Thursday, October 13, 2011

Cintiq 24HD: new unit comes!


I have received yesterday a new Cintiq 24HD. Wacom swapped my defective unit, and I have a new unit. I am very happy for this replacement, I didn’t have to wait for a new unit, since the same courier that took the defective Cintiq 24HD brought me the replacement unit. Good.

I was lucky enough to get a 0 bad pixel unit, and this is again good.

Ok, now the bad news:

1) The fan noise is present, also if it regular and not “un-continuous” like the one I had with the first unit I received. I have to report that if you have a quiet PC, and/or if you work in a silent workspace, than you will clearly hear the Cintiq 24HD when you are working with it. I really don’t like this, and I think that more Wacom could have done more efforts to reduce the fan noise. I have to listen some music while working to forget about this noise. Anyway my unit was defective, so I can confirm that the fan noise that I have reported some days ago is not normal.

2) The ArtPen is not working. Anyhow, Wacom finally confirmed (through the WacomForum) that this is a driver problem and that the ArtPen is not working. They told me that the problem is only a Photoshop problem, I have experienced a more general problem. Anyhow they now have both my ArtPen and my old Cintiq, so maybe they could do more tests and tell me if also my ArtPen was defective.
It is good to have a confirmation from Wacom (maybe they could have emailed me before). I hope that new drivers will soon fix this.

I really liked the fast Wacom swap service, but I have to report that they didn’t tell me anything about this (I was not present when the courier came the first time) and that there was some confusion about should be shipped back to them. I was told to ship only the Cintiq 24HD and the ArtPen without accessories. Then I discovered that I should have shipped the Cintiq 24HD with all accessories and not the ArtPen. Anyway I should get back the ArtPen again, and UPS will come again to pick the accessories.

15 comments:

  1. hi!

    thanks for your detailed reports. I also try to use my artpen with the cintiq 24 and I also got this small little errors at the end of the lines... :( and it is definitely not only a Photoshop problem.

    i don´t hear the fan, but my computer is not very silent..that may be the reason. ;)

    best wishes
    florian

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Florian.

    Thanks for your comment.

    The fan of the Cintiq 24HD is the worst fan that I have ever seen in a monitor. They could really have done a better job. I can hear it also with the sound from the traffic in the street coming inside the room through a closed window… I have tested 3 and all of them make the same sound (the first one was an even more annoying sound).

    I am very disappointed with Wacom about the ArtPen because I asked on the official forum for the correct ArtPen and they suggested a product that is not working properly. And, after some days, they confirmed to me that the product was not working correctly on the Cintiq 24HD… Maybe it would be a better idea to test the product before you suggest it.

    I wasted more than 100 euro on the ArtPen. In my opinion they should have tested the pen before suggesting it. There was nothing strange in saying “the Cintiq 24HD does not support the ArtPen at the moment”. But they suggested me to buy the Art Pen!

    At the moment I have no other news.

    ReplyDelete
  3. yes, I am very disappointed myself.
    yesterday I additionally called the customer support and they confirmed the problem and were not able to give me a real perspective on a solution.
    that is why I will send back my c24.
    I have already used the artpen with my intuos and am very comfortable this way, so I see no other way.

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello, sorry to hear you have the fan issue again. Mine arrived just today. 0 bad pixel. The fan is almost to hear. I can hear the fans only when I come close to place behind cintiq, where the fan holes are(or what is it). Then I can hear them, but from the sound how they are spinning I can tell they are really cheap ones(maybe the cheapest ones on market:), kind of scratchy sound. for the 2.5k eur product quite weird.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Florian: I have asked Wacom to give me a “release date” for the new drivers that should fix the ArtPen problem. I am waiting for an answer. For my kind of work I can also not use the ArtPen, so I am not sending back the Cintiq for this reason, but I am disappointed. I don’t understand why Wacom didn’t test the ArtPen in the beginning. I have eared of other users that have emailed me with the same ArtPen problem (on YouTube).

    Michales: thanks for your comment. I am not experiencing the same fan issue I had (the fan sound is not the same as before) but I am disappointed with the fan quality. I am a little bit scared because I am going to use the Cintiq 24HD a lot and the fact that the fan is a clearly a cheap one could produce issues later, maybe when the warranty is expired. Only time will tell.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just got my cintiq 24hd and I have a lot of fan noise as well. It sounds like when a cheap computer is turning on, kind of a grinding/buzzing noise that a dying hard drive or old fan produces. I'm a little concerned that a replacement won't be any better. I could live with it because overall it's top-of-the-line. There is nothing better out there right now.

    Also, considering that I'm mainly going to be using Photoshop (with the Art Pen) I'm a little worried about what the future holds.

    Has anyone had a cintiq without the grinding cheap fan noise? Should I keep this one (noisy, w/no bad pixels) or should I get a replacement?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks for your comment Rivocrates. Please notice that is normal that when you turn on the Cintiq 24HD the fans go at full speed and make a lot of noise, after a few seconds they start rotating slowly and making less noise, but they are never quiet. Fan noise is quite normal for the Cintiq 24HD. Depending on the loudness of your working environment the sound could be just a little disturbing or very irritating. My first unit really had a cracking sound and it got replaced, but also the other 2 Cintiq 24HD that I own now are far from being quiet. In my opinion if you have a 0 bad pixel unit you should keep it. They have used crappy fans, this is sad but there is nothing we can do about it. Some users told me that they are experiencing no fan noise, but I think that this is just because their working environment is not very quiet. I can tell you that both my units are louder than my PC and MacBook Air. At the moment I am aware of 12 people (including me) having problems with the ArtPen.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Hi Vittorio,
    I returned my Cintiq 24HD today.

    When I went to the store today I was able to see another one in person and it was much definitely quieter than my first one. Now the environment wasn't exactly quiet. But, when I put my ear directly next to the monitor I could only hear a very uniform and quiet hum. So I'd say that if anyone else hears the non-uniform buzz noise they should contact Wacom. Buzzing and 'dying hard-drive fan noises' are not normal. It should sound like a gentle hum imo.

    Wacom was super easy to deal with and they were happy to help. They happily issued me a RMA but...

    As it turned out that it wasn't for me though---I just can't get over the fact that my hand is covering up 60% of the area that I'm trying to work on. And after 10 years of using a normal intuos (2, 3,and 4) there was no clear advantage to drawing directly on the screen.

    There was something novel and almost magical about it and I enjoyed the experience of reconnecting my eyes and my hands. Yet, having a 2nd 27" monitor is much more advantageous for me personally. Also, the limited color gamut was unacceptable for me (color nazi).

    Also, regarding the Art pen, there are two different models and this may be the reason that people are having issues with them.

    Anyway, it's a great product made by a great company and there is no better computer drawing experience than the 24HD. But if you're used to tablets, could use a 2nd monitor that is true-color (full gamut), don't like covering the area with your hand and want to save 2K, my advice is to pass on it.

    Hope this helps others decide and know what is acceptable noise for the 24HD.
    Rick

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Rick, so you've replaced your unit... is the fan noise now acceptable or, although now is uniform, still too much annoying for enjoying the experience with your 24hd?
      Thanks, the noise fan problem is for me the big deal in choosing between the 22hd and 24 hd.

      giovanni

      Delete
  10. Hi Rivocrates.

    I found the Cintiq 24HD gamut to be satisfactory for many uses, you can find a review with 3D plots of the gamut in this blog (first post of the blog). I am a color fanatic to and I have to say that the Cintiq 24HD behavior is far better than previous Cintiqs. I found the color gamut to be good, not as wide as recent monitors from Eizo and Nec, anyway I would not call it limited. It covers almost all the AdobeRGB color space. What hardware and software are you using to calibrate and make the profile? What monitor are you comparing the Cintiq 24HD to?

    Regarding the ArtPen I am aware that there are different models and I have tested them all, Wacom is working right now to fix the problem but I have no recent news. I know for sure that the ArtPen problem is known and common to all Cintiq 24HD.

    I used Intuos for years but I am much more confident with a Cintiq. The Cintiq 24HD offers a wide range of working position allowing you to work for hours in comfortable positions.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ciao Vittorio, come forse hai letto negli altri commenti sto valutando tra la nuova cintiq 22hd e la 24: il problema delle ventole della 24 rischia però di infastidirmi troppo (ho un macpro molto silenzioso e dissipatore passivo sulla scheda grafica). A suo tempo mi dicesti che i monitor delle vecchie 21 non rendevano come colore: a parte questo però, come ti sei trovato come grandezza dell'area di disegno? Quanta differenza hai visto con la 24? E la posizione di lavoro con l'altro stand era faticosa a lungo andare oppure è simile a quelle ottenibili con la 24? Grazie come sempre delle risposte
    Giovanni

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Volevo aggiungere che non so se la 22 monta delle ventole diverse, dovresti sentire qualcuno che ha avuto modo di provare entrambe le unità, possibilmente una persona con un orecchio "attento”.

      Delete
  12. Ciao Giovanni.
    Scusami per il ritardo nella risposta. Non ho avuto modo di provare la 22 ma è un prodotto che mi interessa molto, la maggiore densità di pixel a parità di area mi pare un'ottima caratteristica. Mi spiace non poterti aiutare oltre, ma non ho idea di come vada la 22. Il supporto della 24 secondo me è imbattibile e non è qualcosa a cui rinuncerei. La ventola della 24 mi ha dato di recente altri problemi (ha iniziato di nuovo a fare rumore) ma non ho ancora avuto modo di organizzare la sostituzione per impegni più urgenti. Personalmente lo trovo un difetto “inutile”, sarebbe stato facile da risolvere con una scelta più attenta. Se puoi, recati in un qualche negozio dove la hanno in esposizione per valutare di persona. Il mio MacPro è in ogni caso rumoroso in modo “percepibile” più o meno quanto la 24HD, la vera differenza la noto in un ambiente molto “isolato” con un computer assemblato per il silenzio (pannelli appesantiti e insonorizzati, raffreddamento a liquido su CPU, VGA, vari componenti della scheda madre, alimentatore scelto ad hoc e così via).

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hello, sorry for my english I'm french.
    I'm trying to calibrate my cintiq and I need to know what kind of backlight got the cintiq 24HD DTK , is it CCFL wide gamut or LED ??

    regards,
    Nesskain

    ReplyDelete