Wacom One 13 Contact (2023) Overview: A Easy But Efficient Drawing Pill

I used to be skeptical concerning the new Wacom One 13 Contact. I’ve been a completely wi-fi digital artist for years now. My iPad Professional and I are inseparable. It’s my sketchbook, my skilled productiveness workity-work machine, and my favourite artwork device. How might a tethered show pill even start to check to my beloved iPad Professional?

Effectively, after a while with Wacom’s new drawing pill, I discovered myself utilizing any excuse to place the stylus to display.

Enjoyable With a Stylus

Proper out of the field, you’re just one cable away from utilizing the Wacom One Contact. The setup course of couldn’t be simpler. It’s a shining instance of the convenience USB-C brings to show setup. No wrestling with HDMI cables—simply plug one finish into the pill and the opposite into your graphics card or laptop computer. Even with out the Wacom drivers, it really works as a fundamental contact show.

If you first drag the stylus throughout the display, it’s instantly clear that it is a exact and responsive drawing show. The stylus glides effortlessly over the 1,080p, matte, textured display, abandoning easy, exact brushstrokes. To say it’s a pleasure to attract on is an understatement. For any device, the higher it feels to make use of, the extra probably you’re to make use of it. I discovered myself inventing further causes to make use of the Wacom One only for the enjoyment of it. I even used it to handwrite notes throughout a piece assembly and to annotate this assessment draft with corrections and modifications.

{Photograph}: Wacom

The stylus’ nib is detachable and replaceable, not solely to account for put on and tear but in addition as a result of Wacom makes a number of completely different sorts of nibs to customise your drawing expertise. (Those that got here within the field have been excellent for me.) If you happen to’re acquainted with the Apple Pencil, you know the way it typically feels just a little … sticky. There’s none of that right here. In opposition to the display, the Wacom nibs present a tactile drawing expertise that’s like utilizing a mushy graphite pencil on a semi-textured sketchbook web page. Easy however with the tiniest little bit of satisfying scritch.

The opposite factor I really like about this stylus is that it’s utterly battery-free. You don’t should cost it. The Wacom One 13 Contact makes use of electromagnetic resonance (EMR) to detect the place, strain, and angle of the stylus. No batteries means it’s additionally a light-weight little factor. There’s no heft like there may be within the Apple Pencil or different powered styli, which suggests your palms and wrists gained’t get as fatigued when utilizing the Wacom One for lengthy intervals.

Wacom additionally has added touchscreen capabilities on this pill (when you couldn’t inform from the title), and it’s a pleasant choice, particularly when you like to maneuver your mouse and keyboard out of the best way whilst you’re utilizing the Wacom One. Tapping via the interface on Home windows and macOS feels responsive and is much more intuitive than reconfiguring your desk since you forgot to shut a window or two. If you happen to don’t look after touchscreens, it can save you some money with the Wacom One 12, which nixes this characteristic and is barely smaller for a lower cost.

Slicing the Proper Corners

My greatest criticism with the Wacom One 13 Contact is that it’s not wi-fi. I wished so badly to choose this factor up and carry it with me to the sofa and curl up for some chill sketching time. As a substitute, I discovered myself leashed to my desk, trapped by the tyranny of that USB-C cable. However to hit the Wacom One’s $500 value (reasonably priced in comparison with the remainder of its lineup), there are concessions on the subject of pro-grade options.

It’s very gentle, and the again plate is totally plastic. That’s not essentially a foul factor. I discovered the load to be a optimistic, because it made it straightforward to shift the machine round on my desk as I labored. However examine the construct high quality to an iPad Air, and there’s a reasonably large gulf. Identical if you examine it to the higher-end Wacom Cintiq tablets. There aren’t any of the additional enter choices you’ll discover on higher-end fashions. No knobs, distant controls, or ultra-sturdy stands to confidently lean on.

Wacom lower all the fitting corners right here. The Wacom One 13 Contact isn’t a multi-thousand-dollar skilled illustration pill. It’s $500, and at that value it’s what you would possibly name “entry stage.” To be clear, I hate that label and apply it solely as a result of it’s an approachable value, not as a result of an expert artist couldn’t produce pro-grade work on this factor. You undoubtedly might. It is a pill you might use for years with out operating into any skilled roadblocks, and for $500 that’s type of unbelievable.