Color and Precision Above All Else: We Review the XPPen Artist Pro 24 (Gen 2) 4K Pen Display

by Nicco Valenzuela November 28, 2024 0 Comments

While portable editing devices offer the convenience of editing anywhere, nothing beats having a dedicated desk with a large screen for meticulous editing and post-production. Let’s see if this second-generation pen display from XPPen is worth getting.

Pen tablets enable the user to make precise inputs using a pen compared to what a mouse can offer. Because of that, they have also become very useful tools for photographers who do heavy manual retouching and/or composite editing.

Displays, typically a computer monitor or laptop screen, have the crucial role of showing the user every significant little dot and in the right shade of the right color. These used to be tasks for two different tools, and even if pen displays have been around for a while, it took time for the quality of the displays to be reliable for color-intensive work. This new generation of the XPPen Artist Pro pen display puts color and precision inputs above all else.

The XPPen Artist Pro 24 (Gen 2) 4K

The new Artist Pro 24 4K comes as a large 638 x 408 x 44 mm (25.12 x 16.06 x 1.73 inches) and weighs 7.3 kilograms (including the stand). This comprises a 526 x 296 mm (20.71 x 11.65 inches) active area and a 112 mm (4.41 inch) bezel.

What’s In The Box

XPPen Artist Pro 24 Gen 2 4K
Power adapter
Wireless shortcut remote
Pen case
X3 Pro smart chip stylus
X3 Pro slim stylus
10 standard nibs
10 slim nibs
2 pen clips
USB-C to C cable
USB-A to C cable
Full sized HDMI cable
DisplayPort cable
Adjustable stand
Glove
Cleaning cloth

The display is encased in fully laminated anti-glare nano-etched glass with an anti-fingerprint coating. It includes a vari-angle ergonomic stand that allows the user to adjust to any viewing or drawing angle between 16 to 72 degrees. On the top edge's right corner is a single power button and a display brightness adjustment button.

For input and output ports, it has one USB-C port, a full-sized HDMI port, a DisplayPort, and a 3.5 mm audio output/headphone port. All are housed at the back with a removable cover and conveniently placed cable runners for easy cable management.

Display Resolution and Color

The XPPen Artist Pro 24 (Gen 2) 4K features a 23.8-inch IPS panel behind the fully laminated anti-glare etched glass with a 16:9 aspect ratio. This display spans the entire active area for pen inputs. The panel has a maximum brightness of 300 nits and a resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 (4K) capable of 10-bit (1.07 billion) colors. This display is rated capable of displaying 99% of sRGB, 99% Adobe RGB, and 98% DCI-P3. Each panel is also factory-calibrated and tested with Calman Verification standards and is generally rated to have an average color accuracy of Delta E <1. Each specific panel comes with a calibration report as they were tested in standard conditions, and this particular unit has a remarkable Delta E rating of an average of 0.18.

Pen Input and Sensitivity

While the display is not touch-sensitive, the XPPen Artist Pro 24 Gen 2 4K comes with greatly increased pressure sensitivity. Both the X3 Pro Smart Chip stylus and the X3 Pro slim stylus come with doubled pressure sensitivity levels of 16,384, improving upon the previous industry standard of 8,192 levels. This translates into double the precision when varying force applied using pen inputs and can have implications depending on the workflow and selected input patterns.

The pens have a resolution of 5,080 lines per inch and an accuracy of +/- 0.4 mm. They have a minimum reading distance of 10 mm and are sensitive up to a 60-degree tilt in any direction.

Setting Up

Even though this pen display is a considerably large device, everything can be considered plug-and-play. Users have the option of the simpler and more straightforward connection using a single USB-C to USB-C cable that serves as the host cable for both display and input. If using a more complex desk setup with multiple displays or a docking station, the user can choose between the full-sized HDMI cable or DisplayPort in combination with the USB-A to USB-C cable for inputs.

With the XP Pen driver installed onto the computer, further configurations can be made. Users can select which among multiple desktops will be displayed by the screen, as well as the arrangement of multiple displays altogether. At the same time, the active area can be configured into either the entire screen or a selected fraction for even better precision.

Using the driver, the user can also set specific sensitivity curves for pen inputs and configure the shortcut buttons on each pen independently. The driver can also be used to set up the included wireless shortcut remote and configure any and all of the customizable shortcut buttons and the main dial.

XP Pen also has its own color management and calibration software called the XPPen X-ColorMaster that is integrated with Calman’s Aurora Color Engine for what is said to be the most scientific color calibration solution. This, of course, requires the use of an external colorimeter device and is compatible with colorimeter models from Portrait C6, Calibrite, and X-Rite. Other devices, such as Datacolor Spyder models, can be used to calibrate the display but require using their own proprietary software instead.

User Experience and Application

First impressions of the XPPen Artist Pro 24 Gen 2 4K, of course, focus on its physical design. While understandably large because of the large display panel, it is noticeable that it has a thick bezel around the display. This might not necessarily be a good or bad point about the design, even though thin bezels are generally more aesthetically pleasing. Having a thick bezel can have ergonomic benefits, such as providing more surface area to rest the hand when drawing on the corners. Even though the Artist Pro 24 Gen 2 4K is not touch-sensitive and palm rejection is irrelevant, some users might have a better experience with extra space for their hands on the sides and corners. Given that, personally, I would have preferred a thinner bezel and possibly a smaller form altogether.

As mentioned earlier, while it has significant enhancements in pressure sensitivity using the pens as input tools, the Artist Pro 24 Gen 2 has no finger touch sensitivity, which could greatly improve the user experience not for making drawing inputs but for navigation across the frame when drawing or editing specific portions of an image. The wireless shortcut remote offers a lot of convenience, not just for shortcuts but also for navigation; however, in my opinion, it is still inferior to the experience of being able to use pinch gestures for zoom and two-finger drag for scrolling. Additionally, it would have been nice if the display were also equipped with a built-in hub for additional USB-A and USB-C ports to simplify cable management and make way for a tidier desk setup. For most photographers’ editing workflows, whether this involves highly detailed manual retouching or working with multiple images for creating composite images, the pens offer much convenience for making inputs more precise than what a mouse could offer. On paper, the doubled pressure sensitivity is impressive; however, this would still depend on the individual user’s way of using the pen for editing.

More than anything, it would have to be the remarkable color accuracy that the XPPen Artist Pro 24 Gen 2 4K offers that would be most attractive. Most color-accurate monitors on the market are being sold for almost as much or even more than how much this pen display costs. Take into consideration the fact that not all of them feature the color performance that this display offers; it would be like merging the benefits of both a color-accurate monitor and a large pen tablet for the typical price of a monitor.

Overall, the XP Pen Artist Pro 24 Gen 2 4K offers superb color rendition and accuracy on a 24-inch 4K display and industry-leading pressure sensitivity and input precision. Though it can probably be improved in terms of aesthetic design because of the bulky form and thick bezels, this massive editing and illustration tool sticks to the factors that matter most: functionality, precision, and color accuracy.