Are you new to digital drawing or a hobbyist? Perhaps, you just have a tight budget and are looking for an affordable drawing tablet?
I recommend you the XPPen Star G640 because it’s is the one that I use the most. It features a high-quality pen, compact, and convenient to carry around.
Unboxing
XPPen Star G640 comes in a small white box. The package includes a tablet, pen, USB-A cable, 20 replacement pen nibs, one pen clip and a quick guide.
Although the pen nib don’t tend to wear out easily, it’s great to have some extra ones.
Design & Build Quality
XPPen G640 tablet has a flat, all-black design with no bezels. Most of the tablet’s surface is drawing area, with no space wasted.
One really cool feature is that there’s virtually no bezel to interrupt your pen if you make a stroke that goes off of the active area.
It’s made of lightweight plastic, and only 2mm thick so you can actually use it comfortably even with your hand half off of the tablet!
Size of Active Area
The active drawing area of the tablet is only 6 x 4 inches. Such compact size might put off some, but I don’t find it impedes good writing or a sketching experience. It offers a perfect balance between portability and ample working space.
However, If you’re a professional artist, and draw frequently, I suggest get a XP-Pen Deco 01 V3 with ample 10×6.25 inches active area.
Poratability
The XPPen G640 drawing pad is slim, light, and compact. You can easily put it on your laps while painting, use it on limited desk space, or take it on a trip, etc.
Stylus Pen
It boasts a magical P01stylus pen that will eradicate all the difficulties while drawing on the tablet .
The digital pen is not battery powered at all but use EMR tech. The pen does not require recharge, and always ready to go.
There are two buttons on the pen which are essentially the same as right-click and middle-click on a mouse. You “left-click” by touching the surface of the tablet. And if you browse over the internet by using the digital pen, you can do so by just pressing the button of the pen.
The best part is the pen supports 8192 levels of pressure sensitivity which enables precise and exquisite expression of lines and strokes. You can make fine lines or bold strokes by varying how hard you press.
Besides, the report rate of 266PPS and 10mm sensing height ensure fast reactions, offering responsive, lag-free tracking experience in whatever task you perform.
With this magical pen, you easily sign any documents, edit photos, play osu game, sketch, draw, write, and a lot more like you doing on a piece of paper.
Install and Setup
The setup was quick and easy; connect the tablet to your windows or Mac laptop via the USB cable, install the drivers, and start having fun!
I was easily found and download the driver on XPPen official website. Once you’ve installed the driver, it should create a desktop shortcut for you to easily access the tablet settings.
Lots of customization options, such as set up the pen pressure curve, select the shortcut key you want to set the pen buttons, change the screen area that the tablet controls， etc.
Drawing Experience
This tablet has a very small form factor which allows it to be used even in the most cramped of desk setups. This also makes it extremely portable.
Using the XPPen Star G640 pen tablet is just like drawing with a pencil and paper. My art software is photoshop cc for photo editing, illustrator for vector, krita for painting. They all works well with G640.
The P01 digital pen is light and slim that feels very comfortable to hold. The matte surface of the tablet allows for a semi rough texture that decently simulates the friction of paper.
In some cases, it makes you feel like you are using a magic wand. The response to the pen movements is quick and accurate. It even records levels of pressure sensitivity very accurately that allows a true “feel” of the work..
For working with photographs, the precision and ease of a pen beats a mouse any day. The pressure sensitivity allows me to alter the brush size or opacity just by pressing harder or lighter on the tablet as I draw.
Combined with the natural feel of the pen, this allows me to make photograph alterations involving hand-drawn layer masks and dodging/burning with ease.
Lastly, This tablet is comfortable for playing osu, Really low latency using hovering or drag method. It helps me jump from 4 stars to 5 star beatmaps!
Price
The early days of drawing tablets from Wacom, which was the only thing available for a long time, was very expensive and really designed for graphic designers, architects and other professionals who could afford them.
Those days are long gone, and at only $29.99, this XPPen Star G640 tablet makes it affordable for people who aren’t professionals. Time for us all to start creating our own birthday cards, holiday cards, pictures and the like.
In Conclusion
XPPen Star G640 is simple but suitable for many types of work. It’s user-friendly, affordable, and provides a natural drawing experience with its pressure-sensitive pen.
But here are a few drawbacks to consider. Firstly, such a small tablet may feel restrictive to professionals accustomed to a larger drawing surface. Secondly, the tablet lacks the express keys which may keep you from fully optimizing your workflow.
I would definitely recommend the Star G640 to those who want to get a tablet and are just getting into the field of digital art or photo manipulation. Buy One and get started!
It’s definitely not as fancy as the more expensive ones but for my first one and for the price it is amazing!
There is a bit of a learning curve when you first get it but don’t let that discourage you as by the end of the first day I got it I had already gotten used to it and preferred using it.
