XPPen has finally officially announced the new Artist Ultra 14, the smaller model of the excellent Artist Ultra 16, and after using it for a couple of weeks, it's a surprisingly good drawing tablet with the specs of a $1,200 tablet for $699.
But it's not simply a matter of ticking off the specs and tech that sound impressive, because we've reached the point where drawing-tablet manufacturers can keep doubling the numbers on the box, but 8,192 versus 16,384 pressure levels isn't going to suddenly make your brush strokes twice as good, and it's certainly not going to turn a mediocre pen into a Wacom Pro Pen 3.
What I want from a new drawing display is pretty straightforward, really; it needs to have a bright, smooth screen, a pen that feels good for hours of use, decent colour, useful controls and, increasingly, something I can actually carry around with ease, because more and more I’m moving from home to the office, on a bike.
The Artist Ultra 14 specs
That's why the new XPPen Artist Ultra 14 has impressed. Launching at $699 / £599, it's a 14-inch portable drawing display with a 2.8K OLED screen, 90Hz refresh rate, 10-bit colour, 99% Adobe RGB, 99% sRGB and 99% Display P3 coverage, alongside Delta E <1 colour accuracy and Calman Verified certification. It also weighs just 720g, which is considerably less than most of the 15- and 16-inch pen displays I've been looking at lately.
The OLED is probably the biggest draw here, particularly when you start comparing it with what's available at a similar price. XPPen has paired the 2.8K panel with 100,000:1 contrast, a 90Hz refresh rate, and a very fast OLED response time, so moving around a Photoshop canvas, zooming into an illustration, or scrubbing through animation should feel smoother than on the 60Hz IPS displays that still dominate this part of the market.
The colour specification is equally interesting because you're getting 99% Adobe RGB, 99% sRGB and 99% Display P3, with native 10-bit colour and a claimed Delta E below 1. That matters if you're working professionally with illustration, photography, animation or video, and it's considerably more useful to me than another manufacturer telling me its pen has doubled the number of pressure levels.
How does it rate?
The obvious comparison is the Xencelabs 16-inch OLED Pen Display, which is still a seriously impressive tablet with 4K resolution, 10-bit colour and similarly broad gamut coverage, but it launched at £1,199. The XPPen is arriving at almost half that price and is substantially lighter. At 720g, the Artist Ultra 14 is light enough that I can carry it around with a laptop rather than leaving it permanently attached to a desk. The 16:10 display also makes sense for creative software because you get a little more vertical workspace for toolbars and timelines than you would with a similarly sized 16:9 panel, while the full-featured USB-C connection can carry power, video, and data through a single cable on compatible devices.
That combination is probably more appealing to me than simply making another 16-inch drawing display with a slightly better pen. A lot of artists are moving between home, studio, office and other workspaces now, and there's a big difference between something that's technically portable and something you wouldn't mind putting in your bag.
The Artist Ultra 14 comes with two X3 Pro pens that support 16K pressure and 60-degree tilt, but I'm still more interested in how those pens actually feel. Initial activation force, tracking accuracy, nib movement, and the feel of the nano-etched glass surface will matter far more than whether I can theoretically produce 16,384 different pressure values. You'll be able to read more on how the Artist Ultra 14 actually feels to use in my upcoming review.
Buy the XPPen Artist Ultra 14 from today.
