For creatives who work on any sort of digital art or video, the name Wacom should be very familiar to you. Wacom has been around since the early ’80s and has become the global leader in pen display and tablet technologies for creative users. If your main digital creation tool is a PC or Mac, you’ll want to pick up a Wacom tablet which will make digital media easy to work on versus using a mouse. Wacom was kind enough to send us their Wacom Intuos Pro M, which is their professional-grade digital tablet in medium size, and the Wacom Pro Pen 2.
DESIGN
The Wacom Intuos Pro M is part of their top-of-the-line non-display pen tablets. This is a more traditional drawing tablet as opposed to their other models that include a built-in display, such as the Cintiq Pro and Wacom One. These types of display less pen tablets are what I grew up with while in school but in a much smaller size. The Intuos Pro M is larger with a larger work area that can be mapped at a 1:1 ratio with your display. The Intuos Pro M also has a plethora of shortcut buttons on one side as well as a touch dial. These can be programmed for various application shortcuts such as choosing tools in graphic programs or quickly selecting brush sizes.
Other notable physical features include a matte surface texture, USB-C charging, on/off touch switch, and two large rubber strips on the back for serious table grip. The matte surface I should mention will see a lot of scratches or marks mainly because of the constant usage with the Pro Pen 2 or if you decide to run a mouse over it (which I wouldn’t recommend). It won’t affect the function of the tablet though, so that’s good.
Onto the Wacom Pro Pen 2, the pen is basically an evolution of past Wacom pens. While not as sleek looking as the Apple Pencil 2, the Wacom Pro Pen 2 is very, very comfortable to hold. It’s thick at the bottom and tapers up to the top. The thicker bottom allows for a more comfortable grip and the rubber sleeve around this portion helps with grip and added comfort. The tip is very thin for precision and features 8,192 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt-response, and virtually lag-free tracking. The rear of the pen also has an eraser tip which is really handy and cuts out an extra step in your workflow. There are also two programmable thumb buttons for added shortcuts if needed.
SOFTWARE
To make the most out of the Wacom Intuous Pro M, you’ll need to download the Wacom software, mainly the drivers and the Wacom Center and Wacom Tablet Properties. Both are especially useful for customizing the functions of the Intuos Pro M. With it you can swap out what the shortcut buttons do and fine-tune the Wacom Pro Pen 2. Adjust tilt sensitivity, tip feel, pressure sensitivity, shortcut buttons, and more.
If you enable touch on the Wacom Intuous Pro M, you can also adjust what the touchpad does and what kind of gesture shortcuts you can do with it. You can enable one, two, three, and four-finger gestures to enable things like tap to click, dragging, swiping between applications, and so much more.
Basically, don’t skip installing this because you’re going to want to make use of everything the Wacom Intuos Pro M has to offer.
EXPERIENCE
What I didn’t know the Wacom Intuos Pro M could do was function wirelessly. You don’t need to be cabled up to your PC to use it and instead, you can connect to your PC or Mac via Bluetooth connection. That’s pretty cool because not everyone has the extra ports for another cabled accessory and it just makes using the tablet more flexible. You do however need to charge it up if you want to use it wirelessly but you can do that while tethered to your computer so you’ll virtually have no downtime in usage.
In terms of actual usage, your experience will vary depending on the apps that you use. As long as your apps can make use of all the Wacom Intuos Pro M has to offer, you’ll enjoy every minute of it. I tested it out on one of my favorite open-source apps, Krita, and it worked flawlessly. The main thing here is that I’m able to now use all the brushes and tools with full pressure sensitivity and tilt. This makes for a much more dynamic drawing and more control over what I want the tools to actually do. I really love just how customizable the Intuos Pro M is, basically allowing you to completely integrate it into your workflow.
While the Wacom Intuos Pro M tablet is very good, it loses out to fully digital display tablets where you don’t have to quite estimate where the pointer actually is on the screen. Mainly the more expensive display-based tablets are going to beat this in terms of accuracy because you’re actually drawing and doing everything on the display. However, this is a great in-between and still gets the job done. It does many things that you just can’t do accurately with a mouse.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I love the Wacom Intuos Pro M and it’s exactly what I’ve been looking for in a pen tablet. While it would have been nice to have a digital pen tablet, I think the balance of price and features makes the Intuos Pro line a good choice for most. You don’t even have to get the M version of this because you can pick up the smaller Intuos Pro S or the much larger Intuos Pro L. They all come with the same features and the same great Wacom Pro Pen 2, the tablets are just differently sized and priced.
The Wacom Intuos Pro is a great pickup for any beginning or pro creator who needs more precision over their craft.
SHOP LINK
- Wacom Intuos Pro Bluetooth Graphics Drawing Tablet (Small)
- Wacom Intuos Pro Bluetooth Graphics Drawing Tablet (Medium)
- Wacom Intuos Pro Bluetooth Graphics Drawing Tablet (Large)
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