When tablets first became available, there were generally two operating systems that you could choose from, iOS and Android. Over time though, Microsoft decided to get into the tablet game and started to release tablets using their Windows operating system. Many prefer these to either Android or iOS and we started to wonder what the best windows tablets are for designers.

If you’ve never used a Windows tablet, knowing why people prefer these over the other options out there is a good place to start.

So let’s look at the Pros and Cons of Using a Windows tablet. You can also learn more about tablets through best tablets for graphic design, drawing & art.

The Best Windows Tablets for Graphic Designers

1. Microsoft Surface Go 2 — Best value (Editor’s Choice) 
2. Microsoft Surface Pro 7 — Best overall
3. Lenovo ThinkPad X1 — Powerful 2-in-1 laptop
4. Samsung Galaxy Book Flex — Best lightweight design
5. Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable — Excellent 2-in-1 tablet for creatives
6. Chuwi Ubook x — Influenced by Surface
7. Wacom Mobile Studio Pro 16 — Best performance tablet
8. Huion Kamvas Pro 16 — Most compact tablet
9. Acer Switch 5 — A great alternative to the Surface Pro
10. Lenovo Yoga Book C930 — A truly innovative 2-in-1 laptop
11. Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet — The best outdoor tablet
12. HP ZBook X2 — An excellent laptop or desktop alternative
13. GAOMON PD1560 15.6 Drawing Tablet — The largest screen on a Windows tablet
14. Microsoft Surface Book 3 — Best professional 2-in-1
15. Wacom Cintiq 22 Drawing Tablet  — Best large drawing tablet

See here for all the best drawing tablets.

The Best Microsoft Windows Drawing Tablets for Graphic Designers

 

10 Best Windows Tablets for Graphic Designers

1. Microsoft Surface Go 2 (Editor’s Choice)

The best Microsoft drawing tablet (Best overall value)

CPU: Intel Pentium Gold 4415Y | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 615 | RAM: 4GB – 8GB | Screen: 10.5-inch 1,800 x 1,200 PixelSense touch display | Storage: 64GB eMMC – 128GB SSD | Connectivity: 802.11ac; Bluetooth | Camera: 8MP rear, 5MP front | Weight: 1.15 lbs (522 g) | Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.9 x 0.33 inches

The Surface Go 2 from Microsoft fills the need that many have had for a budget-friendly Surface device. With a thin, light, and portable design, the Go is elegant like its big brothers but the price tag makes it more of an option for designers on a budget. If you’re looking for the best windows tablet for drawing without breaking your bank account, meet your new tablet.

Pros	Cons
➕ Great battery life	➖ Keyboard not included
➕ Great price

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

2. Microsoft Surface Pro 7

The Best Windows Tablet Overall 

CPU: 8th-generation Intel Core i5 – i7 | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 620 | RAM: 8GB – 16GB | Screen: 12.3-inch, 2,736 x 1,824 PixelSense display | Storage: 128GB – 1TB SSD | Connectivity: 802.11ac Wi-Fi; Bluetooth 4.1 | Camera: 8MP rear-facing, 5MP front-facing | Weight: 1.73 pounds | Size: 11.5 x 7.93 x 0.33 inches (W x D x H)

The bar set by the Surface Pro 7 is what other Windows tablets should strive to provide designers. While it doesn’t bring anything new to the table that makes it stand out from its competition, the best parts of the previous model have been inherited and enhanced thanks to powerful new hardware. The long battery life will help you work as long as you need to get that project done. While it does have a faster processor in it, the Pro 6 doesn’t come with the Surface Pen or Type Cover in the box, but compared to the other choices out there, it still is the king of the hill.

Pros	Cons
➕ Laptop functionality is great	➖ Thunderbolt not available
➕ High precision
➕ USB-C available

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

3. Lenovo ThinkPad X1

Powerful 2-in-1 laptop

CPU: Intel Hexa Core i7-10750H| Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti 4GB / Intel UHD| RAM: 64GB | Screen: 5.6 inch FHD | Storage: 1 TB | Weight: 3.75 lbs | Size: ‎14.2 x 9.7 x 0.7 inches

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 is one of the best innovations for graphic designers and creatives. With a 15.6-inch screen size and 4K resolution, the tablet is loaded with an advanced CPU and GPU to provide a seamless video editing experience. From drawing/sketching to creating illustrations, designers can do a lot with this tablet. The design and build quality make it a perfect pick for professionals looking to work on the go.

Pros	Cons
➕ Lightweight	➖ Short on ports
➕ Sleek design	➖ No microSD card slot
➕ 16:10 aspect ratio display
➕ Great battery life

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

4. Samsung Galaxy Book Flex

Best lightweight design

CPU: Intel 10th Generation Quad-Core i7-10510U | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics| RAM: 12GB | Screen: 13.3-inch FHD Touch Screen | Storage: 512GB SSD | Weight: 2.62 lbs | Size: ‎20.5 x 19.8 x 14.8 inches

Samsung Galaxy Book Flex can double as a tablet and laptop, making it perfect for illustrators and designers on the go. Artistic projects can progress smoothly without lagging issues. The powerful battery life and inclusion of the S pen make it even better for creatives looking for a reliable option to work while traveling.

Pros	Cons
➕ Gorgeous display	➖ Shallow keyboard
➕ S-Pen stylus available	➖ Weak hinge
➕ Great battery life

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

5. Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable

Excellent 2-in-1 tablet for creatives

CPU: 11th Gen Intel Core i7 | Graphics: Intel Iris Xe | RAM: Up to 16 GB LPDDR4x 4267MHz | Screen: 12.3 inches | Storage: Up to 1 TB PCIe SSD | Weight: 1.67 pounds | Size: ‎11.15 x 8.01 x 0.34 inches

Lenovo ThinkPad X12 is a 12.3-inch tablet with a detachable keyboard and built-in kickstand. The inclusion of Intel’s 11th-gen processors and Thunderbolt 4 support gives new life to this series of Lenovo tablets. The build quality of X12 can survive extreme heat, cold, dust, etc. Also included is an active pen, making it easier for creatives to draw/sketch and edit videos smoothly.

Pros	Cons
➕ Stylus and keyboard included	➖ Lack of port
➕ Great processor	➖ Touchpad is small
➕ 3:2 display

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

6. Chuwi Ubook x 

Influenced by Surface

CPU: Intel Gemini Lake N4100  | Graphics: Intel UHD Graphics 600 | RAM: 8 GB | Screen: 12 inches | Storage: 256GB SSD | Weight: 1.7 pounds | Dimention: ‎292.19 x 207.89 x 9 mm

Although the Surface Go 2 is a smaller version of the Surface, it isn’t the only tablet of its kind. Chuwi UBook X is living proof of Surface’s influence. It’s not quite a Surface Go 2, but it’s close enough.

They have downgraded the processor to an Intel N4100, but you get a higher resolution 1440p display, a 256GB SSD, and 8GB of RAM.

Pros	Cons
➕ Excellent screen	➖ Lackluster CPU performance
➕ SSD storage
➕ 8GB of RAM

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

7. Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16

Best performance tablet

CPU: Intel Core i7 | RAM: 16GB | Screen: 16 Inches | Storage: 512GB SSD | Weight: ‎4.7 lbs | Size: ‎‎9.1 x 9.1 x 9.1 inches

The Wacom MobileStudio Pro 16 is a beast when it comes to working on high-end software and videos. The multi-touch screen and powerful specs like NVIDIA Quadro P1000 graphics, Intel Core i7 Quad-core processor, and 512 GB SSD give this tablet a serious upgrade from its previous versions. Equipped with a battery-free pen, it’s the perfect tablet for creatives and professionals.

Pros	Cons
➕ The display glass is matte	➖ Dim screen
➕ Great pen support	➖ Battery life is not great
➕ 96% Adobe RGB color gamut

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

8. Huion Kamvas Pro 16

Most compact tablet

Screen: 15.6-inch full-laminated screen with Full HD resolution | Weight: 2.98 lbs | Size: ‎‎917.24 x 9.88 x 0.47 inches

The Kamvas 16 is an amazing choice for graphic designers and illustrators, although you’ll need to connect it to an external device. The pen display is perfect for whatever purpose you need it for.  Huion Kamvas Pro has a display of 15.6 inches full laminated HD resolution.  It allows a good workflow through the customized set of express keys and touch bar. Its ability to display 16.7 million colors makes this one of the best and most accurate tablets for graphic designing. The battery-free pen and multi-purpose pen display work well for seamless drawing and designing on the go. If you’re looking to work on 4K resolution images/videos, you can upgrade to the Kamvas Pro 16.

Pros	Cons
➕ Excellent display	➖ Programmable keys
➕ Great performance	➖ Great key placement

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

9. Acer Switch 5

A great alternative to the Surface Pro

CPU: 7th-generation Intel Core i3 – i5 | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 620 | RAM: 4GB – 8GB | Screen: 12-inch, 2,160 x 1,440 IPS touchscreen | Storage: 128GB – 256GB SSD | Connectivity: 802.11ac; Bluetooth | Camera: 3MP rear, 1MP front | Weight: 2.8 pounds | Dimensions: 11.49 x 7.94 x 0.62 inches

For those designers who like the idea and the performance of the Surface Pro, but not the hype, the Switch 5 from Acer is a good alternative. The tablet has comparable specs although it does have an older processor. This is one of the best performing Windows tablets out there and one of the best choices that a designer can make especially if they are not looking to give in to the hype and instead opt for a very similar tablet experience.

Pros	Cons
➕ Runs quiet	➖ Mediocre battery life
➕ Keyboard and stylus pen included	➖ Display quality is not great
➕ Awesome screen resolution

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

10. Lenovo Yoga Book C930

A Truly Innovative 2-in-1 Laptop

CPU: Intel Core i5-7Y54 | Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 615 | RAM: 4GB | Screen: 10.8” QHD (2560 x 1600) IPS touchscreen – 10.8” FHD (1920 x 1080) Flexible E Ink Mobius touchscreen | Storage: 256 GB SSD

The Yoga Book C930 from Lenovo is truly a multitasking tablet. Along with a tablet screen, the C930 has a second, E-Ink display that can act as a keyboard, a sketchpad, or E-reader for documents. While the traditional screen is impressive with its FullHD resolution, the second screen is what will draw designers. With a thin design and lightweight feel, the Yoga Book makes an excellent tablet that has a multitude of different ways it can be used in your work.

Pros	Cons
➕ Great build	➖ Heating issues
➕ Active pen	➖ Touchscreen keyboard isn’t great
➕ NVMe SSD	➖ Poor color accuracy
➕ Great performance	➖ Lacks SD card reader

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

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11. Dell Latitude 7220 Rugged Extreme Tablet 

CPU: Intel Core i5-8365U | Graphics: ‎Intel UHD Graphics 620 | RAM: 8GB | Screen: 11.6 Inches | Storage: M.2 256GB SSD<

Dell is famous for laptops, and this tablet will broaden its reputation. The Dell Latitude tablet is an 11.6-inch powerful beast that’s up for extreme conditions on the go. It has a display of an anti-glare touchscreen. It has ports for USB 3.1 Type-A and USB 3.0 Type- C. The heavy-duty detachable keyboard makes functioning easier for creatives. Loaded with a great processor, GPU, and RAM, this tablet works well for drawing and editing. Dell has included the latest and most advanced tech, making it a good pick, especially if you’re not on a budget.

 

Pros	Cons
➕ Sturdy construction	➖ Hefty
➕ Bright display	➖ No HDMI or Thunderbolt 3 support
➕ Long-life batteries

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

12. HP ZBook X2

An excellent laptop or desktop alternative

CPU: 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 | Graphics: Nvidia Quadro M620 w/ 2GB | RAM: 8GB | Screen: 14″ 4K Touchscreen | Storage: 256 GB SSD | Connectivity: 802.11ac Wifi + Bluetooth | 2x Webcams| Weight: 4.85lbs | Camera: 720 pixels

Attached to its keyboard and closed, the ZBook X2 looks like any other laptop you may find on sale. With its sleek, premium build, the ZBook X2 has a strong specification set that can provide designers with an excellent alternative to traditional choices for getting work done. The 14-inch, touch panel has a matte anti-glare finish with an integrated electromagnetic resonance (EMR) layer developed by Wacom, a company known for its graphics tablets. While the digital pen is an optional purchase, it has left and right-clicks functions and an eraser without using a battery as the EMR layer charges the pen. Much like a Wacom tablet, the ZBook comes with function buttons that you can program and best of all can use full versions of Photoshop right on the tablet thanks to the Windows operating system.

Pros	Cons
➕ Sleek design	➖ Heavy
➕ 4K touch screen	➖ Graphics performance could be better
➕ 32GB of memory

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

13. GAOMON PD1560 15.6 Drawing Tablet

 

The best tablet for beginning designers

Active drawing area: 13.5 x 7.6in | Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 | Pen pressure sensitivity: 8,192 levels | Connections: USB | OS: Windows

While its designed to be primarily used as a drawing tablet, the beautiful display, and sensitive drawing pen, plus the use of the Windows operating system made this a perfect choice for any beginning designer. The 10 shortcut keys are easily programmable so you can streamline your work and while it is not a wireless tablet, you still have an amazing surface to draw on and can use Photoshop thanks to the Windows OS. If you’re just starting and money is an issue (when isn’t it though?), the PD1560 is a great first tablet for designers.

Pros	Cons
➕ Widescreen	➖ Glossy screen
➕ Great pen sensitivity
➕ Shortcut buttons come in handy

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

14. Microsoft Surface Book 3

The best 2-in-1 tablet available

CPU: 8th generation Intel Quad-Core i7 Processor | Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 | RAM: 16GB | Screen: 13.5-inch and 15-inch PixelSense Touchscreen | Storage: 256GB – 1TB | Camera: 8MP | Connectivity: 802.11abg | Weight: 3.62lbs

When Microsoft released the Surface Pro, they set the bar for how 2-in-1 tablets were supposed to be, and with the Surface Book 3, that bar was raised just a little farther. While the book is designed to provide more of a laptop feel, the machine can do just about everything with ease. The 15-inch screen along with an Nvidia GTX 1060 graphics card inside can make your design work look impressive. With faster performance and longer battery life, the Book 2 is a more fully realized professional PC than the Surface Pro. The combination of a high-quality tablet with the looks and performance of a laptop makes the Surface Book 2 a great choice for any designer.

Pros	Cons
➕ Great performance	➖ No Thunderbolt 3 port
➕ Great battery life
➕ Detachable screen

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

15. Wacom Cintiq 22 Drawing Tablet

The largest screen on a Windows tablet

Active drawing area: 19.5 x 11.5in | Resolution: 1,920 x 1,080 | Pen pressure sensitivity: 2,048 levels | Connections: DVI, USB 2.0 | OS: Windows

If you’re a graphic designer, you know that the more screen you have, the better you can do to make your work exactly the way you want it. The Cintiq 22HD tablet from Wacom gives you so much room with 22 inches of display that lets you draw right on the screen and the stylus is sensitive enough to respond to your subtle expressions. While the stand can take some getting used to, if you’re serious about your design work, you have to have this tablet.

Pros	Cons
➕ Large screen	➖ Not easily portable
➕ Color accuracy is great	➖ No multi-touch support
➕ Responsive stylus included

 

Latest Price on Amazon:

 

Pros and Cons of Using a Microsoft Windows Tablet

Like many other pieces of technology out there, some love it, and then others can’t stand to use one device over another. This is the case with Windows tablets as well and we wanted to highlight some of the pros and cons that users have shared online.

Pros of Windows Tablet

Full Desktop Experience

Tablets using Android and iOS are designed to offer a touch-friendly experience on devices designed for entertainment and can also be used for work if needed. A Windows tablet is designed to be a desktop on the go, providing you with a tablet and a Windows interface in one operating system. Windows tablets are designed to get work done first and provide entertainment value second.

Seamless Workflow

One of the best features of using a Windows tablet is that with your Microsoft account and the cloud, you can access the same files on your tablet that are on your desktop and pick up exactly where you left off. This makes working outside the office a breeze and can also increase your productivity as you spend less time moving files to a third-party cloud service so you can access them on another tablet.

Access to Desktop Applications

When you speak to someone who uses a Windows tablet regularly, this is easily one of the biggest pluses about it. Some applications, such as Photoshop can have some trouble running on either Android or an iPad. Applications can be fully installed on the tablet. This is because even though it is a tablet, the operating system is the same as a desktop computer. Accessing many different applications that aren’t normally available on a mobile platform is super easy so you can work whenever and wherever you are.

No Learning Curve

If you work in an office, using the Windows operating system will feel natural to you and that’s because many offices already use Windows on their business computer because of the ease of use. If you go from Windows to an Android tablet or iPad, there might be some confusion on what to do, especially if you’ve never used one before. This can create headaches as you need to learn how the operating system works while with a Windows tablet, you already know how to use it.

Peripheral Support

One of the biggest complaints with using an iPad is that the connectivity is limited to the options that the company has provided. This can cause problems if you want to connect a hard drive, or a camera and don’t have the right connections. This isn’t the case with a Windows tablet. You just have to be sure that the tablet has the ports that you need as different models may have different ports.

Cons of Windows Tablet

Price

To be fair, not every Windows tablet is overly expensive. Affordable tablets are usually not very powerful or poorly made. Most advanced options like the Surface Pro from Microsoft can cost as much as a premium laptop. When compared with high-end Android tablets, Windows tablets will cost more.

Viruses and Malware

Just like your PC, because you’re running a full version of Windows, it can be vulnerable to viruses and malware. While Android and iOS can have malware or security issues from time to time, they pale in comparison to the viruses and malware out there for Windows so make sure you have a good antivirus and anti-malware programs running.

Touch Interface

The touch interface for Windows is quite good. However, once you switch to tablet mode, it can take some getting used to. This leaves the interface less robust and not as easy to use as the ones with Android and iOS devices. While this improves with each version of Windows released, it can take a little bit of time to get used to it.

Microsoft Store

The Microsoft store has thousands of apps available for it. The number of apps is nothing compared to the number of apps available on the App Store for Apple or the Google Play store. While you might be able to install desktop apps, some of the more popular apps out there might not be available on the Microsoft Store. While more apps get added every day, it is still a long way behind the other options out there.

Lack of Accessories

Compared to the competition, Windows tablets just don’t have the accessory support that the others do. While you may find some here and there, the third-party support for accessories is very limited. Overall, the options you have with an Android tablet or iPad are much greater.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

The Best Windows Tablets for Designers

The sheer amount of options that are out there for you to choose from when you are in the market for a new table is staggering. Narrowing that down to the best windows tablets for designers isn’t easy but we feel like we have come up with a wide array of options for you to choose from and we hope it can make the process of choosing a new Windows tablet.

You can also read our blog on best drawing tablets that are suitable for kids. Do you have a Windows tablet that you think is the best but you don’t see on our list? Let us know in the comments below!

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