With as many tablet PCs and pen displays as I have on hand, I don't need the Companion 2 and I was very tempted to buy the bargain basement i3 model for testing. I opted instead for the DTHW1310L model, with core i5 processor, 128 GB SSD and 8 GB of RAM for $1600. Wacom made the decision easier by offering a broad range of competitive pricing. Nevertheless, by the time the Cintiq Companion 2 was finally announced this January, I was ready to dive in head-first. So I held out and was relieved as users began complaining about the stand and troublesome power connector that failed on far too many units. I could have put up with the price and last gen processor, but not being able to work in Cintiq mode like its Android Hybrid sibling just seemed like a cruel marketing ploy. Not having one to review definitely left a nagging hole in my coverage since then and always left me wondering how much greener the grass was on that other side.īut the Companion 1's limitations were so shockingly self-evident. It still amazes me that I managed to skip the first generation Companion released in the fall of 2013. So you could say that the resulting explosion of tablet PC purchases I've made for this site in the last two years is really the result of a decade of pent-up frustration. And ironically, while I once felt I couldn't afford a Cintiq, I could have purchased MANY of them with all the money I've spent chasing down lower cost alternatives since 2013. So when Microsoft announced the first generation Surface Pro-with Wacom pen!-I was primed and ready. Shortly after this, smaller Cintiqs had become more affordable, but they didn't have touch, which the iPhone and iPad had proven (to me at least) was invaluable. When the iPad was first introduced five years ago, it was partly my on-going Cintiq lust that led me to chase down every new capacitive stylus that came on the market (I was pretty clueless then), hoping for something that would provide a reasonable drawing experience.

Cintiq companion 2 driver update