One by Wacom is one of the most pocket-friendly drawing tablets in the market. It is specially made for beginners and has everything you need to get started with digital art.
One of the reasons why this tablet is so popular amongst beginners is – in spite of its low price, it comes with a fast, accurate, and reliable stylus along with an excellent drawing surface.
There are numerous other budget drawing tablets in the market but no one matches the quality of the drawing surface offered by One by Wacom.
The drawing surface used on this tablet is exactly the same as what is used on the Wacom Intuos, which is a more expensive and beefy tablet from Wacom.
But without any shortcut buttons, is the One by Wacom really a good choice for beginner artists?
In this One by Wacom review, well will take a deep dive at all the features this tablet has to offer and help you figure out whether this tablet is the right fit for you or not.
Features and specifications
The One by Wacom is available in two variants – Small (CTL-472) and Medium (CTL-462).
| One by Wacom | |
|---|---|
| Active Area | 6.0 x 3.7 in, 8.3 x 5.7in |
| Pen Pressure | 2048 |
| Buttons on Pen | 2 |
| Buttons on Tablet | None |
| Tablet Resolution | 2540 lpi |
| Report Rate | 133 pps |
| Colors | Black, Red |
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One by Wacom – The Wacom Bamboo replacement (brief history)
Wacom Bamboo was one of the earliest and very popular tablets from Wacom.
As you can see in the image, over the years Wacom has made several changes to the design of the Wacom Bamboo and with each upgrade, they have made the tablet even more powerful.
In the latest update, Wacom completely got rid of the name “Bamboo” and reintroduced the tablet as “One by Wacom“.
The design of the new tablet saw a massive improvement. They got rid of all the unnecessary empty space around the tablet. Next, they made the tablet slimmer.
The new One by Wacom looks more modern, mature, and minimalist.
Design and Build Quality
Wacom is always known for its great built quality no matter whether we talk of Budget Wacom tablet or the more expensive models.
The top surface of the One by Wacom seems to be made of exactly the same material that is used in Wacom intuos.
The surface is tough and handles scuffs and scratches with ease. Unlike some Wacom knockoffs, even after prolonged usages theses Wacom surface does not gets scratched up easily.
The surface of One by Wacom is slightly textured. This surface texture provides slight resistance to the stylus which makes the pen movements feel more controlled.
The texture on the drawing surface is very well balanced. It is neither too aggressive nor too strong.
Design – Changes and new update
When it comes to design, One by Wacom has gone with the minimalistic design. The whole top surface is fully covered with the drawing area with virtually no wasted space.
On the back of the tablet, you get four rubber pads that hold the tablet in place on smooth surfaces.
Color – The new color option
Most of the drawing table in the market comes with the same boring black color option.
In contrast, the One by Wacom is available in Red color option. The top drawing surface of the table is still black when you turn the tablet to its back you will see the Red-colored back panel in all its glory.
In real life, it looks really attractive.
For those who are wondering – The One by Wacom is also available in the traditional all-black color option.
Stylus – Pressure range and shortcut buttons
The older Wacom Bamboo model of the tablets use to come with only 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity. In contrast, the new One by Wacom comes with a better, faster, and more accurate stylus.
It is twice as sensitive compared to the older Bamboo stylus and comes with 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity.
Another great feature of this stylus is that it uses Wacom’s EMR technology, which means it does not needs to be charged.
The pen is made if plastic from top to bottom and has two buttons at the side. The button is of high quality and has a tactile response on clicking.
The initial activation force of the stylus is also on point. which means you don’t need to press the stylus extra hard for it to be detected by the tablet. This is a common problem in other cheaper drawing tablets.
The tablet comes with three extra pentips and a nib remover tool. The nib is very easy to change and only takes a few seconds.
Drawing Surface
One by Wacom has a very true to paper like the texture on the drawing surface. It provides a slight resistance and makes a paper like sound which the drawing experience very pleasing. It uses the same materials for the drawing surface which they use in their more expensive tablets.
Many other cheap tablets can get scratch marks on their tablet over prolonged uses. But Wacom Drawing surface lasts a very long time and you would not have any scratch issues even after heavy uses.
Performance
One by Wacom may be a cheap tablet but when it comes to real-life uses it is no less than any expensive tablet.
The strokes are smooth with virtually no lag. The strokes are smooth and the tablet does not have wobble and jittering issues where the line is not straight and comes out like a wave. Many other cheap tablets face these kinds of issues but not this one.
Fabric loop as a pen holder
The stylus that comes with the tablet is cylindrical in shape and is quite easy to roll off your desk when not stored properly.
For that reason, the tablet comes with an integrated pen holding loop.
The stylus simply slides into the fabric loop as seen in the image above where it stays safely while not in use.
Accessories – What you get in the box
In the box, you get the Stylus, a long USB Cable, nib remover tool, three extra pen tips, and the tablet itself.
The USB cable has a USB-A port at the end which connects to the tablet and a traditional full-size USB to connect to the computer.
If you are on the latest laptop which does not has the full-size traditional USB port, then you need to grab a dongle.
One more point to note is – the extra pen tips and the nib remover tool comes in a transparent plastic bag. There is no place inside the tablet to store them, so you need to be extra careful and store them safely.
One by Wacom Driver/ Software
IN order for your tablet to work properly you need to install the tablet driver. The Driver is free and can be easily downloaded from the Wacom official site for both Windows and Mac devices.
What does the driver do?
The driver is the communication link between your tablet and your computer. It helps your computer to understand pen pressure data and other inputs to help your device to work properly.
Other than communication, the driver also gives you extra functionality and settings. you can change the pressure range (how hard and soft you want to press). It also helps to customize buttons on the pen to any shortcut of your choice.
Setup and Installation
One by Wacom is very easy to set up and you can start working within minutes.
- First, you need to connect you drawing tablet to the computer using the USB cable.
- Download the official Wacom Driver from the Wacom official site. (One by Wacom Driver for Windows, Mac)
- Go to your downloads folder and Install the Software.
You are ready to rock…
An important thing to note is the above-mentioned process needs to be done only once when you use the device for the very first time. After that you just need to plug in the tablet to the computer and the driver will automatically get activated and the tablet will start working without you needing to do anything extra.
Summary – Who it is made for?
If you are a graphic designer and or do any kind of digital creative work this tablet is for you. You can easily make a selection, mask objects paint and do a lot of other stuff using it.
It is a very popular device among photographer who uses it for photo retouching. These are also great for learning digital painting and it is fully capable to make professional digital art.
Other than that 3D software like ZBrush takes full use of the device’s capabilities for 3D sculpting. These devices are also used in offices for making digital signatures and making handwritten notes. Some also use the device to play games like OSU. In a nutshell, it is an all in one device for all your digital needs.
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Related topics:
Beginner Drawing tablets
Wacom One display tablet review
That actually seems really good.
I used a wacom intuos tablet for years, but I just got my first XP-Pen Deco 01 V2 tablet this year. and it’s really nice.
A few years back they were basically the only game in town and the clones weren’t very good. However, these days, the alternatives are pretty good and more than good enough if you are starting out.