The 5 Best Drawing Tablets for Mac Reviewed
Tablets are becoming critical for graphic designers, illustrators, and artists for completing art projects. If you’re a designer, you probably know the right tablet can offer a responsive and handy experience to get the job done much faster whether you’re in the office or not.
Unfortunately, many drawing tablets exist in the market and picking one that serves your needs can be daunting. You have to research and compare different models to get the tablet you need. If you’re looking for the best drawing tablet for Mac, this guide has got you covered.
Why You Need a Mac Tablet for Your Drawings
Digital artists can use tablets to advance their design, but you don’t have to be an artist to benefit from these hardware devices. While getting used to using a tablet for your drawing can be challenging, once you learn how to use it, designing with a graphics tablet can become as natural as using a pencil. Here are a few reasons you need a Mac tablet for your drawings:
Offers Many Custom Settings
Graphic tablets have many custom settings. All you need is to understand the setup programs option to ensure your tablet can function according to your personalized needs. Explore this feature and learn more for seamless drawing.
Easy Connection to Your Computer
You can connect a graphic tablet with your computer without any glitches using a USB. However, if this option is not suitable for you, take advantage of the available wireless models and make your work less stressful and faster.
Increases Productivity
This is why many graphic designers are using graphic tablets today. These gadgets have excellent features to enhance your creativity and increase your drawing efficiency. You can use apps like Illustrator and Photoshop for the best results.
More Detail
Graphic tables allow you to create more detailed designs. You don’t need to use guesswork anymore since it gets things done as they need. All you need is to zoom in and direct the stylus to the location you desire. The gadget gives you complete control of your design, allowing your drawings to look according to your wish.
Using Graphics Tablet is Not Complicated
You can interchange a graphics tablet with a mouse, and if you’re a budding designer, you don’t need a special program to use it. On the flip side, you can also use the device with graphics software like Adobe Photoshop to enhance your creativity and productivity.
Best Drawing Tablets for Mac
1. Apple iPad Pro
The Apple iPad Pro has one of the best compatibility levels you can find in today’s market. It comes in 10.9” and 12.9” displays with a thickness of 6.9mm. If you’re a designer, the Apple iPad Pro can be one of your best drawing arsenals.
The iPad Pro performance is exceptional. Apple says the device’s performance is 92% more than other portable PCs. The new model has an incredible battery life, and you can use it for approximately 10 hours without power issues.
The iPad Pro has an LCD Liquid Retina display, which is colorful and bright. The 120Hz ProMotion technology allows your drawing experience to feel more realistic. The Apple Pencil’s design is excellent. It’s shorter with flat sides, making it more comfortable when drawing. The Pencil’s tip is long-lasting and durable. This could be the reason Apple doesn’t offer a spare anymore. However, you won’t need to replace it soon unless it drops accidentally, damaging the tip.
- 12.9-inch edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display with ProMotion, True Tone, and P3 wide color
- A12Z Bionic chip with Neural Engine
- 12MP Wide camera, 10MP Ultra Wide camera, and LiDAR Scanner
- 7MP TrueDepth front camera
- Face ID for secure authentication and Apple Pay
2. Wacom Intuos Pro
Whether you want to go digital or work on paper from beginning to end, the Wacom Intuos Pro provides various design options for designers and artists. The best part is you gain natural control of your creative process when using this drawing device.
The sleek tablet has Wacom Pro Pen 2, which is super-sensitive, giving you a fantastic design experience. The company created Wacom Pro Pen 2, focusing on helping artists to push limits and achieve excellence. It allows you to hon fine details for the best drawing capability.
Wacom Pro Pen 3D features similar technology as Wacom Pro Pen 2, and its three buttons are customizable. You can sculpt, model, zoom, pan, and tumble objects in either 2D or 3D applications. It offers accurate pressure sensitivity, giving you great control.
The Paper Edition allows you to take design to another level. You have the freedom to select how to work. For example, you can use Wacom Pro Pen 2 to sketch directly onto the tablet’s pen, ensuring digital operation from the start to the end of your project. You can also use Wacom Finetip Pen, begin by drawing on the paper, and then use any digital software to edit the sketches.
Wacom Intuos comes in three different sizes, including small, medium, and large. All three can serve you depending on your needs without having quality issues.
To see this drawing tablet in action on a Mac, watch this video:
- Precision Graphics Tablet: Our professional Wacom Intuos utilizes trusted Pro Pen technology to allow for hours of image editing, illustration or design work
- Ultra-Responsive Wacom Pro Pen 2: The included ergonomic 8192 pressure sensitive battery-free pen is easy to control, giving you the familiar feel that you are used to with exceptional sensitivity
- Compact Bluetooth Design: The compact design along with touch gestures and programmable buttons give you a broad range of ways to personalize the way you work and create
- Productivity Boosters: Speed up and stay in creative flow with multi-touch gestures and get easy shortcuts with customizable 8 Express Keys Touch Ring and pen side switches
- Creative Software: Register your Intuos Pro and receive 3-months of Capture One and Shapr3D, and 3-months/250GB of MASV file transfer; offer available for customers located in the Americas
3. Huion H610 Pro V2
If you’re looking for a budget-friendly graphics tablet but with great features like most high-end devices, you may want to consider Huion H610 Pro V2. It is a fantastic option for designers as its drawing area is large and comes with a battery-free stylus.
Apart from a generous drawing area, the Huion H610 Pro V2 is lightweight and portable. You can choose either PC and phone modes for optimum design freedom. The two modes correspond with drawing areas. For example, if you decide to use the phone mode, the working area reduces, enabling your drawing to be mobile-friendly.
You can create precise and natural lines because the control system’s innovation allows better cursor positioning and pressure detection. The stylus is battery-free, giving freedom for cord-free design. Whether you’re starting or in the middle of your drawing, you need not worry about the pen’s charging. Due to its lack of battery, the stylus is lightweight, offering the proper comfort when working on your project.
It’s no doubt The H610 Pro V2 has impressive features to maximize your drawing creativity. The tablet’s soft and press keys allow designers to reduce interruptions and streamline their work. The drawing area has eight customizable keys including, scroll, undo, pencil and eraser.
- Android Supported - HUION H610 Pro V2 is compatible with Mac (OS 10.12 and above), Windows 7 and above, Android devices (OS 6.0 and above). You can easily connect your phone to the tablet with the OTG connector after firmware UPDATED; ONLY mobile phone and tablet powered by Android 6.0 or above are supported, while iPhone and iPad are NOT at the moment. NOTE: The cursor will not show up in SAMSUNG at present, except SAMSUNG Note Series.
- Innovative Tilt Control System - Provide you better pressure detection and accurate cursor positioning with different angles, restore the true feeling of painting.
- 8192 Levels of Pressure Sensitivity - Outfitted with Huion's latest battery-free stylus PW100 of 10mm reading heights; 5080LPI in resolution and 233RPS in reading rates, which offers more accurate and natural drawing experience.
- Customizable Shortcut Keys - 8 Customized Press Keys + 16 Customized Soft Keys, all customizable and easy to set up; With the two pen buttons, you can set it to the function like eraser as you want;10×6.25 inches sufficient compact working area.
- Online Teaching and Working - Meet all your needs for every subject with online tutoring softwars: Power Point, Wrod, OneNote, PDF... Let's work more efficiently. Use Huion for for online conference purpose,Web Conferencing, Webinars and Screen Sharing.
4. XP-Pen G430S
You can start using the Pen G430 Graphics tablet immediately after you unbox the device. The tablet and the pen don’t require you to install batteries. The pen doesn’t need a charge to function while the tablet draws its charge from your PC or laptop.
The tablet’s design is sleek, and using the pen won’t give you a hard time because of its comfortability. It comes with the pen’s spare nibs and a guide to get you started. If you love traveling, XP-Pen G430S can work well for you. The lack of an internal battery and its compact size makes it ideal when traveling because of its stress-free setup and portability.
The tablet’s great specs can help you up to your design career, but you can also use it to play the OSU game, which is free. Its pressure sensitivity offers an opportunity to navigate, create and modify with the stylus. The stylus’s innovation considers both left-handed and right-handed users, meaning anyone can use it without issues.
The XP-Pen G640s’s excellent features offer the user with incredible drawing experience. This is one of the graphic tablets you can count on when it comes to your drawings. The best part is the XP-Pen G640s’s affordability, making it one of the best choices for those with tight budgets. If you love playing games, you could try OSU and enjoy the tablet’s superb performance.
- 【OSU game】 Designed for OSU! gameplay, drawing, painting, sketching, E-signatures etc. No need to install drivers for OSU! It's also designed for both right and left hand users.
- 【Ultra thin tablet】 Active Area 4 x 3 inches. Fully utilizing our 8192 levels of pen pressure sensitivity―Providing you with groundbreaking control and fluidity to expand your creative output.
- 【Accurate Pen Performance】StarG430S computer graphics tablet is the perfect replacement for a traditional mouse! The XPPen advanced Battery-free PN01 stylus does not require charging, allowing for constant uninterrupted Draw and Play, making lines flow quicker and smoother, enhancing overall performance.
- 【Compact and Portable】 The G430S art tablet is only 2mm thick, it’s as slim as all primary level graphic tablets,Ultra-thin and portable, allowing you hold it in one hand and carry it on the go.
- 【PLEASE NOTE】: The XPPen StarG 430 is compatible with the Windows system 11/10/8/7(32/64bit), and the Mac OS X version 10.10 or later. But if your computer is a Mac, you need to grant permission to Mac preference first, please go to our official website, and according to the guide: XPPen>Support>FAQ, find out the Star G430 and click, then click the question according to your Mac system. There are detailed guidelines for installing the driver so your tablet will work correctly.
5. Huion H420
The Huion H420 compatibility includes most graphics applications such as Comic Studio, Macromedia Flash, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, CorelDraw, and Corel. The tablet’s size is lightweight, and adding it to your backpack or handbag may not make a noticeable difference. This makes Huion H420 highly portable.
The Huion H420 has programmable and customizable keys to the side, giving you the freedom to perform commands even in the middle of your drawing. The tablet’s pen also has two customizable buttons, and you can apply them to the right or left mouse buttons or perform any command of your choice.
Apart from having programmable keys, this tablet has other customizable features to enhance your drawing. These include the tablet’s active area and the pen tip’s pressure. The Huion H420’s pressure sensitivity is great for the tablet’s price, and its smooth surface gives the user a pen and a paper experience.
While Huion H420 has a small drawing area, it doesn’t compromise quality because it works like other graphic tablets available in the market today. If you’re a beginner digital designer or you’re on a tight budget, you may prefer this tablet. It’s cheaper but can serve you well in your design career. You can explore more devices as you advance your profession.
Conclusion
If you’re an artist, designer, or illustrator, there are many graphics tablets for Mac available in the market. Choosing the right one according to your needs can improve your performance. These are some of the tablets you can use for a better drawing experience. Which tablet do you think is your favorite?