Wacom adds a baby Cintiq, the 12WX tablet / display
By Nilay Patel 
posted Oct 22nd 2007 4:43PM
posted Oct 22nd 2007 4:43PM
[Thanks, Mark]
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First !!!
No.
why not make your own?
http://www.bongofish.co.uk/wacom/wacom_pt1.html
why not make your own?
http://www.bongofish.co.uk/wacom/wacom_pt1.html
Pronounced WHACK-UM. (giggles)
Ouch. If this were more like $800, I would get one pronto! But over $1600...I'll stick to my Intuos3 and 24" display...
Wacom seems to charge a bit more in Britan than here in the states. So, when it releases I expect it will probably be more like $1200 or $1000. Totally worth it though. I just wish I could afford it! I'll stick to my Intuos for now. ;P
I'd get one in an instant if it was only a $200-$300 increase over the tablet.
Even 19" widescreen LCDs are what, a $80 cost?
yeah, they got all the important stuff in that shot... computer and... well, we're not looking at her hands
What the hell are you talking about?... Oh I see now... How could I have missed that? My senses are dulling...
Part of the beauty of a Wacom tablet is that the drawing surface is disconnected from the drawing itself. Putting the drawing behind your hand and stylus just takes things back a notch.
How?
How is that the beauty of a tablet mouse? I thought the beauty of a tablet mouse was that you can use a mouse in a more natural fashion, not because the tablet disconnected you from your artwork? We were already disconnected from our artwork by using a mouse in the first place. I would think that you would want to be more connected, not more disconnected. You're entitled to your point of view, but really, it doesn't make much sense.
Have you use either? or both? Then you'd understand.
I use both... and I use a Cintiq 21ux for work, so I'm on it every day. As far as being "disconnected" with one's art, I can think of no better way to "disconnect" from your artwork by NOT LOOK WHERE YOUR STYLUS is pointed. I mean, come on, when you were first starting to drawing pictures, were you looking at a wall while you drew on the ground?
Please.
I can see where James is coming from. I was talking to a professional comics colorist this summer and she said that after working on her Intuos for so many years, she got annoyed with the Cintiq because her hand kept getting in the way of the image.
Yeah... I was hoping it'd be much cheaper too. I'll just go for a tablet PC with touch sensitivity for the short term. :P
I'm glad they're expanding the product line, but seriously, you can get a convertible tabletPC with that size and resolution with a Wacom digitizer for about the same price. True, you'll only get 1/2 the levels of pressure sensitivity, and no fancy Wacom programmable keys or Intuos3 style stylus, but I'd prefer usefulness and portability of a whole computer over this.
At only 256 levels of pressure sensitivity my 1.5GHz Gateway m275 is still quite useful for 2D animation and sketching and I'm still using it for production work (and can't see it going obsolete for what I'm using it for anytime soon).
doesn't the heat become an issue with a tablet pc? I would rather have a workhorse sitting on a desk and getting cool air while I am able to sit back and work directly on the screen. Yes, it is a luxury. No, it's not necessary, but it would make life as a digital artist a lot nicer, easier, and I would presume more productive. How long it would take to see the ROI, who's to say?
If it's sitting directly on my lap for a long period of time, yes my convertible tablet gets uncomfortably warm to my lap, but the screen stays cool. I usually use it on propped up on a desktop with an aviator notebook stand, so it's more like a mini drawing table than a slate. I don't find having the thing in my lap while I'm sketching to be very comfortable anyway.
Sure, I'd love to have one of these things (I use a Cintiq 21ux at work), but I wouldn't be able to justify the cost. Might as well spend the extra $800 to get the 21ux at that point.
I actually was looking at her hands...
I was excited until I heard the price--for that price, it should have a brain too (i.e. no need for a computer!)
This is going to be ZBrush-tastic!
(And slightly easier on the pocket than the larger ones)
Why not just get a tablet pc? My Fujitsu T2010 was $1400, it comes with the same screen, with LED backlighting, and a Vista PC built into a 3.5lb package.
Then there's also the issue of the edge of the screen; which I have yet to see be completely flush with the casing on a tablet pc, as the Cintiq is.
How about some genius modding an iPhone to allow a person to draw on it?
Store the sketches on the iPhone.
Then one could carry a pocket-sized digital sketchbook around.
iPhoneSketchbook would be the name.
Yes, it definitely requires an iPhone. I mean, just because my 5 year old Sony p800 had exactly what you described on it - a paint program that worked with the stylus- it'd have to be the iPhone.
Anyway, the iPhone uses electrical resistance and requires flesh to draw on it. Does it recognize direction (tilt, etc) and pressure like these tablets, or even a tablet PC? I don't think so.
I doubt the touch screen on the iPhone is any where near acurate enought to make a good sketch pad. Maybe for simple stuff but nothing like a wacom.
You could get an OQO which should fit in some larger pockets. It does have a wacom tablet-pc screen and should make for a pretty small but expensive digital sketch pad. I think it starts at $1300ish and you can get sprint or verison wireless boradband with it as well. It's a full blown PC so it should be able to do everything the iPhone can except dual touch and tase like an apple. The OQO 2 does have a pretty nice design even if it's not an apple.
who needs some 5 year old sony thing? i one something just like that right now, and it's even made by apple. admittedly it's out of date; but i still use my Newton somewhat, for precisely that purpose.
Seriously, I would go for Tablet Kiosks Dual Touch jobby first. I work in a field that requires Wacom tablets and I was hoping for a smaller lap friendly cintiq, but Christ... thats spensive mang
Err... or I could just buy a Tablet PC... they come with Wacom digitisers built in behind the display... and they're not much more expensive...(some are actually cheaper - like the Gateway tablets).
Don't get me wrong, I heart the Tablet PC. But if someone has spent hundreds or thousands of $$$ on software that they run on a Mac they need a peripheral, not a new Windows box.
This fills that very large niche nicely I think.
Has anyone mentioned Tablet PC's yet?
[X] Gratuitous boob shot
[X] iPhone Mentioned
[X] Repeated 'why not get a'
[X] f1r5t p05t
[X] double post
[X] college humour
My Engadget bingo card is filling fast.
yeah, but does it play doom?
That's awesome, I waited as long as I could for them to update with something other than the 21ux (2 years) and finally bought one about 5 months ago... The truth is, while it's really great, I think I'd rather have this new smaller size - the majority of my drawing occurs in an area about that large anyway. I might look into it and shuffle this monster on to someone else.
Damn...I been doing this on my HP TC1100 for over 2 years now. No need clumsy laptop connected to a monitor via cables. Mine is much more portable.
Wow I'm pretty sure I can get an X61 tablet PC for a little more than that (when those deals come around). Don't they use Wacom pressure technology on that? Think that'd be more worth it than paying so much for this...
True, but they only have 256 levels of pressure sensitivity, no tilt sensitivity, and no touch strips and express keys.
Anyway, for a graphics pro looking for a portable tablet with the benefits of a cintiq then this does the job. It is quite expensive but there is nothing else quite like it.
If you just want to take a few notes and scribble some quick diagrams then a tablet pc definetly makes more sense.
For CG artist the Cintiq or a standard Wacom tablet is much better than a tablet PC for most day to day use. The Cintiq and other Wacom tablets are more acurate and have things like tilt and a bunch of other features Tablet PCs don't. I have both a Tablet PC and a Wacom Intuos tablet. The Tablet PC is really nice but lacks the finer control I get from my Intuos. The tablet PC is great for on the go or walking around the house but I would rather have a Cintiq when I am working at my desk.
Still wacom really needs to figure out a way to get the price under that of a low end tablet PC. I would buy one right now if they could hit say $600. I bought my 24" Dell LCD for $600 direct from Dell and I can't belive there is that much more in a 12" Cintiq than a 24" LCD or a tablet PC. On the other hand Wacom does make great products and I've never had a problem with any Wacom I've used in the last 13ish years I've been using them. So maybe it's worth $1000-$1600 for a CG artist -:\
I use wacom at work and pc tablet at coffee shop. A bunch of my friends work on a cintiq and also use tablet PC, and we all can't feel the difference (resolution) between the tablet. Go cintiq at work but for portable, nothing beats a tablet PC. Actually, one the tablet my friend use does have tilt function.
That display toggle would come in real handy for this... imagine using your laptop screen for all menus, and pure artwork on the 21wx. Not looking forward to an extra outlet-hogging plug though :(
why does WACOM charge so much for its products?
we are only artists not gold diggers, nor gangsters or landlords.
what is the justification for such a high price.
come on, just once give out a product with honest price please.
600$ is fair money for this piece nothing more. ok maybe i will pay
700$ or 800$. but above 1600 is OMG!!!!
regards
dan
Price is wrong... it's actually 999.
New cintiq 12XW looks great being smaller, lighter, and maybe better, yet the specs for the screen is somewhat off putting, the brightness is only 180 cd/m2, a step down from its larger sibling with 250 cd/m2. Would this lead to discomforting eye strain during long periods of use? Considering such a low brightness, who would want using it as a second monitor? Rapidly improving specs for large displays from Samsung, Dell and Apple leave the cintiq screen behind even now, just imagine what price/quality for a monitor will be in few years. This will inevitably affect the current very steep price of cintiq models.
Well, it was announced (today? Yesterday?) here in the U.S. at $1K, so that's the price (and will be since there are no discounts available on the higher end Wacom products).
Why so expensive? Because that's the target -- at that price they will sell all they can make (and then some -- expect the wait on this product to be at least a month or two until early next year). Folks using this for profit can write it off, just like the larger Cintiqs, so cost ain't much of a factor there (which is why huge LCD displays, with corresponding prices, continue to sell well to that market).
For the hobbyist (me) it's a PITA it's so expensive, but even I'm tempted. Reading all the tablet PC comments gives me pause, because for years that was what I was going to do, but over the last ten years my experiences with laptops convinces me it's not really the way to go -- they get obsolete FAST and battery life is *always* an issue, not to mention heat (I can't stand my present laptop IN my laptop for more than 20 minutes). Ideally we'd be looking at some kind of wireless connectivity with our base computers, but that's probably still another five years away (and it will come to all of us then).
I have to admit even at the price and even though it would be just for fun I'm mightily tempted -- but it means I'd have to get a dual display card for my other base machine (because I certainly do not want to tie up my primary dual monitor system) -- either that or use the Cintiq for my monitor needs as well (does anyone else here feel that's a weird situation?). Sigh -- I guess I'm still about five years away from reaching the real solution to all this (hope I'm still alive then).
You guys in US shall be happy with its price,
UK customers have to pay £865 - $1670 for that thing, I am total sick of the situation here.