Connecting a pen display with a single USB-C cable

Overview

Ideally you would be able to connect your pen display to your computer with a single USB C cable. And that cable would provide display signal as well as enough power for the pen display. You should understand

Key things to keep in mind:

- Not all pen displays support this configuration - even if they do have USB C ports on the tablet

- not all computers are capable of sending power and display signal over their USB C ports

- not all USB C cables can be used for this purpose.

So you have to do your research. Do not buy a pen display assuming that a single USB C cable connection will work.

Check with your manufacturer

The first thing you should do is verify whether the tablet supports a single USB C connection.

Ideally you do this before you even purchase the tablet.

You can do this verification easily:

look at the user manual for the tablet and see how it connects
or contact product support for the tablet and ask them specifically if it will work for that specific model.

When doing this research it will simplify things if you know the exact model number of the tablet and not just its name.

Key requirements

DP alt mode support

To find out if you ports and cables support DP alt mode, read this: USB-C DisplayPort alt mode

Power support

Cables
- Thunderbolt USB-C cables do support carrying enough power
Ports
- Even if the cable supports power, your computers USB-C port may not supply enough power.
Power needed
The size of the pen display affects how much power is needed.
- It's very likely that if your USB-C port can deliver enough power a 13" pen display
- At 16", some pen displays require additional power usually from a power adapter that is plugged into a wall.
- Above 16" most often in my experience a single USB-C cable is not enough and these pen displays require additional power.

Manufacturer cables vs third-party cables

I recommend you get the USB-C cables the manufacturer provides for use with a single USB-C cable configuration - primarily because these are known to work with the device and will fit into the well that contains the port.

I sometimes use thunderbolt 3 cables, but sometimes have to shave off a bit of plastic from the end to make them fit into the pen display.

Testing setup

Computer tested

Surface Pro 8
Computer port: I connected to the USB-C ports on the side of the Surface Pro 8 which support Thunderbolt 4.
The computer is plugged into a Surface dock to provide power.

Cables tested

CableMatters [Intel Certified] 20Gps Thunderbolt 3 cable (6.6 ft) supporting 100W charging. (amazon link)

Cable end thickness

For the CableMatters Usb-C cable, the cable ends are a little too thick to be plugged into some ports.
I had to remove some plastic from one of the ends to fit it into the tablets using a knife.
This plastic was tough to cut. I didn't do a very clean job but it just barely fits into the port - the fit is very snug and I should probably remove just a little more.

Testing results

Tablet	Port	Cable	Results
Huion Kamvas 13 (GS1331)	lower	CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable	VERIFIED TO WORK
Huion Kamvas Pro 13 2.5K (GT1302)	upper	CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable	VERIFIED TO WORK
Huion Kamvas Pro 16 Plus 4k (GT1562)	lower	CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable	VERIFIED TO WORK
XP-Pen Artist 12 GEN2 (CD120FH)	upper	CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable	VERIFIED TO WORK
XP-Pen Artist 13 GEN2 (CD130FH)	upper	CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable	VERIFIED TO WORK
XP-Pen Artist Pro 16 GEN2 (MD160QH)	left	CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable	VERIFIED TO WORK
Wacom One 13 touch GEN2 (DTH-134)	left	CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable	VERIFIED TO WORK
Wacom One 12 GEN2 (DTC-121)	left	CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable	VERIFIED TO WORK
Wacom One GEN1 (DTC-133)	only 1 port	CableMatters Thunderbolt 3 cable	This pen display does not support using a single USB-C connection. I tested it anyway and VERIFIED that it did NOT WORK

Tablet

Port

Cable

Results

Huion Kamvas 13

(GS1331)

lower