Tablets for drawing

[Funt Solo]

I have an opportunity to buy drawing tablets for the classroom, but I'm a bit ignorant of whether there's a specific manufacturer that's better.

A quick Amazon brings up the "HUION Inspiroy H640P Graphics Drawing Tablet" (no screen) and the "GAOMON PD1161" (screened), for what seem like reasonable prices ($40 and $200, respectively).

I want to get the students something that will help them - and we already have some older Wacom Bamboos and Intuos tablets - but not enough for each student simultaneously. Those go over okay, but students mention that it's much easier to work with a screen than a pad.

Any advice?

[The Legendary Shark]

I've never used a screen but look upon them with envious eyes - I imagine they'd be far superior.

[Jim_Campbell]

I want to get the students something that will help them - and we already have some older Wacom Bamboos and Intuos tablets - but not enough for each student simultaneously. Those go over okay, but students mention that it's much easier to work with a screen than a pad.

The Apple Pencil works with (I think) all recent iPads and some of the smaller ones are pretty reasonably priced, and I believe Apple does bulk/education discounts, too. Still pricier than most other options, I'd imagine, but best-in-class for digital drawing by some margin.

[IndigoPrime]

There are two Apple Pencils. The original is round, prone to battery death if you don’t charge it for a while, and is charged by sticking it out of a device’s Lightning port. The only current iPad for sale that supports it is the 9th-gen iPad. The second-gen Pencil (flat edge; magnetic charge/connectivity; all-round nicer) is supported by the iPad Air, iPad mini and iPad Pros, all of which are probably out of the range of most educational establishments. (There might still be older iPad mini models lurking in the channel, but I’m always wary about investing in old tech.)

I’ve no experience with the GAOMON. Wacoms are generally solid. My only advice regarding tablets would be caution. the GAOMON is not an independent tablet—it requires a compatible PC/Mac to drive it. I’ve no idea how responsive something at that price point would be either. Android + some kind of stylus would be an alternative, but you’re limited at the low end in terms of hardware quality and responsiveness — and at every level of Android regarding software. (There’s nothing to, say, match Procreate on Android.)

[Funt Solo]

Thanks for the info. - I'll look at the cost of the Apple solutions against Wacom tablets (or the cheaper ones I listed before). It all depends on how much capital expenditure I can persuade my admin. to agree to.

I think I could just about get away with a non-screen drawing tablet per student, but an ipad per student is probably way out of budget, unless we buy over several years.

I already have PCs in the classroom, so plugging in a cheaper tablet is going to balance the books much more easily. (I would need to make sure any screen-tablet would be able to plug into our graphics cards as a second screen, but that's another kettle of fish.)

[The Legendary Shark]

There's always the Airbar, which can turn ordinary laptops into touchscreens. Might be a cheaper alternative. If it's suitable. And if it works.