Wacom launches four, affordable drawing tablets with the aspiring artist in mind

Wacom is back with four new mid-range drawing tablets for fledgling digital artists: the One S, One M, One 12, and the One 13 touch. The first two are your traditional pen tablets while the others feature a screen similar to an iPad.

Measuring 152 x 95mm (6 x 3.7 inches), the Wacom One S is your quintessential entry-level device. It features 4K pressure sensitivity, meaning the tablet can tell, with a high degree of accuracy, if you’re drawing a thick or thin line by the amount of force you’re using. The company states the model recognizes “natural tilt” so you can hold your stylus at an angle to achieve certain effects. Speaking of styluses, the One S comes with a pen sporting two programmable buttons for assigning keyboard shortcuts. You can connect the tablet to your computer via Bluetooth, but if you prefer a wired connection, the package does come with a USB-C cable.

The Wacom One M is essentially the same thing as the One S; albeit bigger, measuring 216 x 135mm (8.5 x 5.3 inches). They’re both paper thin, clocking in at 7.9mm (less than an inch) thick.

These tablets are currently available for purchase. The Wacom One S retails for $69.95 (£55.99/$99 AUD) whereas the One M sells for $109.95 (£106/$199 AUD). You can purchase third-party stylus pens from LAMY and STAEDTLER at the checkout if you prefer those. However, good luck getting your hands on either of them. At the time of this writing, they are completely sold out across the US, UK, and Australia. 

No word on when they’ll come back.

Display tablets

As for Wacom One 12 and One 13 touch, they have most of the same features as the drawing tablets, except, of course, their respective screens. 

The One 12 sports a 295 mm (11.6-inch) Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixel) resolution display covering 99 percent of the sRGB color space. The glass has been touched up with an anti-glare and anti-fingerprint coating for optimal clarity. Wacom also claims the display has no parallax which is the distance between the tip of a stylus and a line on-screen. Like the 4K pressure sensitivity, zero parallax ensures a high level of accuracy.

The One 13 touch has everything we just mentioned with two key differences, although you can probably guess what they are. First, the display is larger, measuring 13.3 inches across. Second, it’s a touchscreen supporting “ten-finger multi-touch gestures [for] intuitive use”. Both of the higher-end models are, at 11.5mm thick, a bit heftier than their smaller counterparts.

You can buy the Wacom One 12 for $299.95 (£293.99/$499 AUD) with optional accessories at checkout. The Wacom One 13 touch, like the traditional tablets, is sold out in the US, UK, and Australia. When it comes back, you can buy it for $499.95 (£484/$849 AUD). Everything in this lineup is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, as well ChromeOS.

These products are meant for beginners. If you want something more high-end, check out TechRadar’s list of the best drawing tablets for 2023.