Not too long ago, photo editing was a task that required some heavy digital artillery. But as expectations continue to rise and humans evolve, this is quickly changing. Manufacturers are making the most of their devices.
Anyone related to the job of professional photo editing is using Photoshop these days. To work on the go, you’ll need a strong device for handling the pressure of Photoshop. Though some people prefer a laptop, others like to use a tablet.
Why use a tablet though? Well, first of all, it’s easy to carry around. It acts more like a miniature version of your computer allowing you to do all the things you can do with your laptop. That’s why more and more professional photoshop users are opting for a tablet to use Photoshop.
But how to pick the right tablet for Photoshop? Firstly, it needs to have a good display and performance unit. The battery is also important. The weight and how it feels on your hand is another thing to consider.
To ease off the pressure, we’ve brought you the best tablets for Photoshop. We’ve taken our time to research and find the best tablets from all prices and sizes to meet your needs.
Before we delve deeper into the different tablet options available for purchase, it is important that you keep in mind the display, storage capacity, and performance of the devices as they will influence your productivity and the final result of your work.
Let’s begin!
Our Recommendations
- Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite – Best Overall
- Microsoft Surface Go – Best In Portability
- XP-Pen Artist 12 Pr0 – Best In Price
- Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – Best Lag-Free Tablet
- Apple iPad Pro – Best In Performance
- Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 700 – Best Hybrid Tablet
- Wacom Cintiq 13 HD 13.3” – Best For Professionals And Amateurs
- Asus ZenPad 3S 10 – Best Tablet For Photo Editing
- Wacom Intuos Pro Tablet – Best In Accuracy
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite
Let’s kick the list off with the latest release from Samsung. It’s called the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 lite. It’s the budget option tablet for running Photoshop. We’ll be honest with you here, it runs photoshop quite well.
The Galaxy S6 Lite runs on a 10NM Exynos 9611 chipset. It has an octa-core processor with a Mali-G72 MP3 GPU. Though the GPU and CPU itself is pretty strong and fast, it’s further enhanced by the 4GB RAM.
Up next is the display. The Galaxy S6 lite comes with a Full HD 10.4-inch display. The LCD provides lifelike visuals to its users. It also features corner-to-corner views. Finally, the body features a Slim Metal Design which is comfortable and looks good on hand.
As for the rest of the features, you’ll get to choose from either 64GB or 128GB storage. The storage however can be expanded up to 1TB. It also has a much-requested 3.5mm headphone jack. To finish it all off, you’ll get a 13-hour battery backup on a full charge.
The only real issue we have against this tablet is that the face recognition isn’t up to the mark with some of the flagship tablets. Other than that, everything’s fine.
Overall, the Galaxy Tab S6 is a budget option tab that can run photoshop well. So if you’re looking for something a bit cheaper, this is the one to go for.
Pros
- The 10.4″ display provides excellent HD visuals.
- It runs on a strong 10NM Exynos 9611 chipset.
- The galaxy S6 lite has a Powerful Octa-core processor and Mali-G72 MP3 GPU.
- The storage is expandable up to 1TB.
- The battery backup lasts 13 hours.
- The slim metal design looks and feels good.
- 3.5mm headphone jack port and fast charging included.
Cons
- Facial recognition isn’t up to the mark.
Microsoft Surface Go
The Surface Go is a low-cost detachable tablet from Microsoft. Though it’s pretty small in size, it packs the power of a budget PC. Let’s take a look at what it has on the inside.
As we’ve mentioned, the Surface Go is a budget PC component packed inside a tablet. It has an Intel Pentium Gold Processor 4415Y. It also has Intel HD Graphics 615 as a GPU and either 4GB or 8GB RAM depending on the version you choose.
The display is perhaps the best part of the Surface Go. It’s a 10” PixelSense screen with a max resolution of 1800 x 1200. We like the 10 points multi-touch feature. Finally, the display is a Corning Gorilla Glass 3, so even if it falls from your hand you can rest assured it won’t get damaged.
Now on other things. As the Surface Go can also be used as a laptop, it has some cool features of a laptop. For example, the storage is either 64 or 128 GB SSD. It means you’ll get pretty fast writing speed. The design is simple but looks good. It has a battery life of up to 9 hours. Though that’s average, it’ll do just well.
However, it doesn’t feel as powerful as an iPad. Besides that, the screen could’ve been a bit more sharper.
Overall, the Microsoft Surface Go Could be a decent choice for running photoshop. As it can function as both laptop and tablet, you’ll get the value of two, in one.
Pros
- Simplistic but beautiful design.
- A powerful Intel Pentium Gold Processor 4415Y.
- Up to 8GB RAM.
- The 10” PixelSense display provides stunning visuals.
- The Corning Gorilla Glass 3 provides safety to the display.
- SSD storage up to 128 GB.
- Up to 9 hours of battery backup on a full charge.
Cons
- Not as powerful as an iPad.
- The screen can be a bit dull.
XP-Pen Artist 12 Pr0
This next tablet is XP-Pen Artist 12 Pro. It’s specifically aimed at artists. It can also act as a budget option if you’re an artist and a Photoshop user.
As we’ve mentioned already, it’s a drawing tablet. So it isn’t like a normal tablet. Let’s begin with the display. It’s an 11.6-inch display that has an active area of 10 x 5.7 inches. The display provides a sharp viewing angle of 178 degrees. To top it all off, the display can hold up to 16.5 million colors at once!
In terms of performance, the XP-Pen artist is rivaled by none. It has a super-fast response time of 14 ms. The color gamut coverage is 72% on NTSC. It also has 8 customizable keys, you can program them to function as you want.
As for the stylus that comes with it, it’s battery-free. So there’s no hassle of charging it. But the only problem is as it’s a drawing tablet, it’ll need a computer to run
Overall, the XP-Pen artist 12 Pro was designed for artists. So unless you’re an artist who uses Photoshop, we don’t recommend it. But if you are an artist, there isn’t a better tablet than this for you.
Pros
- 11.6-inch display that has an active area of 10 x 5.7 inches
- Provides a sharp viewing angle up to 178 degrees.
- The screen responds at 14 ms which is very fast.
- The display houses up to 16.5 million colors
- The stylus runs without a battery.
- Perfect tablet for artists
Cons
- Not designed for normal users.
- It needs a computer to run.
Microsoft Surface Pro 7
Now we’ll discuss the powerhouse options. We’ll begin with the Microsoft Surface Pro 7. The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is the latest tablet from Microsoft. It is currently one of the best tablets.
Let’s begin with the performance section. The Surface Pro 7 has a Quad-core 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1065G7 Processor. The storage is SSD so you won’t have to worry about it lagging out. Also, you can choose from 4GB up to 16GB LPDDR4x RAM.
As for the display, it’s pretty big and immersive. The Surface Pro 7 comes with a pixel sense display that capitalizes on providing clear pixels. The 12.3-inch display has a max resolution of 2736 x 1824. It also features a 10-point multi-touch.
Surface Pro 7 has pretty good battery life. At 10.5 hours of backup, you’ll go through the day easily. It also has an Intel Iris Plus GPU. The GPU in particular is good for photoshop as it boosts up the visuals.
The only issue we have with this tablet is that it’s pricey. On top of that, there aren’t any thunderbolt 3 ports.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 has the best specs currently. So there isn’t any doubt if it can run Photoshop. If you can spend this much on a tablet, then you should go for it.
Pros
- Superfast Quad-core 10th Gen core-i7 processor
- Up to 16GB of fast LPDDR4X RAM.
- The SSD storage provides fast writing speed.
- Multi-touch enabled.
- 10.5 hours of battery backup lasts throughout the day.
- Intel Iris Plus GPU does an excellent job of rendering graphics.
Cons
- Expensive
- No Thunderbolt 3 port.
Apple iPad Pro
Finally, we have the best tablet for Photoshop. It’s a beast in itself and needs no special introductions. I’m talking about the Apple iPad Pro.
As you may know, it was released just recently. So there’s no doubt it’ll have the best available specs. The iPad Pro is equipped with an A12Z Bionic and has a 64-bit M12 coprocessor. The chip and processor were based on a desktop-class architecture with a neutral engine.
As for the display, it has a 12.9‑inch Liquid Retina display with ProMotion technology. The display also has a true tone and P3 WIde color gamut. When combined, all of these provide a lifelike visual experience to the user.
Lastly, we’ve got the storage. You’ll encounter 4 variants while choosing the iPad Pro. You can choose from 128 GB up to 1TB. The RAM is pretty high too. So no matter which storage option you pick you will always get 6GB of RAM. One other thing, on a full charge, the iPad Pro will last up to 10 hours!
As weird as it might sound, there aren’t any serious negative points to it. Yes, it’s expensive for a tablet. Other than that, it’s perfect.
The iPad Pro does an excellent job of running Photoshop. The components of this tablet are the latest. So if you’re willing to spend that much, there’s no doubt that you should pick this.
Pros
- The 12.9‑inch Liquid Retina display provides lifelike visuals.
- The display has a unique feature called ProMotion technology. It captures motion and doesn’t blur.
- Features such as True Tone and P3 Wide color gamut provide accurate visuals.
- The A12Z Bionic chip is the best in the A12 series.
- Decent 10-hour battery life.
- Pick SSD storage options from 128GB up to 1TB.
- Superfast 6GB ram.
Cons
- Too expensive.
Lenovo IdeaPad Miix 700
Designed to be different, the Lenovo IdeaPad Miix is an excellent 2in1 hybrid tablet that offers great value and smooth performance for its price point. Even though it is not the best performing hybrid available, this device works better than most. The device’s 9-hour battery power and the 12-inch display screen with a resolution of 2160 x 1440 pixels are some of the reasons that this device is revered for its Photoshop capabilities.
Pros
- Offering unmatched accuracy and usage durations the Lenovo Ideapad is effortlessly any photo editors’ dream.
- Running on Windows 10 with the support of an Intel HD Graphics 515 graphics card, the device has good-quality images.
- Its smooth performance can be attributed to its great processor and 256GB storage capacity.
Cons
- Users have described the style of this tablet to be inconvenient and troublesome, while some have reported its processor to be slow.
Wacom Cintiq 13 HD 13.3”
Wacom is a company that is synonymous with most graphics tablets and is an excellent choice for both professional and amateur editors. The Wacom Cintiq 13 (DTK1300) houses a display area that measures 11.75? x 6.75? and is a premium HD display device that facilitates most photo editors/creatives’ innate desire of working directly on a screen.
Additionally, the Wacom tablet comes with an interactive pen/ stylus technology that is easy to use and is pressure and tilt-sensitive which means it can replicate the natural experience of a regular pencil, markers, or brushes.
Pros
- Wacom Cintiq has a much wider display screen with full HD and a much larger 75% Adobe RGB Gamut in addition to supporting up to 16.7 million hues.
- Even though it is equipped with an adjustable stand, the tablet can be used as a standalone as the stand is detachable.
- It also has an HDMI port which facilitates connection to larger display screens when necessary.
Cons
- In comparison to other devices, the Wacom suppresses the resolution of its display to a much lower value of 165 PPI.
Asus ZenPad 3S 10
With a price point of slightly under $ 250, that won’t leave a dent in your pocket; the Asus Zenpad is an inexpensive yet powerful photo editing tablet. It is powered by a Hexa-core Mediatek 8176 processor that is really two processors in one: a 1.7-GHz ARM Cortex A53 quad-core and a 2.1-GHz ARM Cortex A72 dual-core. It also comprises 4GB of RAM, 64GB of onboard storage, and a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 cover protection.
By virtue of it being an Android device, the play store offers a host of multiple photo editing applications with advanced features. With the likes of Lightroom, VSCO, Snapseed, and Camera Zoom Fx you will be spoiled for choice if you choose to work with the Zenpad. Finally, its battery life lasts between 5-8 hours on a single charge depending on the frequency of device usage.
Pros
- The resolution and pixel density of this device make it one of the best android based photo editing devices.
- With a display screen size of 9.7 inches, this device has a resolution of 2048×1536 and a pixel density of 264 PPI which makes it an excellent photo editing device because it offers accuracy.
Cons
- The stylus, which is sold separately, will cost you an additional $30 excluding AAAA batteries.
- Users have also complained that the touch screen of the Asus ZenPad 3s is too sensitive.
Wacom Intuos Pro Tablet
Wacom has, for years on end, been a leader in the tablet space for designing quality tablets for creatives. The Wacom Intuos Pro is such an excellent tablet for handling most tasks.
Pros
- It is one of the best tablets that you can get for Photoshop
- Has most of the features that you’d need your tablet to have for photo editing as well as for digital drawing
- Comes with an enhanced stylus pen that boasts of an 8132-pressure sensitivity level for your editing needs
- The stylus pen can be relied on for accuracy
- The stylus pen comes with a kit that can be used to keep the pen when not in use
- Supports both MacOS and Windows and is the best tablet for editing your photos with programs such as Photoshop
- Wireless connectivity such as Bluetooth for connecting to your mobile devices
- Customizable Express Keys and has multi-touch support for speeding up your workflow
Cons
- It does not have a screen
- The drivers can sometimes cause issues hence wasting your time
Final Thoughts
Picking the right tablet for photoshop could be very tough. Photoshop needs really good specs to run smoothly. Only a few tablets can run Photoshop properly.
If you’re willing to invest in a tablet, we suggest you either get the iPad Pro or Surface Pro 7. But if you want value for money, then the S6 Lite is by far the best. But remember one thing, no matter which one you choose it’ll be great for you!