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Looking to buy a tablet for drawing or note-taking? You're in the right place. The best tablets with a stylus pen can be useful tools for general productivity and content creation, while owning a premium stylus also makes it easier to draw and write directly onto a tablet screen in a way that feels natural. At Creative Bloq, we test and review dozens of tablets each year, including some of the best drawing tablets.
My top pick for this guide might surprise you, as while the Samsung Galaxy S10 Ultra is by far the best tablet with a stylus pen, the Honor MagicPad 2 is, in fact, the one I recommend the most for balancing top performance with excellent value for money (it's only £399!). All the tablets below come with a stylus included at no extra cost.
That means you won't find any iPads here, because styluses for these devices need to be bought separately (see our picks of the best Apple Pencil alternatives if you need an affordable stylus). Using a stylus with your tablet can speed up navigation and enhance your tablet experience overall, which is why we highly recommend them for creatives. Fyi - we also have a guide to the best iPad alternatives if you need some more top tablet recommendations.
Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines in the creative sector, including ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. He has a wide range of experience in reviewing and testing creative hardware, including drawing tablets and tablets for general use.
Best tablets with a stylus: quick list
Samsung's latest flagship tablet boasts a big 14.6in OLED display and an improved CPU and NPU. With a notable improvement in performance and the S Pen included, this is a tablet to consider if you want the power and space for creative work.
Read more below
With a gorgeous 144Hz IMAX-enhanced 12.3-inch OLED display, excellent performance and AI assistance (all for only £399), the Honor MagicPad 2 is one of the best tablets with a stylus pen you can buy right now, paired with the Magic Pencil 3.
Read more below
This is another of XPPen's new hybrid drawing tablets, but designed for notes, e-reading and sketching. It's slimmer and lighting that the Magic Drawing Pad at No. 4, and less powerful than other tablets on my list, but it does everything well and comes in under $400.
Read more below
The best tablets with a stylus pen in full
Best tablet with a stylus overall
Specifications
Reasons to buy
Reasons to avoid
30-second review: The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is a premium Android tablet, offering robust performance, a stunning 14.6-inch OLED display, and the S Pen (Gen 2) stylus included. We think it's a good option for anyone who wants a versatile Android device for digital art, media consumption and general productivity. While it may still lag behind the iPad Pro in power, it can handle basic video editing (what's possible in Android).
Price: Compared to its rival, the iPad Pro, the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra has a slightly lower starting price of $1,199 / £1,199 compared to $1,299 / £1,299, and it includes the S Pen stylus at no extra cost for a $200 saving in total. However, if you don't need a tablet that can run demanding software, or if you only want to draw, there's no need to pay this much.
Design: We like the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra's sleek, slim design. The size of the display is big for a general-use tablet – notably bigger than the 13-inch iPad Pro. That will be welcome for creatives who want more space for using creative software or drawing, but some people may find it to be too big to use comfortably handheld.
Ports: There's a SIM/MicroSD slot for extra storage and cellular connectivity (although not in the US), along with USB-C 2.0 and a 3.5mm audio jack. It's possible to use a USB-to-HDMI adapter (not included) to connect to an external screen or projector. The included S Pen stylus is based on Wacom technology and snaps magnetically to the side of the tablet for easy storage.
Screen: The 14.6-inch OLED display stands out with a high resolution of 2,960 x 1,848 pixels and a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, making this an option for gaming as well as general media. When it comes to drawing, we were pleased with the colour accuracy. The S Pen’s 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity provided precise control for drawing and notes, but the glossy display doesn't provide the more natural-feeling tactile bite of a device designed specifically with drawing in mind, like the XPPen Magic Drawing Pad (see below).
Performance: Under the hood, The MediaTek's Dimensity 9300 processor is intended to provide better NPU performance for AI tasks. It turns out to provide smooth performance for drawing, gaming, or multitasking between work apps. We found the 12GB RAM configuration to be capable of handling intensive tasks like 3D gaming and 4K video playback without a hitch, and drawing apps like ArtRage Vitae, Krita, and Clip Studio Paint ran smoothly in our tests.
Pain point: If you do a lot of multitasking, and you're concerned about possible bottlenecks, there's also the option to go for 16GB RAM, and storage can be configured up to 1TB.
Read our full review: Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra review.
Powerful performance combined with a huge AMOLED display makes the S10 Ultra great for multitasking with the option for a split screen, but its size can make it difficult to use comfortably without a desk.
Best budget tablet with a stylus
02. Honor MagicPad 2
Our expert review:
Specifications
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30-second review: This Honor MagicPad 2 tablet is the first product I purchased myself after reviewing it (mainly because I didn't want to give it back). I use it for content browsing, wedding planning, photo editing, light 3D modelling, online shopping, and the occasional Netflix session on the train – and it has performed flawlessly in all areas.
Price: Honor is practically giving this tablet away. Its retail price at launch was £499.99, however, we've been consistently seeing it on sale at Honor's website for £399.99 lately, with a premium keyboard case and Magic Pencil 3 stylus thrown in for free. During my time testing this tablet, I was also reviewing the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra (number 1 on this list) at the same time, and was amazed at the similarities in performance between these two models given the stark difference in price.
Design: The Honor MagicPad 2 has a 12.3-inch OLED display that is absolutely stunning. I think this size is perfect for most creative tasks, and its lightweight design makes it easy to transport when taking it on the train, too. It comes in two colour options, either Black or Moonlight White, and both options are super sleek and premium-looking. I found that the speakers were superb with really loud audio, and the 144Hz refresh rate makes gaming a breeze on this tablet.
Performance: I've been insanely impressed with the performance of the Honor MagicPad 2, and it has never faltered on me once. The battery life is superb, lasting a full day, and Honor's MagicOS 8 operating system is wonderful with handy AI tools and features. The Magic Ring ecosystem is also great for anyone who owns other Honor devices.
Pain Points: The only negative thing I have to say about this tablet is that the cameras are pretty poor. They're not terrible but not great, either. Though I have never found this to be an issue, considering that I have a top-spec camera phone that I use for everyday shooting anyway. Despite the subpar camera quality, this tablet has some great AI photo editing tools to help you remove unwanted tourists from the background with ease or auto-enhance for quick editing.
Check out my quick video review of the Honor MagicPad 2.
The Honor MagicPad 2 tablet is the very first product that I purchased myself after reviewing it (mainly because I didn't want to give it back). It offers excellent performance in all areas, has a gorgeous IMAX-Enhanced OLED display, and the best part? It's only £399. I think it's one of the best and most affordable tablets you can buy, and I actually prefer it over the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra (sorry, Samsung).
Best value tablet with a stylus
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30-second review: This thin tablet has been designed for note-taking and reading, but coming from XPPen, it also makes do as a good sketching tablet too. It features a similar matte, anti-glare display to the excellent Magic Drawing Pad below, but this one refreshes at a faster 90Hz. While the Magic Note Pad shares some of its DNA with the Magic Drawing Pad, it's designed more for notes, scrapbooking and e-ink reading, which means it's lighter, slimmer and more A4-sized than the art-focused Magic Drawing Pad.
Price: Overall the Magic Note Pad feels more premium than the price tag suggests, a feeling compounded by the inclusion of the X3 Pro Pencil 2 with 16k levels of pressure. Adding to the value, this tablet comes packaged with a protective case.
Design: This is a slim 7mm thin and measures 182 x 259 mm. The Magic Note Pad has a unique asymmetrical design, with a larger bezel down one side (at the bottom) with a magnetic indent to store the stylus. It also acts as a nice hand grip when used in one hand.
Display: When I reviewed this tablet, taking it out of the house as well as using it indoors, the display impressed me. What I really like is the TCL NXTPAPER paperlike tech that enables you to switch between three colour modes – ink paper, colour paper and standard – for different uses; ink paper, for example, emulates the display of an e-ink reader for books. It's not as high-res as some on this list, for example, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra at No.1, but its matte finish is excellent.
Performance: This tablet performs well for what it's designed to do – take notes, scrapbook, translate docs, sketch, act as an e-reader and even enables casual gaming. The addition of the X3 Pro Pencil 2 is a boon for amateur artists, and while reviewing, I did notice some tilt sensitivity issues, overall it works nicely and offers great value.
Pain point: There's no rear camera, which means some may be left wanting more tech, but the upshot is the tablet has a flat, smooth rear surface to rest on a desk for note-taking and digital writing. It's excellent for the price point, and ink mode really does work; the only downside is the 1080p resolution and matte laminated finish, while good for sketching and notes, can make Netflix films look a little flat.
Read our full XPPen Magic Note Pad review.
I was looking for a good e-reader but wanted more, and the Magic Note Pad is just that – it's a decent sketch pad, an excellent note-taking tablet and performs as an e-ink reader. Overall, excellent value for money.
Best tablet with a stylus for drawing
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30-second review: I really like the new XPPen Magic Drawing Pad, which is designed specifically for digital artists who want to take their work outdoors. It's made by drawing tablet brand XPPen, which means you're getting the same tech as found in the best desktop pen displays for art, but in an Android-powered mobile tablet.
Price: The XPPen Magic Drawing Pad is priced competitively at $500 in the US and £450 in the UK, offering good value considering the included stylus and its specialised features for artists.
Design: At just 6.9mm thin and weighing 599g, this tablet is impressively light, slim and portable. It has a solid metal chassis with smooth curved corners and slim bezels. The 3:2 aspect ratio provides a comfortable drawing area that's easy to hold in one hand.
Display: This tablet features a 12.2-inch matte anti-glare display, which boasts a resolution of 2160 x 1440 pixels. The screen is fantastic for drawing, slightly flexible and compliant while its anti-glare, etched texture coating ensures it can be used outdoors or in the home. Combined with the stylus that delivers over 16K levels of pressure sensitivity (the best on this list), this really does feel like a mobile drawing tablet.
Performance: Powered by an 8-core MT8771 processor and 8GB of RAM, the Magic Drawing Pad handles most drawing tasks smoothly. It runs on Android, offering compatibility with popular art apps like ArtRage and ibisPaint X. The tablet includes 256GB of storage, expandable via microSD.
Read our full XPPen Magic Drawing Pad review.
The XPPen Magic Pad is a genuinely good alternative to iPad for artists. This is a light, responsive drawing tablet with an impressive 16K of pen pressure, making it ideal for digital art on the move.
Best tablet with a stylus for media
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30-second review: The Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE+ is the latest entry in Samsung's budget tablet range (it's not the flagship 'Plus' or 'Ultra' model). It looks very similar to the Ultra but lacks the same top features, though it's plenty more portable, with a 13.1-inch display instead of the mega 14.6-inch. We think the sensible price and the still-excellent display (LCD, not OLED) make it a great choice for those who want a tablet for entertainment or work without such a large display.
Price: The Tab S10 FE+ has a price of $649.99 / £599, which is much cheaper than the $1K+ price tag of the Ultra model at the top of this list. The Ultra offers the option to pay for more memory and storage space, making it potentially better suited to video editing and photo editing.
Design: The design of the S10 FE+ is much more comfortable to hold than larger tablet display sizes, and it's also easier to reach on-screen controls in games. It's very much like an iPad, with the same aluminium and plastic construction, though our reviewer felt that this tablet was "destroying my lifetime allegiance to Apple".
Display: The Galaxy Tab S10 FE+ is available in two forms - one with a 10.9-inch screen, and a model with a 13.1-inch display – which is the one we’re recommending here. Thanks to its thinner shape, the larger screen is the better choice of the two, as an 11-inch widescreen tablet can feel like a big phone rather than something you’d like to draw or sketch on.
Performance: The S10 FE+ runs on a home-grown Samsung chipset rather than the high-end Snapdragon chips used in the Ultra models, which is part of the price compromise. However, it still feels fast enough, with no fear that you’ve paid a premium for performance you’ll never use, and there's still enough processing power to handle 4K video, and it has exceptional battery life if you're using it more lightly and can allow it to go to sleep between tasks.
Pain point: Our reviewer found that this tablet is excellent for watching videos and browsing the web, but could feel a tiny bit restrictive if you’re sketching - and with Samsung’s excellent S-Pen stylus included in the box, why wouldn’t you want to sketch? The tablet’s cameras also aren't much to shout about, and there's one less on the back, but they do the job for snapshots and video calls.
Read our full Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE+ review
This big screen tablet with a bundled stylus at a sensible price makes a compelling choice for sketching and note-taking. It feels like a flagship but lacks some top-end features. Though it may not be an Ultra, the chances are you won’t care a bit, and pro features are likely not to be ones you’ll miss.
Best matte tablet with a stylus
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30-second review: This neat, inexpensive and stylish tablet comes with a matte, anti-glare display, which is great for drawing, note-taking, and even reading, web-browsing and streaming. It supports a mix of Android apps that are useful for notes and artwork, not least Nebo 4.0, which comes pre-installed.
Price: At launch, you could get the Lenovo Tab P12 for around $350 / £450 for the matte version, or the non-matte version could be had for a little less at $300 / £350. However, in the UK, we're now seeing consistent prices at £299 for the matte display version (at the time of writing, this model is on sale for £269 at Amazon), which is a pretty competitive price.
Design: While rather simple in design, this tablet is delightfully thin and light at 6.9mm, making it an excellent choice for work or play on the go. Note though that it's fairly large at 190.7mm x 293.3mm x 6.9mm (without the camera bump), so holding it for long periods or while lying down isn’t the most comfortable.
Screen: Our reviewer found the 1840 x 2944 pixels 3K display to be responsive but it felt a little dimmer than Lenovo’s 400 nit claims. However, the matte cover made for a fantastic surface when it comes to doodling and writing.
Pain point: In practice, our reviewer found it the Lenovo Tab P12 is a little underpowered when pushed as an art tablet. While it was capable of low-intensity tasks such writing, doodling, browsing and streaming, along with low-intensity gaming, you shouldn't expect much more.
Read our full Lenovo Tab P12 with Matte Display review.
If you’re looking for an Android tablet to quickly jot down notes on and stash in your bag, the Lenovo Tab P12 with Matte Display will be right up your alley. This zippy, light and thin tablet offers phenomenal battery life, making it an excellent choice if you’re often on the go.
Best tablet with a stylus for study
Specifications
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30-second review: The colour e-ink screen is the star of the show here, providing a great reading, sketching and note-taking experience thanks to anti-glare tech. The device also doubles as a general tablet and comes with a responsive stylus that magnetically attaches to the device. There's 128GB storage, expandable via microSD, making it great for storing books, sketches and files.
Price: The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C comes at a premium price of $599.99 / £599.99, reflecting its specialised nature and high-end features like the colour e-ink display. If you want to take full advantage of its hybrid capabilities, adding the keyboard cover will set you back an additional $109.99 / £119.99.
Design: The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C boasts a sleek, minimalist design with a 10.3-inch screen flush with the bezel. This is protected by an anti-glare glass layer, making it comfortable to use in bright settings. The wide bezel on the left side allows you to hold it without accidentally touching the screen. At 480g, it's lightweight for an e-reader, but heavier than some may expect for long reading sessions.
Features: The standout feature is its colour e-ink display, making it one of the most innovative tablets for reading and note-taking. Its split-screen functionality is excellent for multitasking, such as when you need to reference web pages while taking notes. And its PDF annotation tool feels almost as natural as writing on paper.
Performance: While not as powerful as mainstream tablets, our reviewer found it fast and responsive enough for the e-ink reading and writing experience. The included stylus performs well, offering a smooth experience for drawing and annotating documents.
Paint point: This device provides general tablet functionality, but the e-ink display isn't optimal for high-intensity tasks like watching videos, where ghosting and slow refresh rates become noticeable.
Read our full Boox Tab Ultra C review.
The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C is like no e-reader you've ever seen. If you want a standard tablet experience, look elsewhere. But if you want a colour e-ink display that is great for reading graphic novels, comics and manga, as well as notetaking and sketching, then you'll love this device.
Best Chromebook tablet with a stylus
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30-second review: The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2023) is a high-end, 2-in-1 Chromebook that's great for note-taking, sketching, and general productivity. Its large 14-inch Full HD display and included pull-out stylus make it ideal for both creative and work-related tasks.
Price: Starting around $729 / £600, the Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2023) is on the higher end for Chromebooks, especially if you opt for the i5 model. For anyone who wants a powerful, hybrid Chromebook, it’s a solid investment, but those with lighter needs may find cheaper alternatives more suitable.
Design: The Spin 714 features a premium build, with a 14-inch touchscreen display and a slim, portable profile. At 3.09 lbs, it’s light enough to carry around, yet its solid aluminium body ensures durability. The 2-in-1 design allows the device to easily flip from laptop to tablet mode, providing flexibility for various tasks. The screen has a 1920 x 1200 resolution and offers excellent colour reproduction, making it suitable for both media consumption and creative work.
Screen: The screen has a 1920 x 1200 resolution and offers excellent colour reproduction, making it suitable for both media consumption and creative work. You also get a built-in stylus that slots into the chassis, offering convenience and precision for note-taking and light art tasks. With 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and tilt recognition, the stylus performs well for writing, sketching, and navigating the touchscreen.
Performance: With an Intel Core i5 processor, the Spin 714 delivers impressive performance for a Chromebook. It handles multitasking, productivity apps, and light creative work with ease. While ChromeOS doesn't support some high-end software like Procreate or Photoshop, it excels in running web-based and Android apps, with more Adobe apps rumoured to be coming soon. Battery life is solid, giving you a full day of moderate use or about 8-10 hours of video playback.
Read the full review: Acer Chromebook Spin 714 (2023) review
The Acer Chromebook Spin 714 puts some solid features into a well-priced ChromeOS 2-in-1 laptop. The display is fantastic, making video calls and streaming a pleasure, while the build-quality ensures this laptop will last.
Best tablets with a stylus: also tested
As I mentioned in my intro, this guide focuses on tablets that come with a stylus packaged in and included, because generally this can save money. But obviously there are tablets that use bespoke stylus that you need to add-on at checkout and buy separately. To recognise this I've included some recommended tablets with a stylus added-on.
Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2
This tablet from Huawei oozes luxury and is a great choice if you live outside of the US and can also live without Google apps. It really is a great tablet with a gorgeous screen (and includes a stylus pen), but we've left it out of this guide for the two main reasons stated above.
Read our full Huawei MatePad Pro 13.2 (2025) review
iPad Mini (7th Gen)
The new iPad mini doesn't make it to our list because it doesn't come with a stylus – you have to buy the Apple Pencil Pro separately. If you can get over that, it's a fantastic compact option for sketching in Procreate or other apps and watching media on the go.
Read our full iPad Mini (7th Gen) review
iPad Air (M2, 2024)
The new iPad Air (M2) is a powerful, lightweight tablet that can do almost everything, and it can be paired with the new Apple Pencil Pro. Apple's new AI tools will make this good for notes.
Read our full iPad Air (M2, 2024) review
Microsoft Surface Pro 9
The Surface Pro 9 is good for general tasks, can handle note-taking thanks to the stylus and full software. But this is a pricey 2-in-1 and I prefer the LG Gram with a stylus.
Read my full Surface Pro 9 review
Lenovo Tab P11 Pro Gen 2
A good iPad Mini alternative, the Lenovo Tab P11 is also slightly better specced than the Lenovo Tab M11 (on my list) but twice the price once you add a stylus.
Read our best iPad alternatives guide
How to choose the best tablet with stylus
What makes a good tablet with a stylus largely depends on your preference, your requirements and, of course, your budget. For my guide I've chosen tablets that come with a stylus out of the box, this is often cheaper as there are no hidden costs and you get a stylus suited to the device (and some cases, such as the Samsungs and LG Gram, incredibly good stylus pens for 'free').
For a tablet for note-taking and drawing you're looking for something that's lightweight, slim and can ideally slip into a medium-sized bag. Choosing a tablet with a stylus for the specifics of note-taking and drawing requires firstly deciding which of these two functions is a priority, or if you sit somewhere in the middle.
Tablet for drawing These require a good stylus with pressure levels of at least 4K but perhaps 8K, as well as decent processor and GPU combo, and at least 6GB RAM. Integrated graphics can work, so long as there's a good processor and large RAM to support the app. The size of the display can vary, but at least 11-inches and up to 16-inches is good.
Tablet for note-taking These are dedicated to enabling you make notes, doodle and create slides and graphs. Because of the specific task of creating notes, these tablets don't need powerful processors, instead you're looking for a tablet that replicates the feel of paper, has an accurate stylus, bags of memory for your files and a battery that will last up to a week. These e-ink tablets are specialist productivity devices.
Drawing and note-taking This is where things get fun. You need a balance of power, battery life and accuracy. You're ideally looking for either an Android tablet with around 6-8GB of RAM or a Windows 11 tablet with an Intel Core i5 or i7 processor, and again at least 8GB RAM. These tablets are designed for everything, so they're also good media players, game devices and laptop replacements.
How to choose a stylus
The big thing to look for with any stylus is how much pressure sensitivity it provides. The top styluses come with the best drawing tablets, such as Wacom's Pro Pen as well as the styluses you'll get with Huion or XPPen, which deliver between 8K and 16K levels or pressure sensitivity, giving you results that are almost identical to what you'd get from an actual pen or pencil.
But a traditional drawing tablet isn't ideal for note-taking or work, which is why you need a generalist tablet. Usually tablets with a stylus come with pens that feature 4,096 levels of pressure, which is acceptable for note-taking and drawing, but you can now get general tablet stylus with 8K levels of pressure. Wacom's Pro Pen tech is also licensed to many other brands, for example Samsung, so even though you're buying a generalist tablet you're getting pro art tech in the S Pen.
Many tablet / stylus combos can also detect the angle of tilt, which means you can get really granular with the thickness and shape of your lines. It's also worth looking at the parallax, which refers to the distance between the tip of the stylus and the cursor that actually appears on the screen. Ideally, you want this to be as minimal as possible.
Historically Android tablets have a lot of styluses to choose from, but many of them aren’t pressure sensitive and are more designed for note-taking and sketching than serious art. This is changing, with the release of XPPen Magic Drawing Pad and others, but generally Samsung has dominated the Android space, as there are both Samsung and third-party styluses that provide pressure sensitivity with Samsung tablets. See our guide to the best styluses for Android for more on this.
Many styluses will also have function buttons that allow you to quickly switch modes or toggle certain settings. Older stylus require batteries, most new pens now use ERM tech so they work straight away, some will still need a driver calibration app. Top styluses will also enable you to switch nibs, from plastic to felt for a softer response, and if you're using a screen protector like the Rock, Paper, Pencil you can you also make use of metal nibs.
How we test the best tablets with stylus
✅ We focus specifically on tech for creative work
✅ Our reviewers test products in real workflows
✅ Regular feedback from artists and designers
✅ Dozens of tablets and drawing tablets tested every year
In order to test tablets with a stylus, we spend time with each tablet, to assess its usability, design and portability, as well as assess the screen in terms of brightness, clarity and overall quality of the colours.
I've personally used or tested a number of the tablets on my list, and where I've not gone hands-on I've relied on our writer's opinions who have used the tablets, reviews on Creative Bloq as well as referenced reviews on our sister websites such as TechRadar.
We test the stylus under a mix of conditions, both in the home and on the go where it's important. When testing a stylus I like to perform the same set of actions for each, which can involve drawing thin to thick lines to test the pressure levels, as well as small circles and dots to test precision. We also use a mix of apps and software with each stylus to see how performance differs.
To test battery life we use the tablet on full charge and let it run down, and make a note of how long the battery lasts. We also use the tablet for our own projects and even daily work tasks where appropriate, and test how well it copes with our normal workflow.
We review plenty of tablets here on Creative Bloq, but make sure that only tablets we have awarded three stars and above make it into our buying guides. You can read our full process for all products in our 'How we test and review' guide.
What we look for
When choosing the best tablets with a stylus for this guide, we focused on tablets that come with a stylus included as standard, or at least in a bundle from the manufacturer. That rules out iPads and Surface Pros since Apple and Microsoft still sell their styluses as optional extras only.
We have aimed to provide suggestions for different uses in this guide, for drawing, for notetaking and for general productivity. That means that we didn't only look for tablets with adequate specs and displays for creative work but a range of options for different budgets and needs. In all cases, we looked for tablets that have good build quality and styluses that are accurate, well designed and provide a smooth drawing or notetaking experience.
FAQs
What should I look for in a drawing tablet and stylus?
There are two things to think about when you're after the best tablet with a stylus: the tablet and the stylus. The tablets I've selected all come bundled together with a stylus but some, like Apple and Microsoft, ask you to 'add on' a stylus so you ned to consider this in the price. Keep in in mind Apple Pencil 2 and iPad Air or iPad Pro are excellent, but you will be paying more, while Samsung's Android tablets are comparable and include the S Pen, usually saving a little money.
What should students look for in a drawing tablet and stylus?
A good student tablet depends on what kind of study you're doing. Here I'm looking at general studies and not hardware intensive tasks. So you don't need the largest screen, as portability is vital, hence why the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is my No.1 and the S7+ is No.2.
In terms of price, a tablet in the $500 / £500 - $700 - £700 range is good, this would include Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 as well as the new XPPen Magic Drawing Pad and the Lenovo M11 (or P11). More than this and you're getting into high-spec laptop replacements, such as the LG Gram 2in1 16, but this could be what you need.
Finally, many places suggest a minimum of 4GB RAM, I'd suggest at least 6GB and even 8GB if you can afford it, as this is ideal for art and photo apps. You'' need Cloud storage, and ideally check if a tablet supports MicroSD cards for storing files.
Also consider accessories, a keyboard could become essential over time and many of the best tablets with a stylus do feature keyboard-cases as optional extras (and these protect the screen too). Many Android tablets can support other third-party stylus too.
Can traditional drawing tablets be used for note-taking?
Yes, if you prefer hand-writing to typing then a small, affordable drawing tablet like the Ugee M908 or the excellent Xencelabs Pen Tablet Small are nice to have to hand. If you want to go a step further, then the small XPPEN Magic Pad on my list is an excellent iPad-alike for notes and art, and comes with a very good stylus.
What are the best apps for note-taking?
There are some excellent apps for notes, and many come free with your OS, browser or tablet. My picks for best note-taking apps in 2024 would be:
- Evernote Works across iOS, Mac, Windows, Android and features excellent tools.
- Nebo The best note-taking app compatible with a stylus.
- Bear An excellent notes app for iOS, which features an advanced Markup Editor.
- OneNote The preferred Windows notes app, with real-time collaboration.
- Google Keep Good all-rounder and is free as part of Google Docs.
Daily design news, reviews, how-tos and more, as picked by the editors.
Ian Dean is Editor, Digital Arts & 3D at Creative Bloq, and the former editor of many leading magazines. These titles included ImagineFX, 3D World and video game titles Play and Official PlayStation Magazine. Ian launched Xbox magazine X360 and edited PlayStation World. For Creative Bloq, Ian combines his experiences to bring the latest news on digital art, VFX and video games and tech, and in his spare time he doodles in Procreate, ArtRage, and Rebelle while finding time to play Xbox and PS5.
