Choosing the type of drawing tablet
The most fundamental choice to make is the kind of drawing tablet you want:
* Pen tablet - does NOT have a screen and requires a computer to use
* Pen display - has a screen and requires a computer to use
* Standalone tablet - has a screen and can be used my itself without being connected to a computer.
Pen tablets
Pen tablets are the simplest and least expensive kind of drawing tablet. They are often called: "screenless tablets" or "non-screen tablets".
* They DO NOT have an embedded display
* They REQUIRE A COMPUTER to be used.
* They REQUIRE A MONITOR attached the the computer or that the computer is a laptop.
The key skill required to use a pen tablet is that you must adjust to your hand drawing on one surface (the tablet) while you are looking at another surface (your monitor). Most people can adjust to this immediately or within a few days, but some people find this weird and for them one of the other device options may be a better choice.
Pen tablets cost between $50 to $500.
Device options for cheapper drawing tablets: Bosto 101A
Pen displays
Pen displays are drawing tablets that have an embedded display panel. They are also called: "screen tablets", "display tablets".
Key attributes:
* They DO have an embedded display
* They REQUIRE A COMPUTER to be used.
A pen display may look like a laptop or an iPad. However unlike those devices you should be aware that the tablet will always have to have at least one cord coming from it that is connected to a computer.
Pen displays cost between $300 to $3500.
Device options for cheapper drawing pen dispaly: Bosto Display
Standalone tablets
Pen computers
Pen computers are essentially laptops with an embedded pen tablet. You don't need them to be connected up to a separate computer to work. Because pen computers have a CPU, they are running an operating system and all current pen computers use Microsoft Windows.
Pen computers cost between $1000 to $3500.
Device options for cheapper drawing pen computer: Pen Computer
What people do with their tablets
* Drawing - Of course, many people use drawing tablets for drawing, sketching, painting, photo-editing etc. All the fundamental creative tasks.
* Gaming - Drawing tablets are popular for some games. More here: Gaming with drawing tablets
* Mouse replacement - Using a drawing tablet as a simple mouse replacement. Some people find a pen more comfortable to hold than a mouse.
* Whiteboarding - especially with so many online meetings and remote learning. Many people use a drawing tablet with virtual whiteboard software.
* Educational videos - They are popular for creating videos in the same style as "Khan Academy".
* Document markup and review - They are useful for going through documents and annotating them with other notes and corrections.
* Note taking - Especially with pen computers, students for example, take them to their classes and write down their notes digitally.
Core features
* Hover - Tablets detect the position of the pen even when the pen does not touch the surface of the tablet - usually up to a distance of 10 mm. All drawing tablets support hover.
* Pen pressure - The pen detects how hard you are pressing on its tip. All modern pens detect about 8192 levels of pressure. But even 2048 would be enough for any creative use.
* Pen tilt - Pen tilt is useful if you work with a creative application with brushes respond to tilt.
* Pen buttons - Pens usually feature two buttons. By default these buttons will act as a left mouse click and a right mouse click. You can configure the buttons to perform other actions.
* ExpressKeys - These are buttons or dials on the tablet. Not all tablets have them, but many do. You can configure express keys to perform actions like undo, change brush size, change zoom, etc.
* Touch - A small number of tablets support touch. In summary, touch for tablets has never come close to how well it works with the iPad. More here: touch support.
The active area
The active area is usually marked in some way on the surface. Sometimes it is marked at its four corners. Some tablets show a grid of of dots.
The active area of a pen display is very easy to detect because it is the exact the same area of the display panel.
When we talk about the "size" of a drawing tablet - we are referring to the size of the active area. Different people have different needs for size.
When you connect a tablet to your computer, the computer needs to know how to use that tablet with a special app called a "tablet driver". If you do not install the driver, then the tablet will not work correctly. Installing the tablet driver requires administrator permissions on your computer. More here: drivers.
Any application on your computer, will treat the pen just as if you have a mouse. So, broadly speaking, all applications are compatible with drawing tablet. If the tablet driver is installed, then Pen-aware applications take advantage of special features of the pen such as pressure, tilt, etc. Great examples of pen-aware applications are Krita and Clip Studio Paint, which are popular drawing applications.
Connecting the tablet to the computer
All pen tablets can be connected with a single USB cable. Many pen tablets (but not all) can be connected wirelessly - for example via Bluetooth.
Pen displays do NOT have any wireless options. There is always at least one cable used with a pen display. Pen displays are more varied than pen tablets in how the cabling works. In truth, connecting a pen display can be very complicated. It's very important you understand how a pen display will connect to your computer before you purchase a pen display. More here: connectng cable support
Pen nibs
At the end of the pen that touches the tablet is a little replaceable nib. Mostly these nibs are plastic and sometimes felt. Nibs wear down over time. Fast fast it wears down depends on a lot of factors. If it wears down too much, it might scratch the tablets. So, before it wears down too much you should replace your nib with a fresh one. More here: Pen accessaries support
Drawing with a tablet vs a mouse
A drawing tablet uses absolute positioning and a mouse uses relative positioning. They behave very differently.
Using the tablet driver, you can mmake the tabletke tablet and pen work more like a mouse by using mouse mode.
EMR technology
Drawing tablets typically use a technology called Electromagnetic Resonance (EMR). One key benefit of EMR is that EMR pens don't need a battery inside, the pens get their energy just by being near the tablet.
Other topics to explore