Wacom rolls out the Cintiq 20WSX interactive pen display

If you're an artist or designer who needs a little more real estate, or if your project happens to be in the trendy widescreen format, Wacom has got a new interactive pen display that might put a smile on your face. Enter the Cintiq 20WSX, a follow-up to the company's wildly popular 21UX which provides a 16:10 aspect ratio at 1680 x 1050 resolution, giving you 20.1-inches of sweet, succulent workspace to throw down your ideas. Like other models in the Cintiq line, the 20WSX comes equipped with programmable ExpressKeys and finger-sensitive Touch Strips, so you can get speedy access to oft-used tools, like that hideous "emboss" effect you keep putting on everything. Regardless of your artistic choices, the tablet is available now for $1,999.

[Thanks, Topi]

[eugene @ Dec 4th 2007 9:24AM]

drool.

[Ryan Trevisol @ Dec 4th 2007 9:28AM]

That is teh sexiness.

[Matt Peckham @ Dec 4th 2007 9:29AM]

Drop the damn prices already!!!! This for $1000-1200 would sell 5 times as many units, and this would then be a bona fide hit, not just a luxury item for people with lots of expendable income.

At least it's getting close... they used to be $3000, right?

[Speddy @ Dec 4th 2007 9:38AM]

You're the type that cries "Mercedes are too expensive for us!" Whaaa. You get what you pay for. Integrating an LCD display and pen tablet isn't exactly an inexpensive design-manufacturing process. And we do want companies to make some sort of profit so they can succeed and make more innovative items, yes?

[dv8reality @ Dec 4th 2007 9:55AM]

Also, you have to consider that most artists who use this plan on making that money back in no time after the production/quality increase when using this. It's similar to a studio photographer spending $20,000+ on a hasselblad.

[Marcos @ Dec 4th 2007 11:20AM]

It's not for you, it's for people that need this as a work tool and live from it. $2000 for one of tyour main work tools is not so much, is it?

[Temple @ Dec 4th 2007 11:44AM]

The problem is that the 20" Wacom tablets themselves are expensive to produce, also the sensitivity in these Cintiqs are much higher then the sensitivity in the Wacom boards in the tabletPC (256-512 levels). The Cintiq are designed primarily for professionals and have 1024 tip/eraser levels of sensitivity.

If you're professional software alone reaches in the thousands of dollars (Adobe Creative suite CS3 has a MSRP of $1,799 for single user license), $2,000 for a device that serves as your monitor and tablet and can dramatically improve your productivity is very fair.

[MangaMan @ Dec 4th 2007 1:20PM]

I bought the 21UX when it came out. The price has been $2500 since I bought it a year ago. But, it is worth the money, because it increased my (art and design) capacity by at least 500%.

It's worth every penny, and personally I'm glad not every artist can afford one because it truly puts me in a different league than my peers.

[Firebird @ Dec 5th 2007 12:02AM]

@MangaMan

Uh. Can you say Gear whore? More expensive tablets, cameras, synths, guitars, or any other gear for that matter does not make the artist. If you are a better artist because you have a Cinteq I have to say I consider you to be a spoiled amateur, and if it separates you from your peers in terms of results produce, I have to say they are also amateurs. I assure you that while a Cinteq makes life a bit easier, the same results can be achieved by a person with an Inutos, Graphire, or hell, even a mouse and enough dedication. In this case, you should be glad that not every hobbyist artist can afford one because then you wouldn't be special, but your expensive toy doesn't make you a professional.

[Andy Zazzera @ Jan 13th 2008 10:46AM]

I belong to a small community of people who build homemade versions of these, and I can honestly say that the construction methods are NOT that intense. Building the LCD alone is harder than getting it to work with a tablet. I built a 15" version for less than $200 (using an actual Wacom tablet), as have many others. Wacom's pricing scheme is justified by two main reasons:

1) They've got what amounts to a monopoly on the art tablet market. There are other brands, but they're no threat. Wacom can charge what they want— so they do.

2) They make quality equipment. It's not unheard of for their tablets to last decades. They simply don't make disposable products.

[Tim Brown @ Dec 4th 2007 10:03AM]

Xmas is coming and geese are getting fat, unfortunately for me my wallet is not *sigh* oh well, time to drop unsubtle hints to my SO for one the these beauties. Fat chance though ;)

[Bill @ Dec 4th 2007 10:04AM]

Nice! Wish I could justify springing for one of these.

That photo is from Banff National Park, Canada. Just visited there last summer, and I'll never forget that mountain (or should I say, massive slab of rock). One of a kind.

[Dale @ Dec 4th 2007 10:05AM]

Emboss? That is *so* Photoshop 7.0. It's all about the drop shadow and gradient fill, dahlink.

[Greg @ Dec 4th 2007 10:24AM]

Can it play Doom?
Actually, for that price, it should be able to play UT3 without the use of a computer.
Close to the price of a high end notebook? No thanks.

[Denver_80203 @ Dec 4th 2007 10:53AM]

I'm thinking about picking up the 12" Cintiq. An earlier article here put the price at 1600 bucks but, it's actually 999.

[boulderhorn @ Dec 4th 2007 10:59AM]

my brother is an audio engineer with skywalker sound and he picked up the older 21UX a while back. He uses it for audio mixing at home and at work and he's said that its the best thing that's happened to his business since mix tables went digital. These really arn't for the average consumer but the artists i know that have them can't live without them.

[Eric @ Dec 4th 2007 11:21AM]

Yeah... where's my 12" Cintiq! I see that it is now showing up on Wacom's European site, but not yet up for the Americas site :-(

[Denver_80203 @ Dec 4th 2007 11:40AM]

http://www.wacom.com/cintiq/12WX.cfm

$999

[Eric @ Dec 4th 2007 11:43AM]

woo hoo! Speak of the devil... sold!

[Kevin @ Dec 4th 2007 11:48AM]

Where can I go to actually see one and try it out?

[DE @ Dec 4th 2007 1:09PM]

Hmm. Considering Dell has a Multi-Touch tablet coming out already, it seems like overkill to release something like this, with a VERY narrow market. There's no call for something like this unless you're a professional artist, and they already HAVE two other tablets. I'm guessing that the Cintix (4:3) tablet didn't sell that well ($25,00? Come on.), and they're trying to make up for it.

But when you can get a good, speedy tablet for under $1,600, it's hard to imagine buying something like this unless I'm a Power user or a Mac guy.

I think unless Wacom gets on the Multi-Touch ball they're going to be left behind. At the vey least we need superior touch and pen input with a VERY large, easy to handle screen. I can see an iMac being converted using this tech.

Get on it, DIY-ers!

[Alan @ Dec 4th 2007 1:48PM]

You're just absolutely wrong. Multi-touch is a nicety that doesn't have any practical use on the software side of things as of yet. It works for the iPhone because an OS has been designed to utilise this technology. Windows XP and Windows Vista only have basic support for such a technology, nowhere near as of yet what would make it worthwhile.

People have been, currently are, and will be using pen based displays because right now, there is currently a real benefit to using one of these as opposed to a normal graphics tablet.

Pen and touch input have to work seperately - if you draw and rest your hand on the screen, then it would activate the screen at that pressure point. Also, pen-based displays are configured to sense up to 1024 levels of pressure - touch based displays sense only an 'on-off' type of situation.

Essentially, there are a lot of professionals who use the Cintiq 21UX. Every video editing and animation studio that I've ever seen has at least one.

The advantage of a Cintiq are its size, and its ability to move it to multiple different computers - with a tablet pc you are tethered to one computer, so when that computer gets too slow, you cannot take the pen display with you. Also, 14 inch tablet pcs are almost non-existant, and even more rare are tablet pcs with dedicated graphics. This is why studios would simply buy an ample desktop and a cintiq.

As far as I can see, the Dell Multitouch does little to change this. These new models will just make Cintiqs even more popular and accessible.

[Alex @ Dec 5th 2007 2:43PM]

"There's no call for something like this unless you're a professional artist"

Well, yeah man, who do you think these are made for? I work in the film VFX industry out in LA, I've seen a heap of these in various shops around town. Matte painters, compositors even 3D artists use them and they all swear by them. My girlfriend is a matte painter and compositor, she's done all her work on a 20" Cintiq for over two years now and she swears by it, the speed increase over using a mouse or even a regular Wacom is noticeable.

I love that you seem to actually be mad at Wacom for pricing this thing out of your reach, if you can't afford one you don't need one.

[DE @ Dec 5th 2007 3:06PM]

Just because most OSes aren't geared for multi-touch now doesn't mean they won't be someday. Anyone who understands and studies the way Humans wish to interact with technology would understand that. Just because our GUIs aren't that great right now, depending on an intermediary (the mouse), doesn't mean it'll be like that forever.

In several computer/library classes my girlfriend has taught, she has found that the Mouse is the SINGLE biggest hurdle for most people to overcome when stepping up to a computer for the first time. It's simply a fact that people are more inclined to use a smooth, useful touch interface, IF it's done properly, rather than a relatively cumbersome mouse. Just because we're used to it doesn't mean everyone is. When the touch interface and the OS come together properly, more and more people will go that way.

Why do you think there's such a rush to get more and more touch screen tech out there? Companies are realizing that it's far cheaper and easier to create a new key layout in software than to build a whole new device. Heck, on Star Trek: The Next Generation all of their computer panels for the LCARs OS were haptic, multi-touch, multi-layer touch screens. It's just easier than plastic keys.

I don't think you guys quite got what I meant, which is to say that a tablet like this is overpriced, whether or not I can afford it. I'm not saying it's not a great product in and of itself, and, yes, I'd love to have one. I'm also an illustrator and composer, so, yes, this would be an awesome thing to have. I've used the Cintix before and loved it. I'm not against such a product in general.

However, considering how cheaply they CAN make these things, I'd like to see a dramatic price reduction. I think there's just big enough of a market to make the money back.

And I agree, right now you can't really have a pen at the same time as touch-sensitivity, but that will be overcome at some point. There's a prototype that does that right now. The smarter you make your sensing devices the easier using two things at once becomes. Considering they have touch screens that can tell individual fingers apart already, would the rest of this be far off?

[roach @ Dec 4th 2007 2:12PM]

Multi touch sucks...its more of a gimmick. I would hate to draw with my finger like kids finger painting. Cintiq is more of a studio devise. My current work place have 8 and former work place has about 30 of these guys.
As far as Tablet PC, I wouldn't use them for studio use, but they are good for as a complimetary when you're not in the studio. Power-wise they can handle 2D fairly easily (just have more rams) and any future 2D upgrade...unless Photoshop adds a 3D function. Dedicated graphics is good enough for 2D. I and a lot of people can't tell the difference in sensativity resolution between tablet PC and cintiq. To me, as an artist, Tablet pc is heaven. It's like having a drawning pad with you that can surf the net. I hit a lot of coffee shop and draw all day.

[Nutsy @ Dec 4th 2007 2:56PM]

Truth is Cintiqs are really over priced. Brake down the tech for a minute. The Tablet costs around 400-500 Dollors tops. The display only costs 100-200 dolours. The RnD cost next to nothing other than designing the case. It really is just a merging of 2 already exsisting techs. Cintiqs are exspensive there nothing special over any other tabet. Other than they have a display built in. Eventualy ill finish building my own sintiq 15"er but I would prefer to buy the real thing. But there really is no need to charge that much.

Oh and anyone here who thinks a 3D or 2D artist can just throw around 1000-2000 dolours ot quid are massivly mistaken.

[Michael LaFramboise @ Dec 4th 2007 3:17PM]

"Oh and anyone here who thinks a 3D or 2D artist can just throw around 1000-2000 dolours ot quid are massivly mistaken."

Well you're wrong here in two ways;

first of all, buying something like this for us artists is like buying say umm... a car for the rest of you - that helps you people get to work, this helps us work faster... so in turn it pays for itself pretty quickly...

second of all, I don't know about you; if you are a artist and if you are one, what caliber are you of, but you have to remember that not all artists charge 50 bucks per project... I for one am a web designer and my rates typically start at 2k/site -- but I've been known to charge upto 10 on a few projects....

So long story short, if this helps me make money faster and more efficiently, then hell yeah I would buy it - however as a web designer, a mouse and keyboard are my tools of choice - so no real need for this thing for me...

But I still want one :p

[Nutsy @ Dec 4th 2007 3:56PM]

Well Im an artist who does a whole length of rates. From cheapo 100 quid projects to 350 a day projects. Normaly most of the time its short term. And like anything in this buisness at least in teh Uk times can be few and far between. So really spending 2000 quid on a cintiq [yes wacom just change the $sign for the £sign] So yes it can be a big deal.

[Hotwings @ Dec 4th 2007 3:53PM]

Doesn't that thing remind you of something from one of those movies set inn the future? Nice piece of equipment however.

[rob @ Dec 4th 2007 4:48PM]

Sorry. I know this may be a dumb question, but how does this work exactly? Can I just connect my pc (running XP or vista) to it and use it as a touchscreen to control the OS and software? If so, it'd be great to use with my DJing software. I am imagining a touch UI would be much more efficient than mouse pad and keyboard. Thanks all.

[Denver_80203 @ Dec 4th 2007 8:30PM]

Connections:
from Cintiq to PC: USB for data
from Cintiq to PC: VGA or DVI (so if you have a dual port video card, this needs one port or you'll need another video card port from somewhere on
the machine to use it)
from Cintiq to wall: power

Function:
kinda like a mouse but drivers will interact wit software to a greater degree if it is tablet aware... pressure sensitivity, angle of tool, rotation and crazy stuff like that. Plus the programmable buttons on either side.

[Matt Peckham @ Dec 5th 2007 9:16AM]

I bought a $450 intuos 3 12"x18", but I simply can not spend the kind of cash on one of these. Would love to.... But I have kids who would probably find a way to destroy it.

[loci @ Dec 5th 2007 11:53AM]

does anyone know if they are on sle anywhere in the uk yet?

oh, and if you think its too expensive, then you obviously have no need for it....move along.

[Pneub @ Dec 7th 2007 4:11PM]

People who believe this device is too expensive are misinformed and don't see how truly productive it is. I currently work for a industrial design consultancy and every designer here has one on there desk and wouldn't have it any other way. Yea, a wacom tablet is incredibly useful and I did all my art work through school with it, but the cintiq makes the work go much quicker, the line work much cleaner, and the renderings more accurate. Anybody can make a great sketch and rendering using pencils and markers, mouse and keyboard, wacom tablet, or a cintiq, but when you're doing projects that run anywhere between 50k-500k, having a 2k device that speeds up your work pays for itself after one project. The price point as far as I'm concerned is perfect. If you want something cheaper just get a tablet PC that will never do what a cintiq can. The only people who can really use/need one of these gladly spend the money on them and never complain about the price.

[CMW @ Jan 12th 2008 1:31AM]

Anybody out there looking for an 18"x25" Wacom Artz II tablet - with accessories? It is in “like-new” condition and was top of the line when I purchased it in '98.
I like everything that I’ve read on the Cintiq 20WSX, and I plan to make a purchase very soon. I recently had to upgrade to Vista and there are no plans to make a driver for it. There are downloadable drivers to the Artz II for Windows 98, 2000 and XP however. If interested, drop me an email.

Cintiq has developed, what sounds like an excellent addition to facilitate my art. The trade-off in time, space and materials saved is well worth my investment and since I just purchased Adobe CS3 I can hardly wait to get started with this ned hardware.

[Andy Zazzera @ Jan 13th 2008 10:46AM]

Yes! Is it still available? How much are you looking for for it? Please email me at Link7882(at)aol.com. Thank you!

[arkizzle @ Jan 21st 2008 11:07AM]

I got to this discussion after seeing the Cintiq in action and wondering about multi-touch.

With all the talk about multi-touch conflicting with pen-based input above, what about using two pens (or a secondary touch-tool in your other hand if not an actual pen) instead of kludgy finger input messing with the precision/interpretation of single-pen input.

they could definitely implement multi-touch on the Cintiq with two pens.. it would be amazing :)
imagine having the hand tool in photoshop on your left controller for massive zoomed-in work, or in 3d you could use the inputs to rotate/manipulate the space much easier than a mouse or single input.