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The display is only Full HD, not QHD or 4K as is increasingly standard on drawing tablets these days. Realistically, for the majority of users, this is going to be absolutely fine – more than enough pixels. However, it’s the same resolution as the smaller Wacom Cintiq 16, so if you don’t mind sacrificing a bit of drawing space in favour of a clearer image, that’s a compelling alternative. The new big daddy of the Wacom range, announced in September 2022, the Cintiq Pro 27 boasts a majorly upgraded display – a true 10-bit 4K reference-quality unit, on par with a premium monitor. It’s the biggest tablet in the current family, with a 27-inch digital canvas, but despite this it actually has a smaller physical footprint than the previous Cintiq Pro 24, thanks to significantly slimmed bezels and a generally sleeker design. Naturally, as a multi-touch display, the Cintiq Pro 27 is very responsive when using either the pen or your fingers to work on designs. At times, these levels of sensitivity can actually be a frustration when in use – if you’re drawing with the pen while multi-touch is enabled, for example, it’s not uncommon to start a pen stroke and then have it evaporate because you’ve accidentally grazed the display with your finger. The Cintiq Pro 27 showed good brightness at 344 nits, and its 991:1 contrast ratio effectively matched its 1,000:1 rating by Wacom. However, we did find that not all of the Cintiq Pro 27’s gestures would translate to every program. This isn’t necessarily a problem that can be blamed on the display itself, but it’s something to be aware of when preparing to work with it.
In recent years there have been an impressive number of new competitors in the graphics tablet market, giving a constantly growing list of alternatives for you to choose from. The cabinet has built-in cable management cinches, and some Velcro cable-management ties are also included. According to Wacom, the system ships with a USB-C-to-USB-C cable (5.9 feet), a USB-C-to-USB-A cable (5.9 feet), an HDMI cable (5.9 feet), and a mini DisplayPort-to-DisplayPort cable. (Our review unit came with only the cables necessary for the iMac we tested the display with.) The premium Pro Pen 2, supplied with the tablet, is one of the best styluses around (save of course for the recent Pro Pen 3 that comes with the new Cintiq Pro tablets), and it never needs charging. With pressure and tilt sensitivity, it gives you real drawing flexibility, and the level of “bite” on the stylus is just right.Effectively, these improvements to the Cintiq make it more than just a tablet, but an actual reference monitor too, giving users the functionality of what has typically required two separate devices in one. The company says the screen features no parallax or latency and in my testing, I can pretty much confirm this to be accurate. The feeling of the pen-to-screen was incredibly smooth and natural and after a week of long days of testing, there were barely even any fingerprint smudges on the screen, which tells me it combats the side effects of daily use very well. Wacom Cintiq Pro 27: The Pen Like most other modern tablets, the Cintiq Pro 27 Pro Pen 3 can recognize the degree of tilt and pressure up to 8,192 levels using Wacom’s Electro-Magnetic Resonance technology. Messing with it by drawing (poorly as you’ll see below) some lines and shapes and testing pressure levels, speed and angles, the pen was perfectly responsive and accurate. The Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 is heavy, but no more bulky than a typical PC monitor. (Image credit: Future) At its size, however, the Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 can be uncomfortable to sit close to for longer lengths of time. This is an issue to be aware of, as creating and drawing with any pen display will almost always involve you having to sit as close as possible to its screen. Wacom Cintiq Pro 27 review: performance
You also have access to a radial menu—the top Express Key on the left, by default, calls up the radial menu onscreen. In fact, there are two radial menus—one called Radial, the other called Express. Both pull up similar-looking wheels of useful commands and options, and each option can be swapped out for something else. The wheel is useful for accessing commonly needed actions, like Save or Tab, that might not quite warrant their own physical Express Key. When it appears onscreen, its circular interface hovers over whatever app you have open, taking up little space, with its options easily selectable. The Cintiq Pro 27's price is prohibitively high for many of us, who will have to keep our fingers crossed for a less expensive model that includes these new improvements in, perhaps, a smaller size. But for those who can fit the Cintiq Pro 27 into their budget, it’s an excellent centerpiece for any digital workstation for video, photography, and/or graphics. As mentioned, the Cintiq does support touch but I could take or leave them. For the most part, I left them. After some initial testing of the touch capabilities, which do work, I never felt there was a scenario where using them instead of the programmable buttons or my nearby keyboard was a better option.
Setting the tablet up is a straightforward 'plug and play' process, and optional accessories such as a pen holder are easily attachable to the sides of the display. There are a number of mount holes around the display’s exterior, which are designed for workspace customization through the ability to mount devices such as cameras, microphones or lights. During our time with the Cintiq Pro 27, we worked primarily with three software programs – Clip Studio Paint, Adobe Photoshop and 3D-modelling program Blender – and the display made working with each of these programs comfortable and enjoyable, as well as helping workflow feel more fluid and faster than usual. The Cintiq Pro 27’s screen was a little dimmer than I expected which resulted in colors appearing to be a bit muted, but the display still has incredibly great resolution and color accuracy. The grip and control buttons on the sides are pretty useful — if for nothing else other than repositioning the screen — and the Pro Pen 3, while not the most impressive looking, was incredibly accurate and handled exceptionally well, especially since the nib didn’t have the trademark “wobble” that’s present in nearly every other pen on the market. Finally, the entire surface supports multi-touch, so you can leverage the entire screen as a touchpad for hand gestures for additional workflow enhancements should you desire.
For instance, the touch features are the one time I felt the Cintiq Pro 27 was a bit laggy and unlike using the pen and keyboard, I couldn’t pan and zoom at the same time when using touch controls. So while there is usefulness to the touch features, I think this is an area where Wacom still has some room to improve and could take some notes from the functionality and performance of something like an Apple iPad Pro. The screen is warm when used all day, but it’s not hot. Then again, I tested the display in a climate-controlled room, and in late autumn into winter, at that. If your studio gets warm, especially on hot summer days, your results may vary, but at least in a typical 72-degree F “room temperature” setting, the display and fan don't present problems. I even tried to pump up the brightness and make it a little warmer than usual in my testing space, but the fan never got distractingly loud, nor did the screen heat up too much. Wacom confirms a new fan design was used for this model, and the ventilation panels are also substantially redesigned—in both cases, it worked.As for color-gamut testing, the Cintiq Pro 27 could hardly have done better. Its 100% Adobe RGB coverage (see chromaticity chart above) exceeded its 99% rating, and its DCI-P3 coverage (below) of 97.4% fell just barely short of its claimed 98%. Wacom doesn't project any rated coverage claims for sRGB, but designers working with purely web-based art will be pleased with its 100% sRGB coverage (see below). The Cintiq Pro 27 boasts a 30-bit color gamut, with 98% DCI-P3 and 99% Adobe RGB, as well as HDR Gamma support. As with other Wacom Cintiq models, the Pro 27’s parallax is generally very minimal, regardless of the angle you’re working with.
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