Back in July of 2017, Wacom announced that it would be releasing 24- and 32-inch versions of its popular Cintiq Pro pen display for creatives. But today’s debut of the 24-inch model isn’t the most interesting news out of Wacom; the interesting bit is the Cintiq Pro Engine: a plug-and-play PC module that turns your Cintiq Pro tablet into a full-blown Windows 10 workstation.
Or, in Wacom’s own words:
Designed for professional illustrators, designers, engineers and motion graphics users who require professional computing power and graphics performance, the modular Cintiq Pro Engine slots into the back of the Cintiq Pro 24, eliminating the space, cable clutter and compatibility issues that often result from using external computers and laptops.
Attaching the Cintiq Pro Engine to the Cintiq Pro 24 tranforms the Cintiq Pro 24 into a full Windows 10 creative studio that supports even the most demanding programs and applications used by creative professionals.
The Cintiq Pro Engine is a PC module that quite simply slides into a slot on the back of the 24-inch (and eventually 32-inch) Cintiq Pro pen display. Once added, your Cintiq Pro is now a Windows 10 PC in one of two variations:
If go with the $ 2,500 Cintiq Pro Engine i5, you get:
- A quad-core Intel Core i5HQ processor
- NVIDIA Quadro P3200 graphics card with 6GB of dedicated GDDR5 RAM
- 16GB of RAM
- A 256GB PCIe Gen3 SSD
- WiFi and Bluetooth Connectivity
Or you can get the $ 3,300 Cintiq Pr Engine Xeon with:
- An Intel XEON processor
- The same NVIDIA Quadro P3200 graphics card with 6GB dedicated GDDR5 RAM
- 32GB of RAM
- A 512GB PCIe Gen3 SSD
- Wireless and Bluetooth connectivity
What’s more, the SSDs and RAM inside both versions are upgradable, so you can keep the PC modules current as demands increase. And since the Cintiq Pro Engine is plug-and-play, you can swap it between various Cintiq Pro 24- and 32-inch pen displays “while retaining the same computing environment.”
Both versions of the Cintiq Pro Engine will be available starting in March in Japan, the US, and ‘select countries’ in Europe. To learn more about the Cintiq Pro 24-inch and the Cintiq Pro Engine, visit the Wacom website.
Press Release
Wacom Cintiq Pro Engine and Cintiq Pro displays: The first modular all-in-one creative studio
Wacom Cintiq Pro Engine is a compact PC module that converts the Cintiq Pro into a powerful creative studio. Artists, Designers and Engineers can transform their Cintiq Pro into a powerful Windows 10 workstation with the power to run the demanding creative applications and workflows, including 3D, animation and virtual reality.
Tokyo, Japan – Feb. 27, 2018 – Today Wacom announced the Wacom Cintiq Pro Engine, a creative PC module available in two configurations that fully integrates into the Cintiq Pro 24-inch pen display (announced today in a separate release). Designed for professional illustrators, designers, engineers and motion graphics users who require professional computing power and graphics performance, the modular Cintiq Pro Engine slots into the back of the Cintiq Pro 24, eliminating the space, cable clutter and compatibility issues that often result from using external computers and laptops.
“It is our mission to help professionals create with the least amount of distraction and clutter and to give them the power to tackle the new spaces of creating content for AR, VR and MR. The Wacom Cintiq Pro Engine provides a beautiful, easy to use solution for creatives everywhere,” said Faik Karaoglu, Executive Vice President of the Creative Business Unit at Wacom.
Attaching the Cintiq Pro Engine to the Cintiq Pro 24 tranforms the Cintiq Pro 24 into a full Windows 10 creative studio that supports even the most demanding programs and applications used by creative professionals. The combination of the Wacom Cintiq Pro display, the powerful Wacom Cintiq Pro Engine creative PC module, and a flexible and rotatable new Wacom Ergo Stand is an innovative approach to providing an all-in-one specialized working environment for creatives. Adding the use of the Wacom Pro Pen 3D, professionals who rely on 3D animation or sculpting software, or CAD applications, will see an immediate benefit to their workflow.
Virtual Reality Support
In addition to the benefits around creative applications and workflows, Cintiq Pro Engine supports the increasingly important virtual reality (VR) workflow. Most Wacom products are already capable of supporting VR content creation, but to review and check the VR content, customers frequently need to move the content to another PC that has the graphics power to run VR content.
Powerful Graphics
The Wacom Cintiq Pro Engine is powered by the NVIDIA Quadro P3200. This graphics card is based on the NVIDIA Pascal GPU architecture, which provides the power demanded by today’s creative applications with dramatically faster graphics and computing power than on the CPU.
“Wacom designs products for the way artists and designers create. They’re intuitive, natural and fast and can be used anywhere,” says Bob Pette, vice president, Professional Visualization, NVIDIA. “Our new mobile Quadro P3200 packs a ton of graphics power into the new Cintiq and Cintiq Engine Pro, and we’re thrilled to have them showcased at our upcoming GPU Technology Conference.”
Flexibility Found Nowhere Else
The Wacom Cintiq Pro Engine memory and SSD are exchangeable and upgradable, ensuring system flexibility. Given the plug and play nature of the hardware, it’s easy to move between Cintiq 32” and 24” displays while retaining the same computing environment with the Cintiq Pro Engine. This flexibility is found nowhere else in the market and leads to a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) than any other solution.
Two Versions of Cintiq Pro Engine
Cintiq Pro Engine i5:
- Operating System: Windows 10 Pro
- Processor: Intel® Core i5HQ (Quad Core)
- Graphics: NVIDIA® Quadro® P3200
- Dedicated graphics memory: 6GB GDDR5
- RAM: 16GB
- Storage: 256GB SSD, PCIe Gen3
- Wireless LAN: Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 ac
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 4.2
- Security: fTPM(TPM2.0)
- Input Voltage: 100 to 240 VAC, 50/60 Hz
- Connectivity: Internal (communication between PC & Display) 1x USB-C, 1x Power
- Connectivity: External (customer interfaces) 1x RJ45 (LAN), 2x USB-C, 1xmHDMI, 1xmDP, 2x DC-in
- Price: $ 2,499
Cintiq Pro Engine Xeon:
- Operating System: Windows 10 Pro for Workstation
- Processor: Intel® XEON
- Graphics: NVIDIA® Quadro® P3200
- Dedicated graphics memory: 6GB GDDR5
- RAM: 32GB
- Storage: 512GB SSD, PCIe Gen3
- Wireless LAN: Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11 ac
- Bluetooth: Bluetooth® 4.2
- Security: fTPM(TPM2.0)
- Input Voltage: 100 to 240 VAC, 50/60 Hz
- Output Voltage: 19.5V/11.8A (230W)
- Connectivity: Internal (communication between PC & Display); 1x USB-C, 1x Power
- Connectivity: External (customer interfaces); 1x RJ45 (LAN), 2x USB-C, 1xmHDMI, 1xmDP, 2x DC-in
- Price: $ 3,299
Availability
There are two versions of Cintiq Pro Engine, available as of May 2018 in Japan, US and selected countries in Europe. For details visit our homepage at Wacom.com. For more information on compatibility, visit www.wacom.com/comp.
Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)