Graphics tablets are available in all shapes, sizes, and costs, however till lately, there was little or no competitors within the area. This left potential customers with only a few and infrequently very costly choices. That’s the market the Veikk VK2200 Professional enters and is making an attempt to vary. Whereas nearly all of the pen tablets are restricted to a strong coloured “drawing floor” that also makes you look to your laptop display to see what you’re doing, graphics tablets will let you draw extra naturally as a result of they permit you to color and retouch instantly onto the display, making it really feel as if you have been engaged on an precise canvas. Principally, when an artist, graphic designer, or photograph retoucher makes the bounce from a pen pill to a graphics pill, it looks like a large improve, in addition to feeling rather more ergonomic and pure. As I mentioned in my VK1060 Pen Pill evaluation, with the inflow of those new manufacturers, lots of them provide spectacular high quality at an extremely reasonably priced worth. Whereas not as low cost as a pen pill, the $499 VK2200 Professional remains to be a fraction of the price of lots of its rivals. That worth should come at some price, proper? Simply how good is it in comparison with the business veterans? Whereas I admit, I’m no skilled painter, illustrator, or designer, show tablets are nonetheless a few of my favourite to work on. Since this graphics pill prices lower than virtually each different competitor of its measurement, if it really works even remotely in addition to the corporate guarantees, it might make a tremendous instrument for freshmen to be taught on. Design and Construct High quality The VK2200 Professional provides a 21.5-inch 1080p IPS show that may be drawn on from edge to edge. Just like the VK1060, this pill comes with a “smudge glove” so your fingers gained’t follow the show floor or depart any undesirable marks in your display whilst you work. The VK2200 Professional can be a wired-only answer that connects with a USB-C cable and an HDMI, in addition to a separate energy provide that must be plugged into an outlet.
The show itself (when powered off) appears to be like virtually equivalent to the floor of most traditional pen tablets. The show is barely energetic when it’s powered up — the button for which is on the underside proper rear facet of the system. The opposite buttons on the pill are for accessing its menu system the place you may make handbook changes to issues just like the brightness, colour temperature, distinction, and show decision. On the entrance of the show, you’ll discover eight programmable buttons for essentially the most continuously used instruments of their most well-liked apps, in addition to two (additionally programmable) jog-dial buttons for issues like rotation, zoom, and scrolling. On the rear of the pill, you’ll discover the adjustable stand that provides customers a variety of display tilt/angles permitting you to place the pill in any place to go well with their workspace wants. For tho preferring, it may well even be laid flat, with its base elevating the pill a little bit over an inch off of your work floor.
Additionally included within the field are the cables (talked about above), pens with tender pouches for journey, a pen stand with additional nibs, a cleansing material, a nib-removal-tool, a fast begin information, and a postcard with the motive force obtain directions. The Pill and Display screen The VK2200 Professional show pill can solely be described as huge. It’s large, and provides you with a large quantity of area to work with. As somebody coming from utilizing a small pen pill for almost all of my profession, it was and nonetheless is kind of an adjustment to get used to. However that quantity of area could be very welcome to work on, particularly for magnificence pictures the place I have to get up-close and private with each single pore of somebody’s pores and skin. The dimensions makes micro edits simpler, and even generally enjoyable to do — at the least when in comparison with doing these repeated motions on a small pen pill whereas staring straight forward at a monitor.
The pill itself feels very sturdy and sturdy. I unintentionally bumped it round when setting it up a little bit tougher than I might have appreciated, and there wasn’t a smudge, scratch, or defect internally to be observed with it. The stand’s rubber toes permit for some very safe positioning when underneath heavy use, my desk wobbled greater than I used to be capable of make the pill shake. The cables all join from the best of the system (when dealing with the display facet), however the cables are lengthy sufficient which you can place the pill comfortably in no matter place you like. Meaning you may swap between the best and left sides with none actual points, nevertheless, the buttons will all the time be on the left facet of the pill, making it a little bit bit harder for left-handed customers to take full benefit of the design. Ideally, it might be good if the show might be “flipped” utilizing the stand in order that left and right-handed customers would swap sides as wanted for simpler use, or by including a further set of buttons (mirrored) to the opposite facet. These modifications would possible add a little bit of complexity to the design in addition to extra prices, so I perceive why Veikk opted for what we’ve right here. Just like the 1060 pill, after you obtain the mandatory drivers you may select your working space and have the pill both act as a mirror to the pc’s main display or it may be a further standalone monitor. It’s also possible to customise the programmable buttons and make a number of usability changes. Veikk says the show can attain a decision of 1920×1080, however on each my M1 and Intel-based Macs, I used to be solely capable of get a most decision of 1600×900. I don’t doubt that it ought to get at the least to Full HD, however I wasn’t capable of see that and can chalk it as much as a firmware incompatibility. Not solely is the decision low, however the default brightness can be lackluster particularly in comparison with my important monitor. Fortunately you may enhance that brightness and because it’s a show, you should use a calibration instrument like a Calibrite to get a little bit extra accuracy out of the system’s show.
Transferring onto the floor, it feels moderately scratch-resistant. I did some moderately heavy and extreme drawing to check this out and didn’t see any noticeable points. I’d think about that after long-term, continued you will notice some seen put on, nevertheless, a search of evaluations from different customers confirmed a moderately optimistic response to the longevity of the show, which is a good signal. That being mentioned, it’s considerably of a mud magnet. Evaluating it to the display of my laptop computer sitting proper subsequent to it was evening and day. My laptop computer had practically nothing on it, but the pill had a really high quality layer of mud over it after only a few hours of use. Principally, you’ll need to preserve a microfiber material shut by. The Pen The pen is just about equivalent to the one shipped with the VK1060 pill and is simply as responsive and correct. The stress sensitivity out of the field was fairly correct to what I might use for my retouching. The pen, very like the Wacom pens, comes with two customizable buttons and has a pressure-sensitive nib that may be changed with the offered extras within the field (and within the pen stand). The stand for the pen is equivalent to the 1060 unit which additionally contains the twist-off high that comprises the spare nibs ought to the one you’re utilizing put on out and want changing. Additionally, identical to in my 1060 evaluation, the pen for the 2200 Professional doesn’t comprise an “eraser” button, which makes the method of erasing a bit extra tedious and drawn out. The pen options 8,192 stress ranges and a 60-degree tilt perform giving customers a sensible feeling “brush” to create with on the pill, and better of all, there isn’t a battery on this pen, that means you by no means should cease utilizing it to recharge. Usability and Efficiency After putting in the motive force, the show labored instantly with out having to do any handbook configurations. That being mentioned, there have been nonetheless a number of hiccups.
First, there’s a unusual bug within the setup on my Intel-based Mac. FOr some motive, the Veikk pill exhibits up as two separate shows, and behaviorally, it provides a little bit little bit of a “buffer” or lifeless area between your laptop computer/main show and the one you’ll truly use to edit with on the pill. This habits didn’t present up on my M1 Mac Mini, however I imagine the habits could have one thing to do with the laptop computer’s built-in show versus the exterior displays of the Mac Mini. I reached out to Veikk for a touch upon this and am ready for technical assist to get again to me on it. I’ll be sure you replace this evaluation as quickly as I hear again. As for the remainder of the settings, they have been fairly self-explanatory. You possibly can modify the pen stress and customise the programmable buttons and dials on the pill and pens to be your mostly used instruments for your entire favourite apps. Moreover, customers can run a calibration on the show ought to they begin to discover any odd pen and contact sensitivity habits, making certain they get essentially the most display area and accuracy out of the pill potential.
It’s also price noting that in the event you occur to have one other pill driver put in in your laptop, there might be some “wonky” habits from the Veikk pill. In my state of affairs, I had my Wacom driver put in and sometimes the Veikk settings would seem invisible. Merely closing and reopening the settings panel for the pill would usually make this go away, however it’s an odd and noteworthy habits to concentrate on. Veikk says it’s conscious of this problem. No matter your setup, you’ll have to reboot your programs earlier than the pill can be utilized correctly. Just like the VK1060, as soon as the set up is full, it doesn’t immediate you to reboot. A problem I discovered on the VK1060 can be current with the VK2200 Professional and happens on each the Intel and M1 Mac Mini: if I try to make use of the “examine for replace” instrument within the settings, the app returns an error and crashes out of the preferences pane. It doesn’t appear to trigger any precise usability issues and is only a irritating glitch to concentrate on till the subsequent software program replace is launched. Pen Strain and Utilizing the Pill The pen itself is definitely a lot nicer and smoother to make use of on the VK2200 Professional when in comparison with the VK1060. Surprisingly, there have been virtually zero jitters when utilizing the pen. In reality, the one time I might replicate the “jitters” is that if I simply let gravity join the pen to the floor and slowly dragged the pen throughout the pill, and even then it was barely noticeable. When utilizing the pen as a brush usually, it was extremely easy with no shakes or wobbles in any respect. I assume the “Professional” designation isn’t simply advertising, because the pen’s responsiveness was truly even higher than my Wacom pill. Given how easy it carried out and the way reasonably priced this show pill is, I’m totally impressed. Retouching with the pen was a breeze and it was nice to not should look away from the pen to see what I used to be doing. One final bug price noting is that it doesn’t appear to get alongside effectively with a few of my audio software program or my Loupedeck controller. For some motive, when these apps are energetic, it might truly trigger an enter lag on the show pill. This does occur with the VK1060 pill, so I’m assuming this has to do with the HDMI and USB-C communication for some motive. I’ve additionally knowledgeable the Veikk assist crew of this and am ready to listen to again.
Low in Decision however Excessive On Efficiency I didn’t count on a lot from Veikk given the dearth of brand name recognition and the low price of its merchandise, however I stand impressed. Whereas the display on the VK2200 Professional is probably not the most effective, particularly on Mac, it looks like sufficient that somebody new to the show tablets can affordably begin right here earlier than upgrading sooner or later. The display could be very responsive and labored nice with Photoshop and Lightroom. Additionally, when not getting used as a pill, the show made a fantastic extra monitor for my laptop computer to look at some Netflix on. The 21.5-inch display appears to be like nice and the buttons and dials are helpful, customizable, and attentive to the contact. The stand is sturdy and straightforward to regulate and it comes with a ton of equipment and spare components do you have to ever break or lose a nib and even a complete pen. Total the VK2200 Show Pill is extremely simple and comfy to work with and performs higher than I anticipated with Photoshop and Lightroom for a really low worth of $499. Different tablets do provide a greater decision, brighter shows, and even a greater pen-responsiveness, however these options are inclined to price at double what Veikk is asking. Are There Alternate options? There are a number of options within the pill market from the same old suspects and vary in worth from $479 to $4,000. First up is the XP-Pen Artist Show 22 R Professional that prices $479 which could be the closest one-to-one different to the VK2200. Additionally price contemplating is its larger decision sibling, the Artist 24 Professional which prices $899. Wacom has a whole lot of choices after all, together with the Wacom Cintiq Professional 16 that runs $1,500 or the Wacom Cintiq Professional 24 for $2,000. The 13-inch Wacom One is available in at $400 which is extra consistent with the VK2200’s worth, however is so much smaller. One other show price contemplating is Huion Kamvas Professional 22 that prices $799 and comes extremely beneficial by PetaPixel’s DL Cade.
Ought to You Purchase It? Sure. Whereas there have been some hiccups with the software program and the isn’t notably spectacular, in the event you’re seeking to get began working with a show pill, you may’t discover one at this measurement for a extra reasonably priced worth that additionally provides as responsive a display and pen.