A jewel on the desk with some restrictions in practice

After unpacking inspire design, build quality and feel of the pen display. This also contributes to the well-designed packaging. When you first turn the display will show a high contrast image with balanced colors. Of course, the color space may not correspond to that of a monitor, which is suitable for soft proofing. This is also not necessary. Monitor problems such as dead pixels, atriums or similar I could not tell. The pen comes in an elegant case, therefore, which also includes other accessories. The first impression is therefore very positive. But a tool and this pen display is ultimately nothing more than an input tool should work in practice and lead the designer or artist in his creative process to their destination.

In practical test me the following points are noticed. Certainly people work very differently with this input tool, but I want to evaluate the device with regard to the way I work nevertheless:

1. The device is slightly smaller and narrower than an A4 page. In addition to the "white sheet" is often still room for tools and palettes needed. That's too small for my operation. I like drawing with larger movements and therefore must often zooming. For portraits or caricatures I often lose track of the entire work and the drawing area. A cartoon character or a scene of a storyboard fits well into the surface. The design of posters is limited.

2. The connecting cable "All-in-One" is certainly beneficial when it comes to desktop clutter and quickly connected. Unfortunately, this very inflexible and the flat plug can barely the weight of the cable to the display and carrying dangerous bends down. It is difficult to work with the device "free" on the thighs or in your hand, because you have to worry about the cable connection. The included stand it is not allowed to set up the device in portrait mode.

3. Drawing and pen input function precise and fluid. Especially when drawing details and fine structures I can with the pen display much safer and faster than working with a graphics tablet. The control is truly outstanding! The small distance between pen and image caused by a pane of glass, and does not bother me. This can not be avoided by current technology.

4. Unfortunately, there is a touch function! With touch feature the users of Windows 8 would be a clear advantage. Of course, Windows can be operated with a stylus, but the constant drop and picked up the pin is annoying when you do keystrokes with ten fingers.

5. I would appreciate more control keys on the display. There are clearly too few available and you often have to access keyboard (CTRL, CTRL + ALT, ALT, SHIFT, Back, Forward, move, zoom, delete, escape, change the display, etc.)

6. If you intend to use the Cintiq 13HD is the only display, you should have excellent eyesight, otherwise texts, buttons and photos are just too small.

Do not lead this tool in their daily work to the goal. For the way I work and tasks, there is a whole series of restrictions. Maybe one day I'll be able to buy a 24 '' pen display me. But until then I have to bring in some jobs to fill my account with the necessary small change.