Wacom has revealed a new range of powerful tablets complete with stylus (which the company calls 'mobile computers' to stress that power) aimed at the likes of artists and CAD pros.
The MobileStudio Pro slates come in 13.3-inch and 15.6-inch flavours all of which run Windows 10 and are driven by Intel Core i5 and i7 processors, along with discrete graphics in the more powerful models.
The base Wacom MobileStudio Pro 13 boasts a Core i5 CPU along with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage with integrated Intel Iris Graphics 550. That steps up to a Core i7 top-end model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB storage along with the same integrated graphics.
If you plump for the larger Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16, you get Core i5/i7, more RAM and storage, and Nvidia Quadro mobile graphics. The lesser machine has 8GB/256GB with Quadro M600M graphics (2GB GDDR5 VRAM), with the higher-end model offering 16GB/512GB and a Quadro M1000M GPU with 4GB of video memory.
The larger 15.6-inch tablets also boast a 4K resolution, with the 13.3-inch efforts having a resolution of 2560 x 1440. However, whichever model you get, Wacom promises a quality high-brightness IPS screen with the necessary chops to ensure good colour reproduction, with 96% Adobe RGB coverage on the smaller slate and 94% on the larger.
Precise pen
There's also a revamped Wacom Pro Pen 2 bundled with these devices, that the firm says offers four times higher pen accuracy and pressure sensitivity than its predecessor, and apparently there's "virtually no lag" when using the peripheral.
Ed Neumann, Senior Vice President of Marketing Creative Business, said of the peripheral: "Whether doing straight 2D illustration or sculpting a 3D model, we are confident that MobileStudio Pro users will find the new digital pen to feel closer to traditional media as ever before."
Speaking of 3D models, some of the MobileStudio Pro offerings – the larger slates, and the top-end version of the 13.3-inch flavour – also incorporate an Intel 3D RealSense camera to allow for the likes of 3D scanning.
Wacom has also incorporated some clever productivity tricks such as buttons on the pen which can trigger one-touch shortcuts. And another option is Wacom Link tech which allows users to hook the tablet up to a PC or Mac so it can be used as a second display when you're at home or in the office.
The new MobileStudio Pro range will be on sale next month and pricing will start at €1,600 (around £1,410, $1,790) for the base version of the 13.3-inch tablet, and at €2,600 (around £2,290, $2,910) for the larger model.
- Now, how's that Surface Book looking these days?
