Wacom Cintiq 12WX 12-Inch Pen Display Review

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(More customer reviews)There are good things, many people have listed them. But for $1000, it should be much better. Here are a list of the shortcomings that are not excusable for this price:
-Poor viewing angles. Wacom says you should use the color profiles that come with the display as it has been properly calibrated at the factory. And yes, color is perfect. At least Hue and Saturation. Verified with ColorSync advanced setup. But if the brightness and contrast changes if you move your head, well, it isn't accurate, is it? I assumed that this 12.1" display was going to be higher quality than the crappy displays you get in a MacBook or thin Windows Laptop. Wrong. Same horrible viewing angles and hot spots. Basically a cheep laptop monitor in a Wacom case.
-Poor tracking. Wacom is the standard. Supposedly this is based on an Intuos pad. But Wacom gives 2 points of calibration. That's right, 2 points. Upper left, lower right. That means that if you move the pen along the line drawn between those points, it's calibrated. But not in the lower left of upper right. Not at all. Any professional product should have at minimum 5 points of calibration. 4 corners and center. 2 is what my GameBoy DS has, and frankly, it tracks better and faster. Wacom needs to improve their driver and they could accomplish this. And of course since you can't touch the bottom 5 pixels of the screen, good luck if you had your dock hidden down there (Mac only). I have to have the dock squished to the side, which makes it harder to use, especially with a dual monitor setup.
-Lots of cables and the brick. It works well, but still. With all that cabling and hardware, you'd think they could provide a DVI/VGA passthrough port.
-1st grader pen. The grip pen is just not logical. No artists tools I use have that shape. Pencils, pens, brushes, all are thinner. I am used to sketching with Colorase and drafting pencils, so I won't be using this grip pen. Can I get used to it? Sure, probably, but then it will be more awkward to switch back and forth between the Cintiq and real paper and pencil. I ordered the classic pen, which should arrive in a few days. But that's another $50 to spend, when it should have either been the default pen provided, or BOTH pens should have been provided.
-Software. They have been downgrading the bundles over time with their tablets, but at $1000, we should get more than Painter Light and Photoshop Light, since the vast, vast VAST majority of Cintiq customers already own Photoshop. I mean, you don't spend $1000 on a Cintiq without already owning a full version of Photoshop, so what value is Elements to anyone? Dump it and provide more brush plugins and the Classic pen instead. And a full version of Painter would be nice.
Everything I list is fixable after the fact except for the LCD quality. Bundle can be improved, driver can be upgraded to fix the tracking issues, classic pen can be included. And a "rev B" could include a higher quality LCD screen with a professional viewing angle, at least vertically. Or, if they don't want to fix these problems, cut the price by $400 and it's less offensive... ;)
All that said, there's still nothing like drawing directly on the screen with a pressure sensitive, high resolution pen. It's a great concept and a decent product that could be great.

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The Wacom Cintiq 12WX combines the advantages of a wide-format LCD monitor with Wacom's patented, professional pen technology to give you the perfect companion for your Mac or PC. Thin and light, the Cintiq 12WX lets you experience all the advantages of direct pen-on-screen input in a low profile, lightweight design, and gives you the flexibility to work on screen the way you want. Easily rotate the 12.1" TFT display when working flat on your desktop to find the right position for your hand, or stand the Cintiq 12WX upright on your desktop and adjust the integrated stand to a comfortable angle. The completely flat surface allows the hand and pen to glide over the surface of the Cintiq without bumping into bezels or borders, and the strategically-placed ExpressKeys and Touch Strips are programmable, allowing you to customize your Cintiq to your needs. With a flexible 6.5 foot cord, you can even use it on your lap. No matter how you choose to use it, the Cintiq 12WX allows you to combine the advantages of natural hand-eye coordination and the intuitive pen-on-paper feel of traditional media with the benefits of digital workflow.FEATURES:Work Directly on the Screen - The Cintiq 12WX interactive pen display combines the advantages of an LCD monitor with the control, comfort, and productivity of Wacom's most sophisticated patented cordless, battery-free tablet technology. By using a pen directly on the screen, you work much more quickly and naturally. For even more productivity, the Cintiq 12WX features ExpressKeys and Touch Strips right at your fingertips for convenient keyboard shortcuts, scrolling, zooming, brush size control, and more.Intuitive to Use - When you're using a Cintiq you work with the pen directly on the screen. This empowers you to take advantage of your natural hand-eye coordination to work more quickly and intuitively in any software application. There is little or no learning curve because of this natural "pen-on-paper" work approac

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