Chromebooks are now better for budding creatives with support for Wacom tablets

The One by Wacom
(Image credit: Wacom)

Chromebooks have just got support for a pen tablet from Wacom, which will definitely make these laptops a more enticing proposition for budding creative types and the education arena in general.

The One by Wacom is the tablet in question, and it now has an official ‘Works With Chromebook’ certification. That means that anyone with a Chromebook can engage in digital scribbling, even if they don’t have a fancier touchscreen-equipped model.

In terms of lessons, it will allow both students and teachers to draw or produce diagrams, or indeed written notes, of course.

The One tablet connects via a simple USB-A cable, with users only needing to ensure that they have a free port and that they’re running the latest version of Chrome OS. You simply plug in the tablet and go, there’s no need for any driver or software installation.

Furthermore, the pen is nice and light, feels natural (like writing on paper, apparently) and doesn’t require a battery.

Wacom boasts: “The responsive, ergonomic, pressure-sensitive pen gives users a natural way to write, sketch, draw or edit content on the Wacom pen tablet connected to the Chromebook.”

Wacom library

The company further notes that it’s building a “library of content consolidating all information on Wacom for Education with Chromebook” to help teachers, along with a ‘Teachers for Teachers’ support network.

The One by Wacom is compatible with Windows and macOS devices, as well, and is available in two sizes. The small version costs £35.99 ($69.95 in the US) and the medium-sized tablet retails at a recommended price of £49.99 (this model isn’t currently listed for sale in the US by Wacom).

Wacom says that it is working on bringing additional devices to Chromebooks, including more pen tablets, so presumably that refers to its Intuos range.

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).