Alongside the iPad Pro, there is a new accessory you may be tempted to buy if you are a designer: the Apple Pencil. It’s not a stylus (remember Steve Jobs’ opinion about the stylus), it’s a pencil. When combined with the iPad Pro, we find Apple’s alternative in a market Wacom currently controls, so the next question is pretty straightforward: How does the Apple Pencil stack up against Wacom’s Cintiq?
Linda Dong’s guest post on Cult of Mac aims to answer that question: Cintiq sucks, she says, and here is why. By the way, Linda is a designer who worked on Apple’s Prototyping team and Apple’s Video Team helping design the latest version of Final Cut Pro and iMovie.
So what she says after years of using Wacom’s hardware is that in terms of stylus design, surface design, and drawing, plainly put, Cintiq sucks. Why? Because the Cintiq stylus is big, wobbly, and the Cintiq is heavy. For example, the 13HD weighs 2.65 pounds, while the iPad Pro weighs 1.59 pounds (the iPad Pro is a bit smaller though only 12 × 8.68 inches compared to 13HD’s 14.75 × 9.75 inches).
Another important thing Linda highlights in her opinion piece is latency. While she struggled to finish her graphics with the Cintiq pen, the Apple Pencil has barely any latency, and actually feels like an actual pencil leaving ink.
When it comes to pricing, the iPad Pro and Apple Pencil combination looks good. Touch-enabled Cintiq models start at $1,000, while the Apple alternative ends at $1,179.
The problem: apps. So, if you are planning to switch to Apple devices, keep your fingers crossed that software makers will think about you. They still have time, since the iPad Pro launches in November.
