The Wacom Cintiq 21UX's suggested retail price is not for the faint of heart, but if you need a top-notch graphics tablet for professional use, you can't get much better than this.

The 21UX has its own built-in 21-3/10-inch LCD display, which mostly explains the high cost. You draw directly on the screen, rather than on a tablet that's many inches away. There's less chance for error than with a standard graphics tablet, because you don't have to keep moving your eyes between the tablet and the screen. The whole process also feels more comfortable and intuitive.

The 21UX has a native resolution of 1,600X1,200 and an active drawing area that measures 17X12-7/10 inches. The battery-free Grip Pen has a drawing tip at one end and an eraser at the other, and it supports up to 1,024 levels of pressure. It also has a two-way switch that you can program for different uses in different applications, and it comes with three different nubs (tips) for various drawing situations.

The 21UX is easy to set up. The package includes two graphics adapters (DVI-I-to-VGA and DVI-I-to-DVI-D), so you can hook it up to a DVI or VGA connection. The tablet uses an integrated video, data and power cable, which helps reduce cable clutter.

The adjustable display stand tilts from 10 degrees to 65 degrees, and it rotates up to 180 degrees either way, so you can use it at whatever angle feels comfortable and even rotate it as you work. The display is protected by a layer of textured, scratch-resistant acrylic, so you don't have to worry about damaging it.

The 21UX has eight programmable ExpressKeys (four on each side), as well as two Touch Strips (one on each side) for quickly maneuvering around the screen. Bundled software includes Adobe Photoshop Elements 4, Corel Painter Essentials 2.0, Nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 IE and Wacom Brushes 2.0 for Photoshop.

The Wacom Cintiq 21UX delivers just about everything you could want in a graphics tablet, and if you need the best there is, the 21UX is well worth its price.


Pros: The next best thing to standard drawing and painting tools, comfortable and intuitive to use, accurate output, supports analog and digital inputs, good software bundle
Cons: It's easy to accidentally brush against a Touch Strip with your drawing hand and end up somewhere on the page you didn't mean to be

Warranty
2 years