x 7.3″ x 0.35″ (LxWxD)
- Screen drawing area: 10″ x 6″
- Color: black, green, pink, blue
- 8 shortcut keys
- X3 Stylus
- Resolution: 5080 LPI
- 5.0 Bluetooth
- 8192 Pressure Rating
- 10 hours battery life
- Compatibility: Windows 7 (or later), Mac OS X 10.10 (or later), Android 6.0 (or later), Chrome OS 88 (or later), Linux
in the box
- XP-Pen Deco LW Pen Drawing Tablet
- X3 Elite Stylus
- Pen tip extractor
- USB to USB-C Adapter
- USB to Micro USB Adapter
- USB cable
- 10 extra nibs
- quick guide
- Bluetooth receiver
Design and Features
The XP-Pen has been in the tablet market for several years. They started by making very cheap tablets, but over time the quality has improved. Their line of pens and graphics display tablets are consistently lower than Wacom’s prices. I reviewed some XP-Pen tablets: Artist 22 shows, decorated with interesting graphics, Artist Major 16and one of my favorites— Artist 24 Pro. Each tablet is an improvement over the previous version.
XP-Pen makes two Deco L models: Deco L (without Bluetooth) and Deco LW (with Bluetooth 5.0). The LW version in this review matches the regular Deco in every way—except for Bluetooth. I suspect the LW is a bit heavier due to the need for an internal battery, but it’s not at all heavy. It can be a portable accessory for any laptop you might want to use outdoors. XP-Pen does not state the weight of the Deco LW on its website.
Bluetooth requires a USB dongle. The dongle is USB A, but the XP-Pen offers USB-C and Micro USB adapters if needed. I have successfully used a USB A dongle that plugs directly into the iMac. When I use the USB-C adapter on my MacBook Pro, the screen flickers and jumps. It can’t be used. I never figured out what the problem was. YMMV. Battery life when using Bluetooth is 10 hours, so if you plan to use Wi-Fi every day, plan to recharge every night.
The XP-Pen says the Deco LW will be compatible with Android. All my digital devices are apples so I have to take their word for it.
Once wired, the XP-Pen Deco LW Pen drawing tablet receives power from the USB cable, eliminating the need for a power brick. The tablet can easily be set to rotate 90° for portrait use and 180° for lefties, putting the shortcut keys on the right instead of the left.
Speaking of shortcut keys, Deco LW has 8. Each can be set to any shortcut key you want, or can be app-specific—meaning each key can perform a different function depending on the app in use. It’s easy to set up and easy to use – but I don’t. As I said in a previous review, I’m old school and used to using my trusty keyboard for shortcuts. I guess old habits are hard to break.
LW is thin. The on/off switch is on the same side as the shortcut, next to the USB-C port.
The new X3 Stylus (pen) is lightweight (3 grams) and comfortable to use, but I prefer the slightly heavier weight of my everyday XP-Pen Artist Pro pen. That pen feels more fleshed out. Like most slate pens, it has two shortcut keys on its own. Like tablet shortcuts, I turn them off. Over 8,000 levels of pressure sensitivity—meaning you can smoothly change the thickness of lines as you draw.
The stylus is wireless and requires no batteries (isn’t that all?). It supports 60° tilt.
Drawing with the XP-Pen Deco LW Pen tablet feels like any other tablet. The drawing surface is slightly rough, giving the feel of a pencil on paper. The downloaded XP-Pen driver allows numerous settings for the keys. Additionally, the tablet can be mapped to fit the monitor you’re using.
Some artists have a hard time looking up at the monitor without looking at their hands when painting.it Do It may seem difficult at first, but you quickly get used to the job. It’s easy to equate the tablet’s proportions with the monitor you’re using. Its small 10×6 size allows you to browse the entire display easily and quickly with minimal arm movement. Using a pressure-sensitive pen can make drawing or photo manipulation a breeze. There are lots of extra drawing nibs when one wears out.
what do I like
- outperformed its price
- Great for new digital artists and even seasoned artists
what would i change
- The stylus feels too light
- Possible issues with MacBook Pro and its Bluetooth
final thoughts
If you’re new to digital art and you’re on a tight budget, the XP-Pen Deco LW Pen drawing tablet is almost as good as the Wacom Intuos. It works flawlessly (on my iMac) and provides a professional experience at a fraction of the cost of Intuos. The drivers aren’t great, and the tablet feels a little cheaper than the Intuos, but not by much. In other words, LW is outperforming its price. As good as they are, Wacom can’t say the same about their tablet.
The XP-Pen Deco LW Pen drawing tablet is only $20 more than the L. If you think you’ll always want wireless, you might as well spend an extra $20 on the LW.
price: $89.99
Where to buy: XP Pen and Amazon
source: Samples of this product are provided by XP Pen.
