Wacom Intuos Pro Medium review
You draw on the desk and look at the screen. Some people never adapt to that.
A magnesium-bodied 16:9 pen tablet with an 11.4 by 8.1 inch active area, ten customisable ExpressKeys, two mechanical dials and the configurable Pro Pen 3.
Check price on AmazonSpecifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Pen | Pro Pen 3, 8,192 pressure levels, tilt support |
| Pen customisation | Slim, straight or flared grip, adjustable balance and button layout |
| Controls | 10 customisable ExpressKeys and 2 mechanical dials |
| Active area | 11.4 by 8.1 in., 291 by 206 mm |
| Format | 16:9, matched to modern wide displays |
| Build | Magnesium body, 4 mm at its thinnest point |
| Connection | USB or Bluetooth, switchable between multiple computers |
Specifications above come from Wacom's published product information. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.
What it does well
- The Pro Pen 3 is the reason Wacom still leads this category. It needs no battery, it reports tilt, and the pressure curve feels like a tool rather than an input device. Line weight responds to intent rather than to settings.
- A configurable pen body is a genuinely unusual feature. Changing grip thickness and button layout means the pen fits your hand rather than the other way round, which matters over an eight-hour retouching session.
- Two mechanical dials plus ten ExpressKeys means brush size, zoom, rotation and undo live under your non-drawing hand. That is not convenience, it is throughput.
- A 16:9 active area matched to a widescreen monitor removes the mapping distortion that older 4:3 tablets produced on modern displays.
- Bluetooth with fast switching between computers, and a 4 mm magnesium body, make it genuinely portable in a way that a display tablet is not.
Where it falls short
- There is no screen. You draw on the desk while watching the monitor, and the hand-eye disconnect is real. Most people adapt within a couple of weeks, but some never do, and the honest advice is to know which you are before spending the money.
- It is a consumables product in a quiet way. Nibs wear down, and the surface texture that makes it feel like paper wears smooth over time. Replacement nibs and texture sheets are an ongoing cost.
- For a great many freelance design jobs it is simply unnecessary. Layout, typography, branding and web design are mouse and keyboard work, and a tablet buys nothing. It earns its money in photo retouching, illustration and hand masking.
- Wacom's driver software has a long-standing reputation for occasional trouble after operating system updates, and when it misbehaves the tablet stops working entirely rather than degrading gracefully.
- If your real problem is that you cannot see colour accurately, a tablet does not fix that and a better monitor does. Spend in the right order.
What owners report
Owners consistently describe the Intuos Pro as the tablet that stops being equipment and becomes a tool, and the Pro Pen 3 draws the most specific praise, particularly the configurable grip and the lack of a battery. Illustrators and retouchers who have used cheaper tablets report the difference as being about pressure consistency at light pressure, which is where budget pens tend to skip.
The recurring complaints fall into two groups. Driver stability after operating system updates comes up regularly, and is the most common source of frustration. The second group is people who bought a screenless tablet and found the hand-eye disconnect unworkable, which is not a fault in the product but is a real risk for a first-time buyer and the reason display tablets exist.
If you are deciding where a limited equipment budget should go, our freelance graphic design guide covers what freelance work actually pays, and our ASUS ProArt monitor review covers the purchase that usually deserves the money first.
Who it suits
- Photo retouchers and editors doing hand masking, dodging and burning, where pressure sensitivity is the whole job.
- Illustrators and concept artists producing original artwork for clients.
- Designers doing hand lettering, texture work or detailed selection work in raster software.
- Anyone who already works with a pen and wants the best screenless one available.
Who should skip it
- Layout, branding, typography and web designers, for whom the tablet will sit unused within a month.
- Anyone who has never tried a screenless tablet and is not sure they will adapt, who should consider a display tablet instead.
- Freelancers whose colour accuracy is the actual problem, who should buy a monitor first.
- Beginners testing whether they enjoy digital art, where a much cheaper tablet answers that question for a fraction of the money.
Alternatives worth considering
You draw directly on the display, which removes the hand-eye disconnect entirely and is why some people get on with this and never with a screenless tablet. It costs less than the Wacom, needs a video connection and power, and the pen and drivers are a step below Wacom's. If the disconnect is your worry, this solves it.
Check price on AmazonFor most freelance designers this is the better use of the money. You look at the monitor for every minute of every job and colour errors cost revisions, while a drawing tablet only pays back if you actually draw. Buy the tablet second, once the screen is right.
Check price on AmazonCommon questions
Do I need a drawing tablet for freelance graphic design?
For most graphic design work, no. Layout, typography, logo and web design are done with a mouse and keyboard, and a tablet adds nothing. Where a tablet genuinely earns its money is photo retouching, illustration, hand masking and any work where line pressure carries meaning. Be honest about which of those describes your invoices before spending the money. Our freelance graphic design guide covers what the different design niches actually pay.
Is a screenless tablet hard to get used to?
For most people it takes one to three weeks, and after that it becomes invisible. For a minority it never clicks, because drawing in one place while looking at another is genuinely unnatural. There is no way to know which you are without trying. If you suspect you will struggle, a display tablet such as the HUION Kamvas removes the problem, at the cost of a bulkier setup that needs power and a video cable.
Intuos Pro Medium or a cheaper tablet to start?
If you are testing whether you enjoy digital drawing, buy something much cheaper. The Intuos Pro's advantages are in pen feel at light pressure, build quality and the ExpressKeys and dials, which are refinements a beginner will not notice and a professional will use every hour. Buy the professional tablet when tablet work is already producing income.
Does the Wacom Intuos Pro work with Photoshop and Procreate?
It works with Photoshop, Illustrator, Clip Studio, Krita and the rest of the desktop drawing software on both Mac and Windows, with pressure and tilt supported. Procreate is an iPad application and does not use a Wacom tablet at all, which is a common point of confusion. If your workflow is Procreate on an iPad, this is not the purchase you need.
Monitor or tablet first for a design side hustle?
Monitor, in almost every case. Colour errors on a bad screen produce client revisions, and revisions are unpaid work. A tablet only converts to income if hand-drawn input is part of the deliverable. Our ASUS ProArt PA279CRV review covers the display that usually deserves the budget first.
Keep reading
- Freelance graphic design guide
- ASUS ProArt PA279CRV review
- Graphic design side hustles guide
- Children's book illustration guide
This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.