The last piece to my massive, awesome PC is here. I’ve had it for a month and I spent $2200 to get it. It was kind of a dream for me to get this product. I think I saw this product in 2007 and my brother and I, as artists, have always wanted some type of Wacom product to help boost our digital art skills… ah, it’s alright! There seems to be a bit of a problem.
This device is a beautiful piece of equipment. I look at it all day and I’m giddy to have it. My girl helped me get it as a Christmas / work inspiration type gift. It motivates me to draw art, do more with it like edit photography, videos. It’s an amazing piece of equipment.
Set up
Out of the box, the way this product is protected and the tools that come with it are very secure. The wires are professional grade type. The pen feels interesting and good. But I actually had to wait for 2 weeks before putting it together. It was excruciating to just see the box closed up and me as an artist, not being an artist! For those that don’t know, I am a business owner (Drawlines Brand & Marketing), salesperson, graphic designer, web designer, art, in that order… mixed feelings about that order!! Don’t get me wrong I love being all of these things but drawing is my one true passion. When I took this out of the box I couldn’t wait to get this working. This is what comes within the box:
Wacom Cintiq Pro 24 Creative Pen and Touch Display Drawing Tablet
Wacom Pro Pen 2 with 4-color pen ring set
ExpressKey remote (with USB-A RF dongle and 30cm micro-USB to USB charger cable)
Pen stand with 10 replacement nibs (6 standard, 4 felt) and nib removal tool
Pen holder, cleaning cloth
180W AC power adapter and 1.8m power cable
1.5m USB-C to USB-C cable, 3m DisplayPort to DisplayPort cable, 3m HDMI2.0 to HDMI2.0 cable
3m standard USB-A to USB-A cable
DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort adapter
Quick start guide, Regulation sheet
I bought this product “used – very new” which is why I got it $400 off. What? You thought I was going to pay full price? NO! That’s crazy!! The fact that this product is over $1500 is still killing me. Now!! There are 3 to 4 addons to select from for this product. It varies depending on how you work of course.
Wacom ACK62804K Cintiq Pro VESA Mount
For those that would like to just have the display on the work desk, this is not needed. For those that would like to have the display more freely so you can move the display around then you would need this backplate. The mechanical arm or stand wouldn’t be able to fit the screws in the back of the display. So this is an added $80 to $100. It is a good solid backplate. It is strong enough to support the 24″ and the 32″ display. Worth it, and need it.
Wacom Flex Arm (ACK62803K)
The next important piece if you wanted this display to move around on your desk is the Flex Arm. This addon is about $400 bucks. Did I get this? No! I got another arm that is way more affordable which you can see down below. And yes, Amazon is still stabbing businesses in the back with their website setup but at the moment I’m a customer, not a business!! I still need to save money, right?!
For those people that are looking for the movability and still have it on the work desk, this is the addon that Wacom has made. There aren’t many other types out there so if you really want that option you’ll have to pay up $500 because this is the best addon to really be able to do what you want with this display.
Cintiq Pro Creative Pen Computer i5
This addon is actually pretty interesting because when they created the 24″ and 32″ display they just said…”Ya, let’s add the ability to convert the display into an ‘Apple TV’ like product!” l have to say it, I think it was a great idea. Is the price high? Yes, the price was way to high, come on! My old laptop I had for 12 years had the older version of the i7 with 32GB of RAM. This thing has these specs:
2.5 GHz Intel Core i5-7300HQ Quad-Core
16GB DDR4 | 256GB SSD
NVIDIA Quadro P3200 (6GB GDDR5)
802.11ac Wi-Fi | Bluetooth 4.2
USB Type-C | Mini-DP| Mini-HDMI
These specs look offal, man! 16GB? only 256GB SSD? You’d be able to save, 4 HD Photoshop files. I would never recommend this addon to anyone. If anyone has a Wacom and has this addon please fill me in on what your thoughts were when you got it and what do you think of it now, please. They don’t make this addon anymore.
Cons
I finally created my first art piece, you can take a look at my work on my Patreon. I really hate to say this but… the Wacom is not worth $2500 if this little glitch keeps up. Now other people can chime in but for the Wacom Citriq 24″ touch. The touch screen stops working after a while. It’s random and annoying. This device has been out for years, no one in the business was able to solve this problem? Others have had this problem and it gets exhausting to keep reinstalling the software. The only thing that keeps coming to mind… $2500 and I have to turn the power off and on every 30 min – 1 hr.
Other add-ons and products for you to think about:
Here is the thing about the screen protector. I got this product to protect my display screen from scratches over time. This isn’t like putting a screen protector on a phone. The phone is smaller so it’s easier to add it on clean. The tablet is a little harder… cause this planet is dirty and every time I try to clean the stupid tablet it somehow always has a piece of dust on it. It’s really fucking annoying! The 24″ display… ya. On side of my screen is nice, the other is dusty? But more importantly, if your pen isn’t working as well as it should it’s cause you just added another layer that the sensor has to penetrate to give you the same result. You’re going to have to go to the settings and raise that sensitivity level on each program you link the Wacom to.
Well, I hope this helps you guys with your decision making. Let me know what you guys think of the Wacom brand.
Wadcom Sucks
Update: 2021.04.01
I haven’t worked with the Wacom as much as a comic artist or just a digital artist in general. I have used it for Photoshop edits, video editing, and so on. But I think I know why the last owner gave up his Wacom tablet. For some reason, and I’m not sure if it’s due to the new Microsoft Windows 10, the Wacom display is a bit…wonky?! I get it, you want a Bluetooth pen to create its own electromagnetic power to make the pen work with the screen… what happens when it doesn’t? Ya, that’s what I’m dealing with. For some reason, the pen would stop functioning. And there isn’t much I can do. $2500 for headaches. It’s frustrating. I can be recording my work and in the middle of my recording, it just stops working. What the fuck am I suppose to do with a shit ton of 30-minute videos of me cursing at the end cause the shit stopped working?
It sucks because I am here thinking that the money I’m putting into this one device can help me just be better at anything I use this device for. Instead, I’m working a bit harder just to push content out. Sadly at $2500 I can’t really do anything else, I mean I guess I can sell it but it cant be now. And it will take a bit of time in which the pandemic has already taken much of my time already.
I see these great artists put out this great content and I wish that I can do the same. It’s just, never going to happen. I can never get a fucking break. As usual, I’ll just have to push this content on to the public. Like I have to do with everything else in this life.
Wacom vs Hurricane Ida
Update: 2022.01.08
Hurricane Ida came and went on 2021.09.07ish. My office is trash and moldy. My PC was underwater, mind you… my PC is about 3 ft tall the water went up 4 ft 6 inches, the Wacom was in the water halfway. It doesn’t turn on though. I’m hoping the only thing that is damaged is the power supply. AND OF COURSE, www.wacom.com store has no more replacement power supplies. Cause that makes perfect sense! I wanted to see if I can save a very expensive device that I stupidly wasted my money on cause it gets wonky sometimes cause they don’t know how to update their software. My only option is to purchase a different power supply and make sure that it’s got the same plug, watts, volts, and amps.
I found the old Power supply and I thought I’d give it a shot and see if I can still use it… Nope. I plugged it into the outlet before plunging it into the Wacom and a loud pop and a light smell came out of it. So, ya I need a new power supply.
IT’S ALIVE!!!
Update: 2022.02.01
I was able to get a Universal power supply that provided me with a variety of plugs. Got the one I needed. Plugged it in and everything turned on. There is no visual damage and it seems to work. I mean I left it drying for 6 months if the water did touch anything important. Ughhh, what a relief. Now I can go back to hating it for the pen not working correctly every 30 minutes!!
