Artists Love This XP-Pen Magic Be aware Pad, and It is Over 40% Off for Prime Day

Prime Day 2025 is right here from Tuesday, July 8 to Friday, July 11, and Lifehacker is sharing the very best gross sales based mostly on product opinions, comparisons, and price-tracking instruments. 

Regardless of being a reasonably unorganized particular person, I’ve spent the final yr testing a ton of productivity-enhancing, organization-forward notebooks and tablets, and the very best of them work so nicely, they make me need to be the form of one who truly retains and organizes their notes. Whereas I anticipated to fit the XP-Pen Magic Be aware Pad into that class—it is an LED Android pill with three display modes that purport to take it from full shade to e-ink mode, reworking it from a pocket book, to a media participant, to an e-reader—it is truly most spectacular as a drawing pill.

Sadly, I additionally can’t draw. However this factor made me want I might. And proper now, whereas it is marked down 41% for Prime Day, from $440 to $260, I would suggest it to anybody who truly can.

Three screens in a single, kind of

Ostensibly, the Magic Be aware Pad‘s greatest promoting level is its “X-Paper” display (which seems to be a rebranded model of TCL’s NXTPAPER show), which has 1920 x 1200 decision, a speedy 90 Hz refresh charge, and most 400 nits of brightness (as compared, the entry degree iPad provides a 60 Hz refresh charge and 500 nits of brightness). It has an etched floor to cut back glare in addition to three totally different shade modes, managed on the working system degree, which can be presupposed to take it from full shade LED pill to a black and white e-reader.

There is a devoted button on the highest of the machine that permits you to select between:

• Nature Colour Mode, or the usual you’d anticipate from any LED display

• Gentle Colour Mode, which makes vibrant whites look creamier and mutes different colours, akin to the impact of studying on newsprint (or a shade e-ink reader just like the Kindle Colorsoft)

• Ink Paper Mode, which purports to duplicate a grayscale e-ink show

If something in regards to the totally different tech concerned, you will see that it is fairly unimaginable for a backlit LED display to rework into an e-ink display simply by messing with the colour settings. The machine is TÜV SÜD Low Blue Gentle Licensed, indicating it reduces blue gentle by 25%. It additionally carries a Paper Like Show Certification, which I assume means it’s extra paper-like than different LED screens, providing a “extra snug and pure studying expertise.” The etched display does scale back glare, and studying in Ink Paper Mode will tax your eyes a bit much less for those who’re studying in a dim room, however take it outdoors, and it is unquestionably nonetheless an LED pill—you possibly can’t magically learn in direct daylight simply by switching the show mode.

Artists actually find it irresistible

The Magic Be aware Pad’s actual draw (no pun supposed) is definitely much less productiveness and extra creative: A ton of digital artists have reviewed it on Reddit and YouTube, and so they uniformly reward it for its super-responsive stylus, which provides 4 occasions the stress sensitivity of an Apple Pencil—16,384 stress ranges for the XP-Pen’s included stylus, versus a mere 4,096 stress ranges for the Apple Pencil.

Extra stress ranges provides you extra management over what truly winds up on the display, so you possibly can sketch and “paint” with much more accuracy—supplying you with all of the management you’d have in the actual world in a digital atmosphere. It is sufficient to make me need to enroll in a drawing class.

On the present 41% low cost, the Magic Be aware Pad drops from an “artists solely” $440 to a friendlier $260, which is an honest deal even when all you are searching for is an above-average, stylus supporting Android pill to make use of as a digital pocket book/e-reader and to stream media. It has a Mediatek MT8781 Octa-core processor, which appears to be a dependable mid-range chip, with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and an 8000mAh battery, which can final a couple of days between expenses based mostly on typical use. There’s additionally a front-facing digicam for video calls.

In brief, if you’d like a pill for drawing and have been sweating over the mixed price of an iPad and an Apple Pencil, this is an incredible alternative to avoid wasting cash.

In search of one thing else? Retailers like Walmart, Finest Purchase, and Residence Depot have Prime Day competitors gross sales which can be particularly helpful for those who don’t have Amazon Prime.

• Walmart’s Prime Day competitors sale begins at midnight on July 8 and can embrace offers as much as 50% off. It’s an particularly good choice in case you have Walmart+. 

• Finest Purchase’s Prime Day competitors sale, “Black Friday in July,” runs via Sunday, July 13 and has a few of the greatest tech gross sales on-line. It’s an particularly good choice for those who’re a My Finest Purchase “Plus” or “Complete” member.

• Residence Depot prolonged its 4th of July sale via at the very least July 9, competing with some superb offers of its personal. It’s an particularly good choice for those who’re searching for energy instruments, home equipment, or out of doors tools.