The Wacom One Creative Pen Display is the company’s most affordable pen display, aimed at amateur artists, note-takers, and doodlers. It is, in effect, an interactive monitor that is controlled by the included Wacom One Pen. Despite the fact that the Wacom One’s 13.3-inch screen is small and its stylus is more basic than that found in most Wacom products.
The Wacom One, like most Wacom products, is built to last. It’s not quite as durable as Wacom’s “Pro” branded products, but the plastic construction is extremely rigid, and I never felt like I was working on a “cheap” display.
The screen itself measures 11.6 x 6.5 inches (13.3 inches diagonally) and is continuous with the bezels, which measure about 1.25 inches on all sides. There’s no seam between the screen and the bezel to catch the pen on, but there aren’t any shortcut buttons or dials built into the display either. If you want shortcuts, you’ll have to buy the bundle that includes Wacom’s ExpressKey Remote, which brings the total price up to $470 for functionality that should be built right into the tablet.
There aren’t many inputs or other bells and whistles in the absence of a row of shortcut keys. A cloth loop that doubles as a pen holder, a USB-C port, a power button, and a single LED can be found along the top of the tablet. On the back, two fold-away feet pop out to prop the display at a 19-degree angle, with three spare pen nibs hidden beneath. That’s all there is to it.
The only other items in the box are Wacom’s entry-level battery-free EMR pen and the most clumsy connection cable imaginable. The cable is “X-shaped,” with a power cord and USB-C connection on one side and a USB-A and HDMI connection on the other. Power comes from the wall, USB-C goes to the pen display, and both the USB-A and HDMI cables must be plugged into your computer.
This cable is by far the most vexing aspect of the Wacom One. When USB Type-C/Thunderbolt can deliver data, display, and power via a single cable, the fact that Wacom didn’t even include the option is vexing. Still, if you ignore this minor flaw, we have a portable, capable little pen display that you could easily pack away in your backpack like a regular pen tablet.