XP-PENArtist12 11.6 Inch FHD Drawing Monitor Pen Display Graphic Monitor with PN06 Battery-Free Multi-Function Pen Holder and Glove 8192 Pressure Sensitivity

This item has only been a positive impact on my small but satisfying art career. I bought the XP-pen deco tablet before this and after using it for a while decided I could use an upgrade. Boy what an upgrade this was!First things first, the colors on the screen are better than most laptop screens. It was very noticeable to me, and I was actually quite surprised when my background picture looked so much better on the drawing screen than my laptop screen.The pen for this tablet was one of the whole reasons that I bought it. Unlike many other tablets out there, even the high end ones like Wacom tablets tend to have a stylus that is chunky to say the least. I would never see myself EVER writing with an actual pencil with that weird shape and thick profile, but this stylus is sleek and feels exactly like an everyday pencil. This means that I can draw with it for hours on end, and the first thing that stops me is getting tired mentally, not getting tired of holding a chunky pencil.Next is the quality of use. The driver is easy to find and install, and allows for almost endless customizability for the shortcut keys and even the scrolling strip. I may not yet be a very well seasoned digital artist, but for anyone who wants to strreamline their workflow, this tablet has enough options to satisfy someone in at least the intermediate stages of learning. The pen has a good number of pressure levels, and after adjusting the pressure curves (also easily done in the driver) it feels almost effortless to get the right thickness in your lines. The point where the pen draws a line is snappy and will only lag behind the pen tip when moving quickly across the screen, at which point you don't even notice.The resolution might not seem mind blowing at first, but considering that the drawing screen is smaller than most laptop screens, the pixels will be smaller than on most regular computer screens. Maybe you might notice if you have a very high end screen you use.The overall form factor of the tablet is small and easy to carry. I lug mine around in my backpack along with my laptop and notebooks and it doesn't feel too much heavier. It is nice that it comes with a pen case as well, as I doubt the pen would be quite as resilient without it.There is only one or two things that I wish this tablet did better, and they are more a fault of the product that I selected than the quality of the product itself.I wish the screen were just a bit bigger at times. It feels a bit unfortunate that the tablet is the size of a normal laptop, but the screen is noticeably smaller. Then again, this would come at the tradeoff of larger pixel size, so I can live with it.Lastly, the cables that you have to plug in to get the thing working feel like a hassle if you want to be able to draw between classes or in a spare 20 minutes. You have to spend the first 2 minutes plugging the thing in, and then you have to spend the last 4 unplugging everything and packing it all away. This is comparable to most other tablets in this range or slightly higher though, so I can't say that I would expect more. I do hope that with the widespread nature of lightning ports on computers these days, we'll start to see a few more tablets that have some lesser port needs than 2 usb and 1 HDMI cable to work.Overall, if anyone is looking for a drawing tablet that is on the cheaper end but wants to really up their digital art game, I think this is the perfect choice, as it did that very same thing for me.

**Edited To Add: Other reviewers have said that it's not possible to change the orientation of the tablet without changing the orientation of the main display while duplicating displays. This is WRONG. It's an easy (but not obvious) fix in Windows' display settings. In there, choose to "Extend these displays." Then, select the tablet from the numbered monitors at the top and choose the orientation you want below. After you've done that, change "Extend these displays" to "Duplicate." If you follow these steps correctly, your tablet's display orientation will have changed while your other display's orientation remains unchanged. (This may or may not work for keeping different resolutions also. I'm fortunate in that my monitor's resolution is the same as my tablet's so I have not tampered with it in that regard.)**Before this, I was using a big 15" tablet with no display. I tried for months to get used to watching my monitor while scribbling on a dead plastic paperweight but I never truly adjusted. I ended up drawing almost exclusively with traditional pen and paper, scanning my drawings, and then tracing with my editor's pen tool instead. So, when my brother offered to buy me a tablet with a display, I was excited and nervous. I wanted something both awesome and affordable. XP-PEN's Artist series was recommended in more than one place, so I bought the Artist12.It arrived in a pretty box, undamaged and on time. It included the tablet, a pen, a pen-holder, all the necessary cables, a screen wiping cloth, and a two-finger glove. I've seen other reviewers mention that the set-up process was a little tricky and I suppose I can see how it would be for some. But the instructions come with labeled pictures and the set-up wizard that triggers after you install the driver software gives you a step-by-step as well. I had it set up in minutes.Something I forgot to do any research on before my tablet purchase was its accessibility for lefties. Thankfully, I was not punished for my laziness in that regard! I was easily able to rotate the display in the tablet's software so that I could physically flip the tablet, putting the buttons on the right-hand side to prevent accidental button presses while drawing.After setting it all up, the first thing I noticed was how much better this pen feels in my hand. I know there are probably some who prefer round styluses, but I definitely prefer the hexagonal shape of the XP-PEN stylus. My old rounded one had a button on the pen itself as well but, since it was round, I was constantly pressing it on accident (the pen would rotate while I drew) so I had to shut it off. With this one, I can avoid pressing the button except when I mean to and that is awesome! It also has an eraser, something my old stylus did not. Another nifty thing is that the stylus comes with a nifty little canister for storing the pen and nibs when not in use. It has a good weight to it and a rubber bottom that prevents it from sliding around my desk or being easily knocked over.My test sketch went great. There was no significant parallax, it was calibrated perfectly, it was very responsive to pressure, and my lines were so much smoother than the ones I made on my old tablet. After sketching for a little while, I went in to the tablet's software and customized the tablet buttons as well as the button on the stylus. It was really easy and is going to save me a lot of time in the future. There is a touch-sensitive area you can use to scroll in/out (for zooming) with three buttons above and three buttons below. The two middle buttons each have little nubs on them so you can easily tell which one you're pressing even in the dark.The ONLY gripe I have about this tablet is that the power button is located beneath the plug-in, so it's not as easy to turn it off as it could be. That's such a small complaint that I'm not going to dock a star for it.All-in-all, I love this thing. I would recommend XP-PEN's Artist series to anyone who is in the market for an affordable drawing tablet with a display.