Review: Wacom Cintiq 12WX

• Dimensions: 16” x 10.5” x .67” (WxHxD)
• Weight: 3.6 pounds display only, 4.4 pounds with video controller
• Screen: 12.1” WXGA (1280x800)
• Display/Tablet Area: 10.3” x 6.4” (WxH)
• Display Input: VGA, DVI-D
• Number of Colors: 16.7 million
• Color Management: ICC profile, 6500K white point
• Tablet Pressure Sensitivity:1024 levels
• Data Rate: 200 pps
• Resolution: 5080 lpi
• Function Keys: 10, user assignable
• Touch Pads: 2, user assignable

Conclusion

So what’s keeping me from going out and buying a 12WX? Cost, primarily. While it’s unquestionably a well-made, innovative, perhaps even revolutionary product, with a retail price that just squeaks by under $1,000, I’m having trouble with the math: for the cost of one Cintiq, I could buy a nice (if not ultra high-end) 20.1 inch display, a mid-sized conventional pen tablet, and still keep several hundred dollars in my pocket. Of course, the counterargument to this line of thinking is obvious: you may get a lot for less money, but you don’t get a pen display.

If you’ve justified the cost equation in your mind, and can overlook the Cintiq’s average performance as a display and occasional setup quirks, the 12WX is otherwise free of fatal flaws, offering an interface for graphics work or general computing that, in many ways, you simply can’t get any other way.