Powering a drawing tablet
Power requirements
Pen tablets require minimal amounts of power.
Pen displays require much more power than a pen tablet due to the embedded display panel.
Powering a pen tablet
They get enough power from a normal USB port.
Pen tablets that support wireless operation have internal batteries. So of course, during wireless operation they don't need to be plugged into power.
Powering pen displays
Pen displays must always be physically connect to some form of power.
There are two ways pen displays get power.
A power adapter that you need to plug into the wall.
Connecting via cable to the computer.
Pen displays MIGHT work using a power adapter
Smaller pen displays (16" and smaller) might be able to get enough power from the USB ports of your computer.
There's nothing wrong with this - it will not harm your pen display. But you may find that it limits the brightness of your pen display.
I always recommend that if your tablet comes with a power adapter, that you use the power adapter.
Example power usage
Huion Kamvas 13 (GS1331)
7W
Huion Kamvas 16 2021 (GS1562)
10W
Huion Kamvas Pro 19 2021 (GS1902)
18W
Huion Kamvas Pro 27
45W
Wacom One 2019 (DTC-133)
10W
Wacom Cintiq Pro 16 (2021)
25W
Wacom Cintiq Pro 22
60W
Wacom Cintiq Pro 27
85W
Batteries
Pen tablets that have wireless support have built-in batteries that can usually last the entire day and do recharge quickly when they are plugged back in.
Pen displays DO NOT have batteries. They must get their power from a cable that is either attached to a computer or to power coming from a wall.
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