After working close to a year with the Cintiq, I felt it was time doing a review about it. It might be especially interesting since when I bought it, I used a PC and I changed to Mac on January this year.


On another note, the tablet and display driver issue in OSX especially El Capitan is fixed with the latest driver update. Now even color settings do work like on PC. So far there is no difference to working on a PC.

The only nitpick is that the glass plate of the Pen Display is not real glass as I got 2 nasty scratches. I used a glass plate as security option in the beginning but researched and found that it was stated by Wacom that there is an "edge-to-edge glass plate. Either my product was faulty or the glass is not as hard as real glass.

Here is the first review when I got the tablet with some older hacks.

And as pity as it is, I don´t use the Ergotron arm anymore. I just figured I don´t use it as much as with the Cintiq 13HD. It now serves as an iPad holder on the couch;)

Magnetic Pen Magic ;)

The Keyboard Hack *update*

That is the reason I use a glass plate again and I can only recommend to use either a foil or a plate if you intend to get one.

I decided for a glass plate because it allows me to attach the keyboard perfect on the upper edge without tilt and wobbling. I tried the keyboard cradle from Cintweak but in the long run it is not as perfect as this simple keyboard hack, I´m really sorry to say that. You can´t see it, but the Cintweak does now work as an SSD-Tray mounted on the back of the iMac and does so gracefully ;)
I won´t show that as it would be material for another Mac-hack...

Below is the simple keyboard hack. I used a PVC plate with double sided sticky film:

PVC plates are cheap to get in every DIY market. They are easy to cut with a box cutter. I had a leftover plate lying around and thus it makes a less than $5 solution fixing the keyboard to the exact upper edge of the Cintiq. Having it lay parallel makes it more ergonomic and easy on the hands to type. the Cintweak solution was more tilted and in the end I like the sturdy option with the glass plate better.

The Pen holder hack

A $3.89 solution

I´m not obsessed with pen holders that others use or collect such as these sharks or Thor´s hammer pieces of art. For me the act of grabbing the pen has to be effective. I want to be able to grab my tool without looking for it. Yes, I´m that lazy;)

Nothing fancy here just a cheap trick that makes life easier.

All you need is a thin metal plate with 3m sticky coat on the back like you have with every phone holder that works magnetic. The cheapest bet right now is this example of a Magnetic Mount holder.

But in fact any replacement metal plate with 3m film on its back will work. But the plates alone are more expensive as some products with holder, so this example that is only $3.89 including free shipping as a plus product on Amazon is the cheapest you can get.

Here´s what you have to do with it:

 This is the finally cut metal plate, it is not beautiful but it will do the trick ;)

Now you can go through this step by step: pull the rubber sleeve back from the pen but carefully as the rubber is very thin and if it is older, it is possible that you damage it. Put the small plate/ring under the rubber sleeve and pull the rubber back over it like in the images above.

Also it is recommended that you prevent sharp edges around the metal plate to not damage the rubber sleeve from the inside. either use sandpaper for this or a sharp scissor.

In everyday use it does not bother a bit, you definitely will not notice.

Here is a video that shows it even works with the Wacom Art Pen which is a bit heavier.

Conclusion:

These hacks are not only ways to make life easier, they are also my personal call to Wacom to make things better in the future. Why not making the pens magnetic? Why adding real estate to the sides but not on top where a keyboard can be positioned?

I hope Wacom will get to this, other than that I´m really pleased.

Do you have any questions related to some hacks ? Do you have your own solutions that you would like to share? Please let me know in a comment. Cheers