We already rate the Xencelabs Pen Display 16 as the best pen display for any artist who doesn't want to fork out for a Wacom Cintiq Pro – and it has a place in our pick of the best tablets for digital artists. Now there's an even cheaper way to get it.
Xencelabs has launched what it's calling the Pen Display 16 Lite. That makes it sound like a new device, but it's not. The tablet is the same as the one we know, it just comes with fewer features – and there's the catch with the temptingly lower price tag.
In our Xencelabs Pen Display 16 review, we found it hard to fault the drawing experience on the smooth matte-etched 4K OLED display. The colour coverage is excellent with 1.07 billion colours and factory-calibrated 99% Adobe RGB gamut, and, unlike with Wacoms, you get two pens included.
But the Pen Display 16 was still relatively pricey. Coming in a bundle with a Quick Keys Remote and a stand, it costs $1,249 / £1,199 – around the same price as an iPad Pro 13. The renamed Pen Display 16 Lite package strips out some of the accessories and costs just $799 / £769 from the Xencelabs website. That's the price of the 13-inch iPad Air.
You still get the two included pens (one thin and one with three buttons), along with nibs and a drawing glove. What you don't get is the Quick Keys remote and Mobile Easel stand.
It's the first of those that could be the deal breaker because the Pen Display doesn't have the on-device buttons of rival offerings and doesn't support multi-touch gestures. This makes the shortcut buttons on the remote very useful for allowing efficient workflows. That said, you can still use shortcuts on your computer keyboard instead.
The Pen Display 16 Bundle already represented good value compared to rivals like the Wacom Cintiq Pro 16, which costs more and lacks some of the included accessories. The new 'Lite' package makes it even more accessible. The catch is that the stripped-back package leaves you without Quick Keys for handy shorcuts.
Xencelabs is billing the Lite option as providing the essentials for portable use, while the Bundle (see below) provides a more complete setup for desk-based drawing.
This is still our top pick as the best pen display for digital art for most people. It's significantly more affordable than the Wacom's Cintiq Pro 16 ($1,599 / £1399), and the price includes the Quick Keys Remote and a stand, which is notably absent from many rivals' offerings.
The keys on the remote can be customised for shortcuts like changing brushes, size, zooming in, undoing strokes and more. They're not essential for using the device since you can always use your computer keyboard, but they are very useful.
You can check for deals on these and more Xencelabs drawing tablets below.
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.
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