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Stylus pens have gotten increasingly more precise in the last few generations of tablets, and can pick up even the finest lines you put down. For digital artists, designers, students, editors, even anyone putting together a presentation for the office, these are an invaluable tool for boosting productivity and making your work look great. Here’s what to know when searching for the right tablet with a stylus for you.
Tablets With Stylus Buying Guide
Here’s what you should keep in mind when buying your next tablet, including the tablet’s display, battery runtime and built-in features.
Stylus:Before even getting into the capabilities and sensitivity of a stylus, step one is to make sure it’s included with the tablet you’re eyeing. Not all of them are, like Apple, and to avoid disappointment, always double-check. Next is to look at the weight and sensitivity, which can vary — if you’ve got small hands, a heavy stylus isn’t ideal, especially when pinpoint accuracy is needed.
Display: A big, bright, colorful screen is always beneficial, but may not be necessary for what you’re doing, like note-taking and marking up PDFs. Ten inches should be fine for that, but if art and designing is your thing, go bigger. Figuring out if you really need that full HD display will save you money, too. A fully-laminated screen can make a big difference in perspective — without it can be confusing, and look like you’re drawing above the actual surface of the screen.
Battery: The big benefit of a tablet is portability, but if you’ll constantly need to be searching for a power source to refuel a weak battery, it becomes a pain that defeats the purpose. Especially for those who’ll be commuting and traveling, or like to work on the move, a long battery life is crucial — at least eight hours.
Stats: For art where you’ll be saving large files, storage always runs out faster than you expect, so go big — at the very least 128GB, or 64GB for notes. As for RAM, 3-4GB for smaller tasks and higher for major applications where you’ll be running multiple at once.
Extras: An extra external keyboard can be a game-changer for those who really don’t like typing out letters on the tablet screen. And if you’ll need to use an Adobe application like Photoshop or Illustrator, make sure it’s supported on the tablet’s OS.
What Are the Best Tablets With a Stylus?
We found the best tablets worth your money, from brands like LG, Samsung, Apple and Microsoft.
