Review: XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro V2 pen display

Review unit provided by XPPen

XPPen has updated the Artist 15.6 Pro (product page | review) they released in 2019 to the XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro V2 released in late 2024. Version 2 now supports USB-C to USB-C video connection, and now uses the latest X3 Pro Smart Chip Stylus with support for 16K levels of pressure sensitivity.

Current price of the Artist 15.6 Pro V2 is USD 304, and the older model is still available at USD 248. Warranty period is 18 months.

Bottom line

Drawing experience on the XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro V2 is great. The X3 Pro Smart Chip Stylus is sensitive and quite accurate. There's slight jitter with slow diagonal lines but they don't show up when actually drawing. Tilt sensitivity works fine.

Colour support is good with measured 99% sRGB and 94% AdobeRGB coverage.

Achieving maximum brightness depends on the OS and driver version in use. For MacOS, maximum brightness seems to max out at 153 nits, and for Windows at 224 nits. More info on this later.

The pricing is quite reasonable. This is a more affordable alternative to the more expensive USD 479 XPPen Artist Pro 16 (gen 2) with higher resolution and the 16:10 aspect ratio.

Updating the pen display to support USB-C video connection is a good move. They could probably have updated the display to matte glass too but it's still using a matte screen protector.

Specifications

• Display Size: 15.4 inches
• Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
• Color Gamut: 99% sRGB, 96% Adobe RGB, 96% DCI-P3
• Display Colors: 16.7 million
• Brightness: 250 cd/m²
• Contrast Ratio: 1000:1
• Viewing Angle: 178°
• Full Lamination: Yes
• Surface: Anti-glare matte screen protector
• Stylus: X3 Pro Smart Chip Stylus (PD21)
• Pressure Sensitivity: 16,384 levels
• Tilt Support: ±60°
• Initial Activation Force: 3g
• Accuracy: ±0.4 mm (center)
• Reading Height: 10 mm
• Resolution (Stylus): 5080 LPI
• Report Rate: ≥200 RPS
• Shortcut Keys: 8 customizable keys + Red Dial
• Dimensions: 442.91 x 279.91 x 12.9 mm
• Working area: 340.99 x 191.81 mm
• Weight: 1.447 kg (without stand)
• Connections supported: USB-C video, HDMI
• Power Input: 5V⎓2A
• Compatibility: Windows 7 or later, macOS 10.13 or later, Android (USB 3.1 DP1.2), ChromeOS 88 or later, Linux

Things included

• 1 x Drawing Display
• 1 x X3 Pro Stylus
• 1 x Pen Holder
• 8 x Pen Nibs
• 1 x Foldable Stand
• 1 x USB-C to USB-C Cable
• 1 x USB-C to USB-A Cable
• 1 x USB-A Extension Cable
• 1 x 3-to-1 Cable
• 1 x Glove
• 1 x Cleaning Cloth

The 3-to-1 cable came in a separate box.

The included folding stand can only be adjusted to one angle. This is a compact stand when folded and can be carried around easily together with the pen display.

Design

The pen display comes with a sticker with instructions that says you should remove the protective film on top of the matte screen protector.

Do not remove the matte screen protector while peeking off the protective film. The display should be matte textured and not glossy/reflective.

Design of the XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro V2 looks almost similar to the previous model. Build quality feels solid even though the body is made with plastic. Corners are rounded off, edges are beveled.

There are 8 hotkeys by the side and the familiar red dial. The hotkeys have firm feedback and click when pressed. Switching between the four functions of the red dial requires pressing a hotkey as there's no button in the centre of the red dial.

Left handed users can rotate the pen display 180 degrees to get the hotkeys and dial on the right side instead.

It's good to see that XPPen is keeping this design around as there are people who still prefer having hotkeys.

The only physical difference is the inclusion of an additional USB-C port. The USB-C port at the end is for power, and the other USB-C port is for video connection. Next, there are buttons for brightness and power.

The USB-C ports are recessed quite far in. Should you have a faulty cable in the future, you may need to buy a replacement cable from XPPen unless you have a cable with a connector that's small enough to go into the hole to reach the USB-C port. The included XPPen cables are thick and looks durable so I expect to last.

Display

The display is actually 15.4-inch and not 15.6-inch as the name of the product suggest. Resolution is 1920 x 1080 and on a 15.4-inch display, there's slight pixelation which is noticeable but not too bad.

Colours on the pen display look good out of the box but there's no mention as to whether the display is colour calibrated at the factory.

The company advertised colour support for 99% sRGB, 96% Adobe RGB, 96% Display P3. I measured colour support for 99% sRGB, 92% NTSC, 94% AdobeRGB, 95% P3 so colour accuracy is quite good.

Achieving maximum brightness depends on which OS and which driver version you use.

• MacOS driver 4.0.6, 4.0.8: Max brightness 153 nits
• Windows driver 4.07, 4.08: Max brightness 153 nits
• Windows driver 4.06: Max brightness 224 nits

With both Mac and Windows driver at default settings, I measured maximum brightness of only 153 nits.

With the Windows driver, I had to set colour temperature to USER to achieve higher brightness. And only Windows driver v4.0.6 provides colour temperature adjustment for some reason, not 4.0.7 and 4.0.8.

The display is laminated but the glass has some thickness which creates parallax. Pen calibration can remove the parallax, and after calibration the line will look as if it's coming from beneath the pen tip while drawing.

That's how the anti-glare looks. You can still see the content on the screen under the diffused reflections. You'll get the best visual quality when looking straight at the display. Viewing angles are good with minimal to no colour shift.

Matte surface usually introduce some grain, colour noise or anti-glare sparkle. I'm happy to say that all that is kept to a minimal. The matte screen protector does not affect the visual quality much.

The cylindrical pen case holds the X3 Pro Smart Chip Stylus (model PD21) and 8 replacement pen nibs, and the nib remover.

The X3 Pro Smart Chip Stylus is well made. There's a big silicone grip section which is comfortable to hold. The pen has two side buttons and an eraser. The pen is not powered by battery so no charging is required.

The pen supports tilt and 16K levels of pressure sensitivity. It is possible to buy replacement felt nibs for more texture when drawing.

XPPen has also listed the X3 Pro Slim Stylus and X3 Pro Roller Stylus as optional accessories on the product page. These two pens use the X3 technology but the pens' product pages do not list the Artist 15.6 Pro V2 as a compatible pen display.

Driver

The 8 hotkeys can be customised and the red dial can be customised with up to 4 functions.

You can create keyboard shortcuts for the hotkeys, use mouse functions or choose from the pre-programmed functions (see above). It is possible to create groups of shortcuts for specific apps, and load those shortcuts automatically when those apps are active. Just click the + button at the top to add an app and create shortcuts for that app.

I've tested Mac and Windows drivers, and Windows driver v4.0.6 has the Display Settings button at the bottom right.

With Display Settings, you can adjust the brightness, contrast, colour temperature and RGB. If you do not have a physical colour calibrator, it is possible to colour calibrate the display using these settings. The MacOS driver does not have this feature, so manual colour calibration will be through MacOS settings.

The important thing with Display Settings is to set colour temperature to USER which will unlock maximum brightness. Otherwise, maximum brightness will not go over 160 nits for some reason.

Pressure sensitivity of the curve can be adjusted using three control points, or you can choose from the pre-programmed pressure curves. Pressure and tilt sensitivity can be disabled. The Windows driver has Windows Ink feature which you may have to toggle on or off for troubleshooting if pressure is not working as expected. There's mouse mode which allows you to push the cursor around instead of having the cursor track directly underneath the pen tip.

Work area settings can usually be left as default. If you're left handed, you can change the rotation to 180 degrees so that the hotkeys will go to the right side of the pen display.

The configurations you've made can be saved into a configuration file.

Line tests

Line tests below were created with Medibang Paint

1. Initial activation force is very low. Thin lines can be drawn easily even with a thick brush. There's slight wobble with slow diagonal lines. Lines drawn with a ruler also has slight wobble. Diagonal line wobble isn't really an issue when you're actually drawing though.

2. Lines are able to taper smoothly and sharply.

3. Line transition from thin to thick, and back to thin is smooth. The pen is able to draw thin lines after thick lines suggesting the pen has good control over the pressure curve regardless of whether it's heavy or light pressure. This is also a diagonal line and there's no noticeable diagonal line wobble and jitter.

4. Line width can be maintain consistently while maintaining consistent pressure.

5. No issues with drawing dots.

6. This is the cursor misalignment test where lines are drawn separately, then joined to check for gaps and overshooting lines. There are no gaps and overshooting lines, which means cursor misalignment is not as issue. If there's cursor misalignment, you can use the driver for pen calibration.

Cursor also does not seem to stray away from the pen tip when the pen is held vertical then switched to an angle.

Tilt sensitivity works fine. Cursor is able to follow the direction of the pen.

Drawing experience

This was drawn with Medibang Paint. Lines were able to come out exactly the way I expect them to.

The pen is sensitive and accurate. Pen performance is predictable and consistent.

The matte screen protector provides a nice tactile drawing experience.

This was drawn with Clip Studio Paint. Drawing process is smooth without issues. Pen pressure works fine, beautifully.

This was drawn with Medibang Paint. There are many diagonal lines in this sketch and I didn't really have any issues with diagonal line wobble or jitter.

Conclusion

The XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro V2 has great drawing performance. While the line tests show slight wobble with diagonal lines, there was never any problem when actually drawing with the pen. The pen is very sensitive and accurate enough, and pen performance is consistent and predictable.

It's convenient and helpful to have the hotkeys and dial. However personally for me, I don't use the hotkeys and dial because my other hand is on the keyboard all the time.

The main downside has to deal with how you can achieve maximum brightness. Mac users unfortunately won't be able to increase the display brightness beyond 160 nits. For Windows users, you have to use the driver version that has the Display Settings feature so that you can use your own custom colour temperature to unlock higher brightness.

This is a pen display I can recommend easily if you have a limited budget of USD 300. There are many pros and very few cons.

Pros and cons at a glance

+ Sturdy build quality
+ Nice looking design
+ Pen does not require battery
+ Pen supports 16K levels of pressure sensitivity
+ Tilt sensitivity works fine
+ 8 replacement tips included
+ 8 physical shortcut keys and dial
+ Matte screen protector has good anti-glare
+ Matte screen protector provides nice tactile surface to draw on
+ Matte screen protector does not affect the display quality much
+ 1080P resolution on the screen this size is sharp enough
+ Screen has good colour accuracy
+ Does not heat up significantly
+ Pen performance is good
+ Lines minimal wobble and jitter
+ Supports USB-C and HDMI video connection
+ It's possible to power the pen display from a single USB-C connection
+ Stand included
+ Price is reasonable
- Achieving max brightness depends on OS and the driver version
- Max brightness for Mac users limited to below 160 nits
- Display glass has some thickness that create parallax (can be corrected by calibration)

Availability

The XPPen Artist 15.6 Pro V2 can be purchased from XPPen online store and Amazon (US | CA | UK | DE | FR | ES | IT | JP)

If you have intention to buy one, consider supporting me and my work by using the affiliate links above. I earn some commission for each sale at no extra cost to you.

And if my review is inaccurate in any way, let me know in the comments section below.