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Cintiq 21UX
30 Jan, 2011 By: Ron LaFonFirst Look Review: Wacom's pressure-sensitive, interactive pen display fits the bill for creative professionals who want a leading-edge tool.
Editor's Note: This article was originally published in the Fall 2010 issue of Cadalyst magazine.
Wacom's new Cintiq 21UX is a unique product that combines the best of digitizing tablets with a high-resolution display, allowing digital artists to draw directly on the display surface. This immediate and responsive feedback is unparalleled, and it completes the eye-to-hand coordination loop for creative individuals.
Host of Features
The Cintiq 21UX is a newly redesigned pen display that features a 21.3" diagonal screen with UXGA resolution — 1,600 x 1,200 (4:3 aspect ratio). The active area of the display is 17" x 12.75", and the physical size of the entire device is 22.1" x 16.6" x 1.9" (W x H x D). The tablet can be rotated plus or minus 180 degrees, and the incline of the included stand can be adjusted from 10 degrees to 65 degrees. The entire unit with the stand weighs 22.4 lbs.
Characteristics of the amorphous silicon (a-Si) active matrix display include a maximum power consumption of 54 W, 2 W or less in Sleep mode, and 1 W or less in Off mode. Additional lower resolutions to 640 x 480 are supported by the Cintiq 21UX in 24-bit color. The pixel pitch is 0.270 mm x 0.270 mm, typical contrast ratio is 550:1, luminance is rated at 220 cd/m2, and the given response time is 20 ms. Viewing angle is rated at 170 degrees x 170 degrees.
An onscreen display is part of the Wacom drivers, and it offers access to manual controls for brightness, contrast, pitch, phase, vertical position, horizontal position, transparency, auto adjust, language, backlight, menu position, reset, scaling, and color temperature (9300K, 6500K, 5000K, custom, user, and direct).
The stand can be removed, if desired, for using the Cintiq 21UX on a tabletop or for attaching it to an optional articulating arm using the standard VESA mounts located on the back of the display.
The high-resolution grip pen features 2,048 levels of pressure, doubling the resolution of the pen's pressure curve and improving the accuracy of pressure-sensitive effects. A tilt range of plus or minus 60 degrees is possible with the grip pen, making it a very flexible and responsive tool.
Several innovative productivity elements are incorporated into the design of the Wacom Cintiq 21UX. For example, rear-mounted Touch Strips are placed ideally for fingertip access while working. Each Touch Strip has an accompanying thumb-controlled Touch Strip toggle button that controls as many as four different user-assigned functions — such as zoom, scroll, brush size adjustment, and canvas rotation — per application.
In addition, the Cintiq 21UX has customizable, application-specific ExpressKeys. These eight keys, located on each side of the display's bezel, help to improve workflow and boost productivity by placing commonly using commands in easily accessible positions. You can press the top ExpressKey to bring up an onscreen display showing the settings of all the ExpressKeys and Touch Strips. The ergonomics of these productivity innovations is great, due to the locations of these controls; they are at once easy to access yet difficult to inadvertently touch while in the midst of design operations.
The Wacom Cintiq 21UX is a newly redesigned interactive display that delivers responsive pen performance and innovative ergonomics in a color-accurate LCD display.
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