XPPen Deco Pro LW 2nd 11" Wireless Bluetooth Drawing Tablet, 16K, Key-dial

**XP-Pen Deco Pro LW Tablet Review** Before diving into the review, I think it’s important to provide some context about my background. I’m a senior 3D artist with over 25 years of experience across feature films, television, games, and virtual reality production. I’ve served as a supervisor on multiple major films, and before entering the entertainment industry, I worked as a manufacturing engineer in Silicon Valley, where I specialized in writing technical documentation and procedures. Additionally, I’ve built my last five computers from scratch, so I’d like to think I know what I’m doing when it comes to tech. **XP-Pen Purchase Date**: 2024/10/01, delivered 2024/10/02 **System Specs**: - Motherboard: ASUS Z790-E WiFi - RAM: 128GB - GPU: RTX 4090 - Total Storage: 20TB - Monitors: 2x 4K displays For most of my career, I’ve relied on tablets from "that other company" (which I won’t name because this isn’t about them). However, I’ve always felt their products were vastly overpriced. I initially had my eye on the Artist Pro 19 (Gen 2), but given the current state of the visual effects and games industries, which are facing a severe downturn, I needed to make a more cost-effective choice. Freelancing has allowed me to make ends meet, but I had to stick with essentials rather than splurging on more expensive tools—even if they might boost my productivity. That’s why I opted for the Deco Pro LW. ### REVIEW **TL;DR** For the price, I’m extremely satisfied with the XP-Pen Deco Pro LW. While I encountered a few issues, they seem more related to my workstation setup than the tablet itself. I would definitely buy this tablet again. If I had the budget, I wouldn’t hesitate to upgrade to the Artist Pro 19 (Gen 2) because the quality-to-price ratio of XP-Pen products is impressive. **Packaging** I was pleasantly surprised by the packaging quality. I expected something lightweight and basic, but the box was sturdy and well-organized, with all the contents securely protected. **SCORE**: 5/5 **Documentation (Quick Guides)** The printed materials are well-done and feel more premium than I expected. While I wish the text in the manual was larger (a personal preference), the content is clear and easy to follow. The step-by-step instructions for setup are generally good, though there are some minor grammatical issues. The biggest problem lies in the English translation during the Bluetooth setup section, which could be clearer. **SCORE**: 4.5/5 **Setup** The Bluetooth setup instructions in the manual suggest pressing the power button for 3 seconds to turn on the tablet and 6 seconds to enter pairing mode. However, I found that holding the button for 3 seconds didn’t turn it on, and holding it for 4.5–5 seconds immediately put it into pairing mode, which contradicts the manual. Initially, I couldn’t get my PC to detect the tablet via Bluetooth. After troubleshooting, I discovered that the "Allow Bluetooth devices to find this PC" setting was disabled on my system. Once enabled, the tablet paired easily. The wireless shortcut remote uses a USB dongle (not Bluetooth), but setup through the configuration app was simple. Since the Bluetooth issue was caused by a setting on my PC, I won’t deduct any points. **SCORE**: 5/5 **Use** Upon first use, I noticed some lag and lack of smoothness when using Bluetooth, particularly in Maya and ZBrush. Using the USB-C cable instead eliminated the issue, so I’ll be spending more time tweaking my system to determine if the problem lies with my hardware or the tablet. Given that this is my first day with the tablet, I plan to further investigate and resolve the Bluetooth performance. **SCORE**: 4.5/5 **Overall**: **SCORE**: 4.9/5 I’m very happy with the Deco Pro LW and excited to explore more of what it can do. Edit 11/3/2024: After using the tablet for some time I have raised the score, and moved the stars from 4 to 5 to better reflect the quality of the product. It is my hope that, in the future, I will be able to get a Artist Pro 19 (Gen 2) based on my experience with this tablet.

I highly recommend this tablet. It's easy to configure, the pen is ergonomic and steady, and the buttons on the pen are easy to access. 1) Packaging: The packaging of this pen is so professionally done that it's worth mentioning. The pen comes in a solid metal box with nibs. The tablet is well packed. It's a good indication that XPPen takes care of its product. 2) Configuration: I'm using it with a Mac Studio with the Sonoma MacOS. Simply download the driver and install. Bluetooth quickly configures after the tablet charges a bit. Adjusting the tablet area and screen area is straightforward. I just used the automatic adjustment, which gives you the screen size and tablet size. I do not recommend selecting the "mouse" option: It seems to change the pen's range. The pressure adjustment allows for the correct pressure. 3) Use: I'm using it with Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. This pen draws very steady lines, much better than my previous tablet, the pen of which was too skinny and the buttons too small. The taper on the XPPen makes it far easier to grasp. The buttons are large and easy to select, but do not get in the way of drawing. I am *very* impressed with the steadiness of the pen. There is very little wiggle, creating smooth, accurate lines (my previous pen on a popular tablet was wiggly). The included glove is a very useful accessory: It enables your hand to glide over the tablet. I have found this tablet to be exceedingly productive. I have the 15" version which I recommend. it fits on my small desk area, and the rounded front edge of the tablet is very functionally ergonomic. The XPPen is a nicely engineered product that will improve your drawing experience.

Out of the box: great packaging, nice pen case. Try it out: on the Mac, without driver installation the pen on the tablet moves the mouse, left click works a little, no right click, basically useless. Driver installation asks for keystroke monitoring permission (twice, denied), and asks for accessibility permission (have to accept otherwise it doesn't work). Each time the software starts it asks for more permissions (denied). Hooked up the tablet with USB-A cable. Pen on tablet works fine and is responsive and feels good, buttons on pen work. Movements are smooth and soundless. Works fine for me as a left-handed person since there are no buttons on the tablet. At times something weird happens where a menu doesn't work or selections don't turn off. Solution is to quit the driver software and restart. Don't leave the driver running if you don't use the tablet, weird menu selections will happen, the driver interferes with some mouse commands. Basically the driver can be buggy and invasive but mostly works fine while using the tablet and I don't see it working when I quit the driver app. I'm not a super user, I didn't try the extra device with buttons and I didn't try any advanced pen sensitivity trials, I didn't try to set any fancy settings. It works fine for the average user drawing and painting digitally with default settings. Overall, OK value for money. Driver software should be in the App Store so you can trust it better.

I gotta say, I’m super impressed with the XPPen Deco Pro MW 2nd! The responsiveness is spot-on, and setting it up was a total breeze. I’m honestly confused by some of the negative reviews out there, especially about the hover issue—seriously, just make sure you grab the latest drivers and keep them running while you’re using the tablet. The pen picks up all 16K pressure points without a hitch, and the calibration options fit my light drawing style perfectly. The pen stabilization is a sweet feature, especially if you’ve got shaky hands. I haven’t run into the “broken line” problem that some people mention, which makes me wonder if their setup is off. The tablet itself feels really solid, with a sleek design, and it holds up well to regular use. I’m also a big fan of the accessories that come with it, especially the Mini Keydial. It’s super handy and integrates perfectly with Photoshop, making my workflow way smoother. As for the concerns about the surface wearing down the nibs, I’ve found them to hold up just fine for my needs. Plus, the fact that you can replace the surface is a great bonus. All in all, I’d totally recommend this tablet to any artist or educator. It performs like a champ, and for the price, it’s a killer deal compared to the pricier options like Wacom. You won’t regret it!

I bought the Deco Pro LW. The build quality is excellent; it feels great to the touch and in use. However, its integration and performance with macOS Tahoe 26.6 are poor, with numerous glitches. The wireless shortcut remote is a disaster; when configuring it in Photoshop, the "M" key freezes the program's interface. I definitely do not recommend it for Mac users, especially given the configuration software, which is extremely limited and basic. I previously used Wacom—which has excellent Mac integration—so I can make a direct comparison. I noticed on their website that they only release one update a year, suggesting they aren't paying enough attention to their software interfaces. Once they expand the configuration options and fix the many bugs, it will be just as good as a Wacom.

I own the MW 9 inch and the XL 15 inch. I bought my XL months ago and never had any problems with it. Recently decided to buy a travel size MW 9 inch. Absolutely amazing as well. What I am confused about is some of the reviews. *cough* two star rant *cough*. To start make sure to download the latest drivers for the correct device and have it open while you use it. In the application of the XP-pen you can adjust the work space and sensitivity of the pen pressure, so it's perfect for the light drawer like myself. yes it can detect all 16K pressure points, you just need to calibrate it to your liking. it doesn't need to be forced for some detection. The pen stabilization is a great feature when using it outside out of painting applications and you can turn it off or on. Not sure why it's labels to be bad. So if you got shaky hands, this might be good, if you got smooth hands, even better. Another thing, idk why but using two of the same pens from each one Xl and the MW I don't have any wobble, at all. Slow or medium, fast, nothing. I have owned previous drawing tablets including those with a screen, and yet I haven't to detect the wobble from this one. I get smooth straight lines when I draw it. ANOTHER point, hover feature, don't know why you need 30cm above your tablet to draw, you are drawing, not playing darts. Just having your hand resting on the device and the pen distance from your tablet shouldn't even be that far to begin with. Customer service is good, I've had some problems with my devices before in the past and they gladly replaced with what I needed. Cable doesn't work? Got it replaced in 3 days. Screen faulty? Got it replaced in less than a week after returning my faulty one. (FYI from their official website if you don't want to go through amazon) Last thing, never gotten the issue of "broken line". Again, I'm so confused how this person such got such a bad experience and I would like to share my own in case anyone is wondering if this is really good or not. And read first, this tablet doesn't have a screen. in the end, I do recommend this, it's great, it feels smooth, quality is great. Been drawing since 2020. Yes there are much cheaper options out there and you may not need all the fancy stuff this tablet offers, so if you are on a budget, maybe go with the deco pro 1. Wired is much cheaper btw. Or even a regular deco or deco fun which are even cheaper. Thank you for reading this long wall of text.

Edit May 2023: Tablet is still going strong and I am still loving it! Original review: I've been using a wired Wacom intuos for years now for my 3d work (Maya, blender, substance painter, etc) and I desperately wanted to buy a Bluetooth model because of the way my workstation is setup. But I've always disliked the buttons (how they're concave instead of convex and also how they're located on the top of the tablet and not the side) on the wacom just a bit- not enough to buy a different tablet, but enough to irritate me, so I didn't want another intuos. I looked at different Wacoms, but they were all ridiculously expensive and had features I didn't want- I don't want a screen on the tablet, how useless- just get a surface pro at that point ffs. And I didn't need a huge surface area. All I wanted is a nicely made, responsive, bluetooth capable tablet with buttons on the left side. I finally decided I'd need to look beyond Wacom. I'd heard of XP PEN and Huion before but never considered anything besides Wacom- that was stupid and elitist. After taking a chance on this little $44 tablet I was blown away. The material on the XP PEN deco mini 7w feels and looks more expensive than my Wacom Intuos and the stylus is so much more comfortable to hold! In other reviews people said the keys seem loud and plasticy, so I included a video of the sound- they're exactly the same, quieter ever, than the intuos IMO. They aren't plasticy at all- the whole tablet has a very nice velvety finish. My only complaint with the design are the four white corners that box in the working space. They're unnecessary and bring the design down- but that's a very minor thing. Even though XP's software looks clunky and has poor resolution, it's SO MUCH BETTER than Wacom's. It allows you to set up the shortcuts in huge chains of keys (control-alt-delete) instead of just one single key (control) which is a game changer for anyone who uses 3d software. I'm very impressed and will definitely buy from XP again if I need another tablet.

I had a heck of a time pairing the device until I came across a Reddit post that fixed the problem. Solution - If you're on Windows and attempting to pair either the tablet or shortcut keypad via Bluetooth and Windows is not finding the device, make sure to go into "Settings > Bluetooth & Devices > Devices" and set "Bluetooth devices discovery" to "Advanced". For whatever reason, the default value ("Default") will not find either device! Once I set this, both devices paired quickly and have been working perfectly. Initial impressions: - Build quality is superb. Everything from the packaging to the pen case to the tablet itself feel like a premium product - I dislike how long I have to hold the tablet's power button to turn it on/off. The manual says it's only 3 seconds, but it feels much longer. I actually timed it, and it was nearly 4s to power on and 3s to power off, but in both cases it's way too long - I'm switching from a display tablet to this for comfort/ergonomic reasons, and found the tablet's low profile and curved edge super comfortable - I really like that you get both regular and felt tips and the pen case is just awesome - I don't really know if 16k levels of pressure are actually needed or not; in practice, the vast majority of time I'm using the bottom half of the pressure curve. As you'd expect, you can adjust the pressure sensitivity via the xp pen application. Speaking of, the app is clean/simple/effective. Overall, I'm really quite pleased with this tablet and think xp-pen has hit a home run.

I bought this for my grand daughter it works really well and she is happy.

Es muchísimo más grande que la artist pro 16 second gen, esta muy pesada y eso es bueno ya que es de mucha calidad y buen material. La versión que compre fue la Xl y funciona mejor así para trazos mas precisos. No recomiendo las pequeñas ya que se batalla mas para dibujar. No le envidia nada a las Intuos pro de Wacom, me ha sorprendido la calidad y el arte de la caja es muy impresionante.

Have been Wacom users for many years. I was in the process of looking to get a small portable Bluetooth tablet and came across this little gem. Wacom has nothing in this size or performance specs to this tablet. Latest Wacom Intuos tablets are older models. This tablet being 7" fit the bill perfectly, so I picked one up. So far very impressed with performance of tablet and pen. I thought the pen looked like it would be awkward to use from they way it looked in pictures, but it actually is very comfortable to hold and use. Buttons on pen are very well placed and work perfectly if you are use to using thumb instead of finger operation. Wacom pen never really sat right in my hand to operate buttons by finger. Having 8 programmable buttons is also very convenient My Wacom only has 4... Overall very happy with product, I like it so much that I am considering buying one of their small(12") screen tablets...

I've had a Wacom Intuos Pro M tablet for around 8 years and it finally wore out. Both the tablet and the stylus had reached the end of their lives. To be honest I was getting frustrated by having to wait a few minutes for the Wacom driver to wake up every time I started up my computer. Added to this the huge price of the new model (£340) just feels like a rip off. So I looked around and eventually found the Gen 2 XP-Pen Deco Pro MW. It has the same size working area as the Wacom, but twice the sensitivity. Also the tablet controls are in a separate module, not on the tablet. I have never used this on the Wacom, and they were just in the way. I sometimes caught them by accident. The Deco Pro tablet has a nice sloped front edge, the stylus is good in the hand, sensitivity is great, and as soon as I switch my Mac Studio on it starts to work. Downloading the driver and setting up was easy. I've only had it two days, but it seems perfect for it's intended job. If you're wanting a Graphics tablet for photo editing at less than half the price of the Wacom, and with greater sensitivity, this is the one to buy. I wanted to add something. Another customer gave a one star review because they thought that the tablet they received was worn. This is not the case. The tablet arrives with a protective film cover on the surface, which you need to remove before use. it is this film that gives the appearance of wear. Unfortunately we can't reply to other peoples reviews.

Zu aller erst der einzige Kretikpunkt. Die Innenverpackung ist aus Plastik. Hier sollte auf nachwachsenden Materialien zurückgegriffen werden. Das Grafiktablett ist solide gebaut und fühlt sich sehr wertig an. Das mitgelieferte Zubehör ist üpig. Es werden u. a. vier Standard Pen Tips und vier Soft Pen Tips mitgeliefert. Nicht auf dem Bild, aber mit im Lieferumfang, sind zwei USB-Kabel (USB-C/USB-C und USB-C/USB-A). Möchte man das Tablett kabllos über Bluetooth verwenden benötigt man noch einen BT 5.0 (oder höher) USB-Stick oder eine BT-Onboard-Lösung. Der beiligen BT-Dongle ist einzig für die Shortcut-Remote Steuereinheit. Wenn das Tablett nicht sofort von Windows BT erkannt wird, muss in den Geräteeinstellungen die erweiterte Geräteermittlung ausgewählt werden. Nach der Installation der Gerätesoftware kann und sollte man Programmprofile für die verwendeten Programme erstellen. Für die Wireles Shotcute Remote können 4 Profile angelegt werden. Ich arbeite mit Serif's Affinity Programm Suite und hatte bedenken, dass das Tablett mit Inputlags zu kämfen hat, was sich unter anderen mit Nachlaufen von Pinselstrichen bemerkbar machen kann. Hier kann ich Entwarnung geben. Alles läuft 'soft and smooth'.