Laser Digital Calendar review: Save the day

8.7

Bringing order to the chaos of busy households, the Laser Digital Calendar shows you your schedule at a glance.

As a great man once said, life moves pretty fast. It’s especially hectic if you’re constantly rushing children between class, after-school activities, weekend sport and other commitments. 

Things have slowed down a bit at my house; now my children are in their 20s, but four working adults with busy social lives still make for a pretty full schedule. Complicated by the fact we’re sharing two cars between three drivers.

Long ago, we abandoned the paper calendar hanging on the kitchen wall in favour of a shared family digital calendar. Everyone can access it on their computers, smartphones and tablets but, even then, apparently it’s still easy to miss things.

That’s where the Laser Digital Calendar comes in, letting you go old-school and hang your digital calendar on the wall, so everyone can easily see what’s on the agenda. When sitting idle, it doubles as a digital photo frame, scrolling through your favourite happy snaps.

The $229.95 15.6-inch Laser Digital Calendar’s closest competition is the $509 15-inch Skylight Calendar or perhaps the giant $1,199 27-inch Skylight Calendar Max.

If you’re looking for something with a built-in smart assistant, consider the $649 15.6-inch Amazon Echo Show 15, $149 7-inch Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) or even the discontinued 10.1-inch Google Nest Hub Max (which my parents love as their sole smart device).

Table of contents

• First impressions
• Specifications and price
• Features
• Organiser features
• Digital photo frame features
• Quality
• Who is the Laser Digital Calendar for?

Laser Digital Calendar first impressions

Out of the box, the Laser Digital Calendar looks like a pretty standard 15-inch photo frame. It doesn’t have lights, writing, or anything else on the front that would make it look out of place in your home.

Look at the back of the Digital Calendar, and you’ll find brackets for attaching the supplied arm, so the frame can stand up on a flat surface in landscape or portrait mode (it auto-rotates the interface). There are also holes for attaching it to wall screws.

You’ll also find a USB-C port for power, along with disabled USB-A and SD card ports. Plus, there are two rear speakers, designed to bounce sound off the wall.

The Laser Digital Calendar can sit on the bench or hang on the wall, in portrait or landscape mode. Image: Adam Turner.

White plastic makes for a lightweight 1.13kg design, which shouldn’t be difficult to hang, although it’s a shame you can’t opt for a front frame that looks a bit more premium. It’s not as polished-looking as its rivals, which is forgivable because it’s considerably cheaper.

Where you place the Digital Calendar is limited by the fact it relies on a 1.5 metre power cable. If you want to hang it on a wall in a central location like the dining room, you might need to think about ways to hard-wire it.

That said, calendar items and other details would be difficult to read from across the room – you really need to be within one metre to see it clearly. You can increase the font size, but it barely makes a difference – making it bolder rather than larger. 

As such, the kitchen bench or splashback might be a more practical place to install it. On the fridge would also be handy, but tricky to mount.

Determining the best place to install the Laser Digital Calendar is crucial. It’s only useful if you can convince everyone in your home to actually use it – which means it needs to be right there when they need it.

Interestingly, you can also protect it with a passcode if you don’t want to grant visitors unfettered access to your affairs.

Laser Digital Calendar specifications and price

Display size	15.6-inch
Display resolution	1920 x 1080 pixels (Full HD)
Display technology	IPS touchscreen 250 cd/m² brightness 60 fps refresh rate
Speakers	2 x 2W
Formats	JPG, JPEG, PNG images MP4, MKV, 3GP video
Connectivity	802.11 b/g/n 2.4GHz only
Power	USB DC 5 V, 3 A adaptor supplied 1.5 metre cable
Dimensions	39.2 x 24.5 x 3.5cm
Weight	1.13kg
Price	$229.95 RRP
Warranty	2 years
Official website	Laser Australia

Features

Setting up the Laser Digital Calendar requires the free Whale Framely app (iOS/Android), which also lets you manage the device remotely. The good news is that it’s free and you don’t need to sign up for yet another subscription service.

You can give the Digital Calendar a name, specify a location and then invite members of your household to access it. Thankfully, not everyone needs the Whale Framely app; you can also create on-device profiles for those too young to own a smartphone.

Next, it’s easy to link to online calendars from Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo! and others. You can specify whether each calendar is one-way or two-way sync. The latter allows you to create and edit calendar appointments on the Digital Calendar’s touchscreen, which will be synced back to the cloud.

The calendar view lets you switch between Schedule, Day, Week or Month view. Schedule’s seven-day view is hard to read at a distance, but you have the advantage of swipe-to-scroll and pinch-to-zoom. Day and Week views take advantage of the screen real estate to make appointments larger, while Month gets quite crowded.

The calendar’s Week view displays plenty of information but is still easy to read from a distance. Image: Adam Turner.

By default, the Digital Calendar pops up calendar appointments and chimes loudly, as does the Whale Framely smartphone app. This might suit some homes, but thankfully you can disable it if it seems like overkill.

It’s important to note that you can’t talk to the Laser Digital Calendar and it doesn’t have a built-in smart assistant, microphone or camera, so it’s not a full substitute for a Google or Amazon smart screen. Some homes will see that as a positive.

Onboard calendar notifications will help keep some households on track. Image: Adam Turner.

Organiser features

More than just displaying your digital calendars, Laser Digital Calendar also offers a range of extra features to keep your household organised: lists, tasks, a meal planner and even rewards – if that’s what it takes to get everyone in your household motivated.

The dashboard view shows you everything at a glance, along with the time, date, weather forecast and a photo from your library. A drop-down lets you add and remove information from different household members if you want to reduce the clutter.

You can rearrange the widgets and create up to five different dashboards. Unfortunately, the size of the widgets is locked, so it’s not as customisable as a smartphone.

The dashboard view makes it easy to see everything at a glance. Image: Adam Turner.

When you create tasks and lists, you can assign them to people, which is useful. The downside is that they’re standalone apps, so you can’t sync tasks and reminders from an online calendar. 

The meal planner is interesting, making it more tempting to place the Laser Digital Calendar within arm’s reach in the kitchen. You’d probably want it on the splashback or wall, as the viewing angles aren’t great when looking down at the screen.

You’re presented with a one- or five-day meal plan view, which you can tap to create a new item or add a meal from the built-in library. Some built-in meals include the recipe, but it talks in ounces, so be warned that other measurements like cups and tablespoons are most likely American rather than Australian (it sounds crazy, but they’re not the same).

Built-in recipes could be handy in the kitchen. Image: Adam Turner.

Digital photo frame features

The Whale Framely app is required to add photos to the Laser Digital Calendar. You don’t have Skylight’s convenience of simply emailing photos, but you can add photos to someone else’s frame if you’ve added it to your Whale Framely app.

As with the Skylight ecosystem, you need to curate your photo library from scratch. You don’t have the flexibility to simply point it to an existing online photo library, as you can with Google and Amazon’s smart screens.

To help your shots look their best, you can crop photos in the app and add captions before sending them to the frame, or else adjust them after they arrive.

Within your Whale Framely photo library, you can set an album as a screensaver which kicks in between one and 10 minutes of inactivity. Of course, the downside is that you now can’t see any of your organiser details when you glance at the screen. Support for even basic voice commands, like “show me the calendar”, would be handy.

You can also manually start a slideshow by simply tapping on any photo you see on the screen. You can set the slideshow intervals anywhere from one second to 24 hours, then adjust how photos fill the screen and what’s in the background.

The limited transition options are basically three different swipes to the left. There’s no straight cross-fade, which some people prefer so they don’t constantly catch the motion out of the corner of their eye. That said, cross-fade is also lacking on the Skylight photo frame, and it stopped bothering me after a while.

Laser Digital Calendar also plays video clips and live photos, with the option to disable audio and auto-play if you don’t want the constant disruption.

Finally, you can also set a sleep schedule so the screen doesn’t waste energy overnight when no one is around to see it.

Quality

While the Laser Digital Calendar’s touchscreen is responsive, the onboard software can be a bit sluggish at times. When you switch between calendar views, it can take a while to populate.

Thankfully, the screen is bright enough to act as a decent photo frame, but the overall picture quality is a bit lacking if you have an eye for detail.

The matte display is very good at reducing glare, but the trade-off is that images aren’t as deep and vivid as what you’d get from the Skylight Calendar, or the standard Skylight dedicated digital photo frame. Likewise, it falls short of Google and Amazon smart screens.

That’s not to say it looks terrible, just that it’s not as good as its more expensive rivals. If you’re primarily after organiser features, you might not care.

On the plus side, the horizontal viewing angles – how far you can stand to the side before the picture looks overly washed out – are about on par with the standard Skylight. It looks pretty good until you get past 45 degrees. 

The Skylight Calendar’s horizontal view angles are much narrower, so it looks terrible from much of the room. This is arguably a greater sin for a digital photo frame than lacking in overall picture quality.

Who is the Laser Digital Calendar for?

If you struggle to keep your busy household organised, then the Laser Digital Calendar might be exactly what you need. The fact it’s half the price of the Skylight Calendar, with almost identical features, makes it particularly attractive (keeping in mind the Skylight Calendar looks more premium).

Like its rivals, the Laser Digital Calendar is perhaps best-suited to households where kids are old enough to read the calendar but too young to have their own smartphone and use a shared family calendar.

It comes down to whether you have a good location to install it, how you would use it and if you can convince everyone in your home to actually take advantage of it. If you can sell everyone on the benefits, it might deliver household harmony.

Laser Digital Calendar

An affordable way to keep your calendar on show, the Laser Digital Calendar might be the key to organising a busy household.

Features

9

Value for money

9.5

Performance

8.5

Ease of use

8.5

Design

8

Positives

Easy household access to calendars

Supports third-party shared calendars

Wall-mounted or free-standing

Doubles as digital photo frame

Negatives

Doesn’t look as premium as rivals

Photo frame image quality falls short of rivals

No smart assistant, mic, or camera (which might be a positive to some)

8.7

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TP-Link Deco 7 powers the Wi-Fi 7 mesh upgrade you need

You know the place. The place in your house where the Wi-Fi doesn’t work properly. The back bedroom, the converted garage, or the spot at the turn of the stairs, where upon you waft daintily down, FaceTime stutters and ruins your entrance. It’s the place you’re not reading this from right now.

But ‘that place’ doesn’t just have to be a ‘feature’ of your house, and a TP-Link Deco 7 mesh system is one of the best ways to prove that.

What makes dead spots even more irritating these days is that your internet plan is almost certainly much faster than it was when you moved in. In September 2025, the NBN tiers all moved up: a great many 100Mbps plans became 500Mbps automatically, 250 became 750, and we finally got that 2Gbps tier those Californian types have always been so boastful about.

Whether any of it reaches the back bedroom is a different question, and it’s a question about your Wi-Fi rather than your internet. That’s where the TP-Link Deco 7 range comes in (to your house). And the range includes four distinct flavours, so you can easily work out which model is best for your particular architectural situation.

Getting up to speed with Wi-Fi 7 and TP-Link Deco 7

Wi-Fi 7 is the latest officially certified Wi-Fi standard. On paper, Wi-Fi 7 peaks at more than 40Gbps, roughly four times what Wi-Fi 6E managed. Of course, no home NBN connection is anywhere near that, so the number in the spec that actually matters for you is this: whether the Wi-Fi inside your house can carry the 500Mbps or 1Gbps you already pay for, all the way to the far end of the building, while everything else is running.

Not that we’re downplaying the 40Gbps max speed here. That is an impressive upgrade. But what matters right now for home users is that Wi-Fi 7 moves more data per second, gets more of it through your walls intact, and holds up the connection when a device wanders towards the edge of the network’s coverage. This should work with a lot of your older gear too, because Wi-Fi 7 is backwards compatible, though of course older kit is weird, so YMMV (your mileage may vary).

As for native Wi-Fi 7 gear, those devices are available now. Your newest phone almost certainly has Wi-Fi 7, and most new laptops do too. So, you might already have a houseful of Wi-Fi 7 devices, frustrated by a network that doesn’t know how to feed them properly.

You may also have read somewhere that Wi-Fi 8 is coming, and it is. It’s further off than the headlines suggest, though. Early hardware exists, but there’s no certified Wi-Fi 8 to buy for a whole house – from router all the way down to the gadgets, TV, washing machine, dog feeding station with buttons on it that your dog presses and the station dispenses food and sends you a photo of the dog eating it – and there won’t be for a while. Sure, you’ll be able to buy a Wi-Fi 8 router pretty soon, but Wi-Fi 7 is still the current generation, strictly speaking.

Why a TP-Link Deco 7 mesh beats a single router

Unless you love running long Ethernet cables, your router is one of the hardest-to-position bits of kit in your house. It has to go near where your NBN box or modem connects to the wall. Speaking of walls: the signal coming out of the router’s Wi-Fi transmitter hits every wall, and every wall absorbs or deflects or attenuates or does some other esoteric signal-processing thing to that signal. Which means bad speed on your wireless device.

Australian houses are notorious for blocking Wi-Fi. It could be the double brick, a slab between floors, the foil-backed sarking in the roof, or even your gigantic fish tank. By the time it reaches the back room, your 250Mbps NBN plan might feel more like 30. If you’re lucky.

A mesh system works differently. Instead of one Wi-Fi base unit (your router) trying to send and receive across the house, you put several units around the joint, and they cooperate, sharing a single network name. Your phone connects to whichever is closest, and that mesh unit hands the phone over to the next, as you move around. With the old-school extenders, your phone had to drop the weak signal and pick up the strong one. That gap is what ruined your entrance on the stairs (and made the FaceTime call stutter).

Choosing a TP-Link mesh kit gives you a couple of practical bonuses on top of that. Every TP-Link Deco 7 unit brings its own Ethernet ports, so if you’re hardcore, you can run ‘Ethernet backhaul’ and connect two mesh units physically. That’s the final beat for a persistent block on Wi-Fi signal, like a huge chunk of old steel girder in your warehouse conversion.

And of course, if you need your network to expand, you just add another matched mesh unit. It doesn’t even need to be the exact same kind; TP-Link’s Deco mesh units work with each other, no matter which part of the range they come from.

Unpacking the TP-Link Deco 7 range

Speaking of, the TP-Link range splits into four tiers, and they match.

Deco 7 is the entry point: dual-band, speeds up to 5Gbps and around 150 devices, which TP-Link describes as fast, reliable Wi-Fi 7 for everyday homes. That’s the apartment, the townhouse, the single-storey three-bedroom place where getting signal everywhere is easy.

Deco 7.

Deco 7 Pro adds the 6GHz band, making it tri-band, with speeds up to 10Gbps and around 200 devices. That extra band is what helps eliminate dead spots and dropout in a multi-storey home. If your house has stairs and a recurring argument about who’s ‘hogging the internet’, this is your tier.

Deco 7 Pro.

Deco 7 Elite sits at the top, and TP-Link calls it its most powerful Wi-Fi 7 mesh system. Speeds run to 20Gbps, device support goes past 200, and some models carry a second 6GHz band, for even more ruthless dropout-hunting. Ethernet on board is serious too, up to 10Gbps. That’s speed you can use, especially in a large home with a proper office, a NAS in the cupboard and someone who cares about latency.

Deco 7 Elite.

Deco 7 Outdoor fixes the problem none of the others can. It’s a dual-band unit built to live outside, so the patio, the shed or the granny flat joins the same network as the house. It works alongside the rest of the range, and it’s best for people with properties that need Wi-Fi up the end of the home paddock, or serious outdoor entertainers, or… actually, the list is pretty extensive.

Deco 7 Outdoor.

As mentioned, all these TP-Link devices, plus earlier mesh units too, work together. TP-Link’s advice today is to make a Deco 7 the main router. You get the latest internet-facing tech, and a Wi-Fi 7 foundation for later upgrades.

The final word

Wi-Fi 7 is finished and certified, many of the devices in your house may already be compatible with it, and Australian ISP speeds are finally humane. All that’s left is ‘fixing your Wi-Fi’, and a TP-Link Deco 7 system could be your ideal choice.

Here’s the thing. With a TP-Link Deco 7 Wi-Fi 7 system, you stop thinking about your Wi-Fi at all. Which, when it comes down to it, was always the entire point of Wi-Fi.

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iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max: Best pre-order deals in Australia

After announcing the new iPhone 18 Pro range last week, Apple has opened pre-orders for its latest devices. Across a range of telcos and retailers, there are plenty of options to save some money on Apple’s flagship handset.

New this year is a major camera upgrade that includes mechanical aperture blades for the first time. It’s a big addition for keen photographers, enabling manual aperture adjustments and more control over how photos look. There’s also the new A20 Pro chip, which gives the iPhone 18 Pro range a power boost in addition to longer-lasting batteries.

Like many devices, the iPhone 18 Pro is more expensive than last year’s devices, especially among the higher storage configurations. Fortunately, there are some decent pre-order deals that can help you upgrade for less money.

iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max price

Starting at $100 more than last year’s iPhone 17 Pro range, the 256GB iPhone 18 Pro costs $2,099 in Australia. Similarly, the iPhone 18 Pro Max starts at $2,299, which is $100 more than its predecessor.

The more storage you need, the more the price increases compared to last year’s phones, a result of the AI-driven global memory shortage.

Here’s how much each model costs in Australia:

iPhone 18 Pro

• 256GB: $2,099
• 512GB: $2,499
• 1TB: $3,299
• 2TB: $4,499

iPhone 18 Pro Max

• 256GB: $2,299
• 512GB: $2,699
• 1TB: $3,499
• 2TB: $4,699

Pre-orders for the iPhone 18 Pro range are now live, with launch scheduled for 18 September 2026.

iPhone 18 Pro pre-order deals

Apple’s online store

Apple typically doesn’t do flashy pre-order deals for its devices. This leaves you with one main option through the Apple store: trade-ins.

Trading in your current phone through Apple nets up to $1,595 towards a new device. It depends on several factors, including how recent the device is and what condition it’s in. Apple publishes the trade-in values of various iPhone models; an iPhone 17 Pro Max attracts up to $1,595 of credit, while a base iPhone 17 is valued at up to $935.

Image: Apple.

If all you want is a simple way to buy an iPhone outright while getting rid of your previous handset, going with Apple is a no-frills option.

Telstra

For its iPhone 18 Pro pre-order deals, Telstra’s main offer is bonus trade-in credit on top of your phone’s existing value.

Across both the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max, Telstra’s deal includes $300 of bonus trade-in credit. For example, if the value of the phone you’re trading in is valued at $1,000, you’ll get $1,300 of credit towards the new iPhones instead.

Plus, Telstra says it will match any trade-in offers made by other retailers. Details of this offer are listed online; you’ll need to supply evidence of a better trade-in deal elsewhere for Telstra to match it.

Telstra’s offer also extends post-launch, too. Both the $300 bonus credit and trade-in match offer apply to any iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max purchase made between now and 9 October. You don’t need to lock into a long-term plan, either, with the trade-in offers also valid for outright purchases.

Optus

Rather than device discounts, Optus throws in various extras valued at hundreds of dollars. For any iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max bought through Optus between now and 12 November, there’s up to $780 of value included.

To begin with, Optus offers $120 off its Launch Plus Promo Plan over 12 months. Normally priced at $69 per month, the plan costs $59 per month for the first year with a new iPhone. This plan comes with 360GB per month and $120 of SubHub credit, which can be used on streaming services, including Netflix, Prime Video, and Kayo Sports.

With this plan, Optus also throws in its Upgrade and Protect plan at no extra cost, for up to 36 months. It’s a $15 monthly service that lets you upgrade to a newer phone at little or no cost, while also offering discounted device repairs.

In a departure from other telcos, Optus’ trade-in offer doesn’t apply directly to the new iPhone 18 Pro range. Instead, it comes in the form of a Mastercard gift card. Depending on the trade-in value of the device, the gift card includes up to $1,500.

Vodafone

Vodafone’s pre-order deals combine elements of Telstra’s and Optus’ deals, offering up to $1,800 of value when buying a new iPhone. This includes $200 of bonus trade-in credit and 12 months of Vodafone’s device upgrade and protection service.

Valid for any iPhone 18 Pro or Pro Max bought by 15 October on an eligible Vodafone 12-, 24- or 36-month plan, the added trade-in credit means you can save up to $1,584. That’s based on Vodafone’s trade-in value of a 1TB iPhone 17 Pro Max, so the value will differ depending on your existing phone.

Image: Apple.

Vodafone also offers $216 off the first 12 months of its Medium Upgrade & Protect plan when locked in for either 24 or 36 months. This puts the normally $68 monthly plan at $50 for the first year, which includes 220GB each month. Also included with the plan is Vodafone’s Upgrade and Protect Plus service. Similar to Optus’ service, the subscription provides subsidised repairs and phone upgrades when new models come out.

JB Hi-Fi, Costco, and Officeworks

Outside the usual telco space, there are several iPhone 18 Pro pre-order deals from other retailers, if you know where to look.

Up first is JB Hi-Fi, which supplies $100 off the new range when you trade in an iPhone 13 or newer. This $100 discount can then be used with the JB gift card you receive based on your device’s trade-in value. If you want to get an iPhone 18 Pro on a plan, JB Hi-Fi also offers $1,100 off the handset when bundled with an $89 mobile plan over 24 months.

One of the best iPhone 18 Pro outright deals comes from Costco. Although it requires a Costco membership, you can get $50 off the RRP, suited to those who want to buy a phone and keep their current SIM plan.

Last but not least, pre-ordering an iPhone 18 Pro at Officeworks comes with 10x Flybuys points. You can also trade in your current phone and get up to $1,160 in Officeworks gift cards.

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XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) review: A designer’s dream display

9.2

Buy on XPPen: Use 'AP27G2' for extra 8% off

Not often do I get the chance to review a product that has everyday work benefits as well as being super fun to use. The XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) drawing display fits the bill perfectly.

For context, I have a background in graphic design, so naturally, a drawing product like this is something that could be very useful for me. Just how useful and in what areas is something I was keen to explore more.

Save an extra 8% on the XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) until 30 September 2026 by using “AP27G2” at the checkout

XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) specifications and price

Price (RRP)	$2,899.99
Display	27-inch, 4K (3840 x 2160), 16:9 aspect ratio, 120Hz refresh rate
Brightness	350 nits
Colour	1.07 billion colours, 99% Adobe RGB, 99% sRGB, 97% Display P3, Calman Verified
Screen surface	Etched glass, fully laminated, anti-glare and anti-fingerprint coating
Touch	X-Touch Solution, ten-point multi-touch, customisable gestures
Stylus	X3 Pro Smart Chip Stylus and X3 Pro Slim Stylus (both included), 16,384 pressure levels, 60-degree tilt, +/-0.4mm accuracy
Shortcut remote	ACK05, customisable shortcut keys and a physical dial
Stand	Adjustable, 16 to 72-degree tilt
Connectivity	USB-C, HDMI, DisplayPort
Compatibility	Windows, macOS, Android, ChromeOS, Linux
Dimensions	681.3 x 423.8 x 44.0mm
Weight	7kg
In the box	Drawing display, two styluses, pen case with spare nibs, ACK05 shortcut remote, cables, stand, cleaning cloth
Official website	XPPen website
Warranty	18 months

Images: Jay Marshall.

First impressions

Before even taking the Artist Pro 27 out of the box, I was taken aback by just the weight of the thing. At 7kg, this is not a typical drawing tablet I could slide into my backpack. In fact, I am not sure I can call this a tablet at all. It’s more of a drawing display.

While I know this was a 27-inch display, that did nothing to prepare me for the unboxing. Taking out this mega drawing display was quite the experience. Right away, it struck me as a very impressive piece of technology created for professionals. To put it simply, this thing is huge! And it doesn’t stop there, as it comes with so many extras.

Before diving any deeper, I want to highlight that there are three major types of drawing tablets. Pen tablets, which are flat, touch-sensitive pads with no built-in screen. Standalone drawing tablets, which are fully self-contained computers. And pen displays, which have built-in LCD or OLED screens.

Standalone drawing tablets are the only type that can be used independently, and this is possibly why they are so popular these days. I’ve often seen brands like Wacom and Apple in this space. As for the Artist Pro 27, this falls into the pen display category, meaning it’s more of a drawing monitor and it needs to be plugged into a computer to operate.

Design

Plugging in the Artist Pro 27 was a breeze. The back of the display has a handy removable panel that reveals the inputs. With all the cables included, I had several options for how to connect it to my computer. After running the power, I went with a combination of HDMI and USB-C to USB-A.

As this was my first experience with such a high-end pen display, I wasn’t sure how the setup would work. In the end, my computer treated it like just another display. I was able to rearrange and customise how my normal computer monitor and this new display aligned. I settled on having the Artist Pro 27 under my general monitor as that’s how it was physically positioned on my desk.

Images: Jay Marshall.

The stand is another genius part of the Artist Pro 27. It is such a simple design, yet it’s make-or-break on a product like this. With a pull of a lever, the stand gave me a continuous range of angles from 16 degrees to 72 degrees. XPPen did a fantastic job creating an easy-to-use solution that is also super stable. While testing the display at several different angles, I never had a problem with it rocking or moving at all. Some of the credit here should go to the rubber feet which are on the stand and the front edge of the display.

Software

I then downloaded the software for the display to get started. So often, we see unwanted bloatware or drivers that try to do too much. Fortunately, that’s not the case here. With the XPPen, it’s simple, clear and easy to use. I was quickly able to calibrate the screen and adjust my work area. There is also a floating menu that I could adjust as I saw fit. Plus, there are all of the expected display adjustments, including brightness, contrast and sharpness. I also loved the ability to change the colour space.

Images: Jay Marshall.

Display quality

Next, let’s talk about the display: this is another standout from XPPen. This massive 27-inch display has a 4K resolution, an impressive 120Hz refresh rate, and 1.07 billion colours. The designer in me loves this, as a huge range of colours combined with a smooth high refresh rate creates a fantastic drawing experience.

In terms of brightness, the Artist Pro 27 comes in at 350 nits, with handy physical buttons along the top for adjustments. This is more than bright enough, as this display isn’t for travelling with. I plugged it into my laptop or PC, and it typically didn’t move from there.

Image: XPPen.

Drawing surface and performance

The XPPen Artist Pro 27 has a somewhat paper-like display. It’s fully laminated, so there is basically no gap between the pen tip and the cursor, making it much more natural to draw or write on. This is all built on luminous etched glass, which is only 0.7 mm thick. I really enjoyed the feel of the display throughout my testing. It took me some time to adjust to using a stylus, yet the paper-like feel made it a quick transition. I haven’t drawn in a long time, so this almost felt a little nostalgic.

And not only is the screen amazing to draw on, but the touchscreen means I can also use my hands. All types of gestures, like swiping, zooming, and rotating, are all smooth and seamless. It feels intuitive, like it all happens naturally as I work. Through the XPPen software, I could customise the touch area, letting me exclude some areas to avoid accidental touches or mistakes. Super handy, yet when I was doing anything detailed, I typically turned off the touch function with the button at the top of the device.

Image: XPPen.

As if that wasn’t already enough ways to use this incredible display, there’s one more. The Artist Pro 27 comes with an ACK05 shortcut remote. This is essentially a tiny wireless keyboard that has a bunch of buttons so I can quickly change tools or do any number of things with the hand that isn’t drawing.

The best part about this remote has to be the dial. Having a physical dial to make adjustments like changing the size of my brush or zooming in that perfect amount is priceless. This is a real quality-of-life inclusion, and it just feels great to use.

Stylus

What good is an amazing drawing surface if I don’t have a quality stylus to use on it? XPPen’s answer is to include both the X3 Pro Smart Chip and the X3 Pro Slim styluses, so I could choose which worked for my specific task at hand.

Having recently used the X3 Pro Slim Stylus while testing the XPPen Magic Drawing Pad, I can attest to its quality. However, I reached for the X3 Pro stylus more frequently. Maybe it was the thicker shape that made it seem a little more stable in my hand. Either way, both of these are great options. With 16K pressure levels, 60-degree tilt and 0.4 mm accuracy, it’s hard to complain when using these ultra-sensitive and responsive pens.

Images: Jay Marshall.

Another included extra is a pen case. I wasn’t expecting this, but a pen case is such a great idea. It’s a similar shape and size to a glasses case, and it does a great job of holding both of the styluses and all of the additional stylus-related items like spare nibs. Speaking of which, there is no shortage of replacement nibs included. A pack of 10 for each stylus type plus eight additional nibs included in the pen case will keep me going for a very long time.

Maybe, over time, getting pens in and out of the case could become tiresome. But XPPen has thought of that too. Included as part of the display are two stylus holders that sit at the top of the product. This keeps my stylus in arm’s reach at all times so it’s easy to pick up where I left off.

How I use the XPPen Artist Pro 27

This is where I really started to enjoy using the Artist Pro 27: exploring how the product could fit in with my work and which creative tasks it complemented.

My first area of investigation was to experiment with some larger illustrations for things like interface backgrounds or banner artwork. This was so fun; I could feel free to draw and embellish as much as I wanted to. I should clarify that my illustration skills leave a lot to be desired. But maybe, with a product like this, I could make some big improvements over a short period of time. I can see that this is possibly the major use case for this device, as the huge, high-quality screen lends itself to those who are artistic and able to draw with freedom.

The more I thought about it, the more I came to the realisation that I am not that person. Sure, I am creative. But I am a designer, not an artist. My thoughts are more process-driven, and my skills are much more centred around visual balance, hierarchy and overall strategy. This, however, doesn’t mean the Artist Pro 27 isn’t useful for me. It just means I need to try to play to my skillset and consider which areas of my design process this display can help elevate. And this is where I found the most joy.

Branding or logo design concepting was a hit. When it comes to creating a new logo or brand identity for a company, I start by creating lots and lots of quick sketches. This is a great process for getting a lot of ideas out very quickly. It also helps to avoid any mental block caused by one idea constantly reemerging. If I sketch it, it’s out there on the paper, and I can move to the next one. The idea here is to not worry if the ideas aren’t perfect. It’s all about volume.

From there, I would typically select a few of my favourites and turn them into digital files by illustrating them over top of a photograph of my original sketches. This is where the Artist Pro 27 came in as a new solution. I could combine these two steps by drawing my initial ideas on the pen display from the start. This had great results as I was saving time while also enjoying the process.

Image: XPPen.

Another area I spent a fair bit of time exploring was script and cursive fonts. This is something that is basically impossible when designing with a mouse and keyboard. Sure, I can download fonts that somewhat replicate what I am after, yet with my mouse I could never create something that is truly custom and unique.

With the XPPen Artist Pro 27, the massive screen and incredible stylus make it easy. I can use the space like I am drawing on a large piece of paper, using the full range of my arm to build flow and rhythm into my lettering. Once again, this was so much fun to experiment with.

Who is the XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) for?

Professional artists, designers and creatives who need serious screen real estate will get the most out of the Artist Pro 27. It isn’t purely a tool for illustrators either. The huge, colour-accurate screen and dual stylus system suit design-led work just as well, whether that’s sketching out logo concepts or creative custom lettering, something that’s difficult to do with a mouse and keyboard.

This isn’t a casual purchase, though. At $2,899.99, it’s priced for professionals or those who want the best of the best. It also takes up permanent desk space. At 7kg and tethered to a computer at all times, this is a display you set up once and leave in place.

At the time of writing, the XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) was on sale for $2,174.99 as part of the brand’s 21st anniversary. More than $700 off is a decent deal, especially for a device you could use every day for work.

So if drawing, illustrating or designing is a genuine, ongoing part of your work, and you’ve got the desk space and budget to match, the Artist Pro 27 is a great option. If you’re after something more portable, or you only sketch occasionally, a smaller or standalone option, like XPPen’s Magic Drawing Pad, is likely a better fit.

Frequently asked questions

How much does the XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) cost in Australia?

The XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) has an RRP of $2,899.99, available through XPPen’s official Australian store.

Does the XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) work as a standalone tablet?

No. The Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) is a pen display, not a standalone tablet, so it needs to be connected to a computer to work.

What styluses come with the XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2)?

It ships with two styluses, the X3 Pro Smart Chip Stylus and the X3 Pro Slim Stylus, both offering 16,384 pressure levels and 60-degree tilt recognition.

How heavy is the XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2)?

The display weighs 7kg, so it’s designed to sit permanently on a desk rather than be packed away or moved around often.

Can the XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2)’s stand be adjusted?

Yes. The built-in stand tilts through a continuous range from 16 to 72 degrees, adjusted with a single lever.

Is the XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) suitable for beginners?

It’s better suited to professional artists, designers and creatives who’ll use its full capabilities regularly. Its size, price and screen-only design make it a big investment for anyone just starting out with digital art.

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XPPen Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2)

If drawing, illustrating or designing is a genuine, ongoing part of your work, and you’ve got the desk space and budget to match, the Artist Pro 27 is a great option.

Features

9

Value for money

8

Performance

10

Ease of use

10

Design

9

Positives

Enormous screen size

Two stylus options included

Simple software

Clever stand

Negatives

Heavy, and has a large footprint

9.2

Buy on XPPen: Use 'AP27G2' for extra 8% off

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