Cintiq 22HD Touch MonitorWacom’s Cintiq 22HD Touch Display deserves a review, even though it’s been in release for a while, for two important reason: 1) it’s a reliable workhorse for anyone who creates or edits graphics, images, visual design, motion graphics or video on a regular basis; 2) The touch component adds great versatility and can speed up your work productivity in a natural way.

The pressure-sensitive Wacom stylus (which comes with replaceable nibs) works on every art/design/graphic/video program I’ve found, including the standards that have brushes and other analog art tools built in: Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketchbook Pro, Manga Studio, ArtRage, CorelDraw., etc. Animators and 3D artists will find that newer editions of products from Smith Micro, Autodesk and others will also find something better than Easter eggs in their programs that take special advantage of the Wacom tablet’s 2048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity. The list goes on, but if any of these are familiar to you, you get the point. If not, read on.

If you need to work with a stylus on a graphic that is best suited for a brush, pencil, pen or other analog tool, take  note: the Cintiq 22″ HD’s large screen at full HD resolution, rapid response and high sensitivity to angle and pressure will be very satisfying. You will, in many cases, discover that you have been using graphics programs at perhaps even less than half their capabilities once you shift into using them with a pressure sensitive stylus directly on screen. There is a difference between working with traditional tools, however, if you’re used to pencil or markers on paper or paint on canvas, and working on the Cintiq, simply because of the lack of friction you’ll feel from the standard plastic tip of the Wacom stylus gliding on the monitor’s glass. I usually substitute one of the nibs available for the stylus, particularly the Hard Felt Nib, which has the greatest drag of all the options avalable but also has to be replaced most frequently.

Where it really shines is the combination of stylus and touch on the same surface, especially a surface of this size. When it comes to tablets and devices with pressure sensitive screens of different flavors, I’m accustomed to working on an iPad, a Microsoft Surface Pro, and the 13″ Cintiq HD Display (which does not have touch sensitivity). The 22HD Touch is not just a big brother to the 13″ Cintiq HD Display, however.

CINTIQ 22HD Touch display 800x600_DTH2200HD_04Begin with setting up the device: where the 13″ Cintiq has a plastic stand with 2 small swing up flaps to angle the display on the desktop and no legs, the 22″ Touch Display arrives with a substantial adjustable leg stand, which requires a little bit of setup.

There’s no need for special equipment, but it is best to have enough desk space for the display to both stand at an angle and slide back  to make it lie flatter to the desktop. There is a lever on the right hand side of the stand that allows the display to slide up and down at various angles, and I recommend using it gently and holding the display as you raise and lower it, as the handle feels like there’s a lot of play, and the display isn’t light, coming in just under 20 lbs.

Cintiq 22HD Touch screen showing angles

Side view of the Cintiq 22HD Touch revealing the back legs support at a wide variety of angles.

I have discovered that over time, it becomes tiring to use the display when in the standard nearly vertical position, primarily because it becomes tiring holding up my non-drawing hand to keep touching the screen to navigate or control the on-screen working canvas. My hands are constantly on the screen, turning a page on screen at various angles as I draw, or zooming in and out with a pinch gesture, which is nearly universal for all apps now. I would like to find a way to use some gestures for Adobe applications that use dials on screen, such as Premiere Pro and After Affects; I have tried to use the stylus to control them, but I find the onscreen dials too small to easily manipulate finely, and more often resort to punching in numeric values and using the arrows to increase or decrease values.

The specifications say that the 22″ HD Touch has a 21.5″ diagonal viewing area, full HD 1920×1080 resolution, 72% Adobe RGB, 16.7 million colors, Contrast ration of 1000:1, and Brightness of 230 cd/m2. How does that translate for different users? For the average designer, these numbers can be read two ways: good enough for long-term, every day use, not too bright, not too dark, and probably you get used to the color range and brightness pretty quickly. However, if your work is highly color-perfect dependent, you might need to consider Wacom’s top of the line units, the 24″HD and 24″ HD Touch, which offer billions of colors and 97% of the Adobe RGB gamut, but a lower contrast ratio and (to my eye) a less bright screen. It also has a more substantial stand to hold the larger monitor, but brings the weight of the assembled unit over 68lbs. My approach was to use an additional monitor for program monitoring or calibrated color correction/grading. With 4K video about to enter my workflow, and new monitors with great price points arriving on the marketplace, I’m just as happy to stick to this approach.

I have been trying out the unit with a fully loaded late-2013 Mac Book Pro running the latest version of OSX and a Dell M6800 Portable Workstation running Window 7 with an NVIDIA Quadro 3100 card to drive the monitor. The monitor comes with a DVI connector as standard, and it looks like there is the capability to swap that out for another type of connector if you’re willing to take the stand connector off the monitor and supply a different cable of your own. I chose to just use a Thunderbolt adapter for the Mac Book Pro, and I plug the DVI connection directly into the optional docking unit I have for the M6800. There is minimal difference in the hookup, setup and operation between the two machines. I found it absolutely necessary to make sure to download and install the latest drivers from Wacom on both computers for proper performance.

There is a touchstrip panel on either side, and assignable buttons, but I must confess, I haven’t used them with any consistency. I’m used to my keyboard shortcuts on my favorite programs, and while it might be helpful for some workflows, I’ve only gone as far as programming the switch on the grip area of the stylus to the UNDO command. I also haven’t noticed a real difference in setting the unit for being left-handed, perhaps I’ve been compensating for that without realizing it. I didn’t see any clear documentation about that in the setup, and I’m lazy when it comes to digging for that kind of information.

I will report, however, that the screen will go completely black for approximately 1-2 seconds for no apparent reason when running on the Mac. I can’t identify the cause, as the Mac laptop’s built in screen never goes black with the Wacom monitor connected, whether in mirror or independent screen mode. I have noticed the same issue with the 13″ Cintiq and the Mac, as well. This has not happened at all with the Dell M6800 and the Cintiq 22″.

A USB connection to the computer carries the stylus and touch signals, and I saw no serious lag on either machine. Where there was slow response time from the stylus  I could routinely blame that on my own bad habit of having too many programs open, putting excessive demand on the computer. Closing windows and apps or restarting the system nearly always put things back to the pen keeping up with me.

I also use a small Intuos Pen and Touch unit as a big trackpad, connect an external wireless keyboard, and then work with the lid of either laptop shut—the Cintiq 22″ is not too tiring to use all day by itself, on either computer, I have discovered.

I would not hesitate to say that this Cintiq could serve as an excellent primary monitor in many cases for visual designers and artists, and certainly as a perfect workhorse of a multi-purpose second monitor or external laptop monitor if you work often on site with a laptop but want that  full-sized screen and the speed of touch at your fingertips when you’re back in your studio or at your desk.

The suggested retail price is USD $2499, and can be purchased from various authorized dealers, online vendors, and directly from Wacom on their online store.