PC to iPad Screen Mirroring App Comparison

Recently, I went through a bit of a workstation overhaul. My old work computer, a HP Spectre with Windows Ink, died after a fit of blue screens and unprompted hardware malfunctions. Since I used it as both a computer and a drawing tablet, I made the decision that, until I could replace my computer with a new one, I would get an iPad Pro (something I had been saving up for for a long time anyways) to serve as a temporary replacement. During that time, I had to get used to the transition of using my PC art programs' iOS app equivalents.

The main app that I use for drawing is Clip Studio Paint EX. One thing I really appreciate about Clip Studio Paint is that their mobile app is almost identical to the desktop app, not stripped down for minimalism like some other art apps I've tried. Because of that, it didn't take much time or effort for me to gracefully transition into using the iPad version. In fact, I hardly even notice a difference between my current setup and my old Windows Ink setup from a few months back.

But for those who don't know, the benefit of using Clip Studio Paint EX or PRO on desktop over mobile is that the desktop version is a single-time purchase, while mobile is a monthly fee. Having already spent over $100 USD on my desktop copy of EX, I was hesitant to also start paying $9 USD monthly for the same program just because I was using a different device.

Within the last week, I finally had the opportunity to buy and set up a new desktop computer for myself. And when the time came that I was ready to start using it for work, I decided to take the opportunity to see what screen-mirroring apps were out there for artists on PC. 

What is screen mirroring? In essence, it means you're able to project your screen from one device onto another device. For example, in this instance I was trying to project my desktop PC's screen (with the desktop version of Clip Studio Paint EX) onto my iPad so I could use the iPad like a Cintiq. Apple has their own screen-mirroring service that works for iPads and Macs, but me and my fellow Windows PC users are out of luck with that one. I had seen a few posts on Twitter where artists recommended a specific app and claimed it had no lag or quality dips, but I had a hard time believing that without trying it for myself. In fact, I went ahead and tried out two different apps for comparison. I decided to compile all my thoughts about each app here, including a comparison of their features and costs, and decide whether or not I think they're a better value than paying for CSP's mobile app subscription. Even though I'm making the comparison against CSP, you could definitely use this info to compare it against other apps like Photoshop too.

Duet Pro

The first app I tried was Duet Pro. I had seen this app recommended a few times on Twitter as a cheaper alternative to a monthly CSP license. 

What It Is and Cost

Duet Pro is the paid version of Duet, a free screen mirroring app. The Pro version is necessary if you want pen pressure and HD mirroring, so if you intend to use it for art it's pretty much essential. There is also a secondary version called Duet Air which works off of your Bluetooth wirelessly. The Windows program for Duet Pro is free to install off their website, but the iOS app costs $10 USD right out the gate - so if you wanted to give it a try before making any financial commitment, you're out of luck. Once you start using the app, they give you a free trial period of the Pro service, but once that runs out you'll be paying a subscription fee of $30 USD per year. 

My Experience

My experience using Duet Pro was a pretty mixed bag. To use it, you have to plug your iPad into your PC to make an initial connection between the two devices (even if you intend to use the Duet Air bluetooth version later). Once the initial connection is made, you can change a number of settings on the desktop program, like FPS or screen resolution. 

I noticed right away that the Duet Pro app struggled to notice my iPad sometimes even though there was a direct connection between the two devices and my computer recognized the iPad in File Explorer. I had to delete and reinstall the Duet program on my computer a couple times to get everything working smoothly. 

To manipulate the type of mirroring (whether it just directly mirrors your desktop or acts like a second monitor), you have to do it through the Project settings in the Windows 10 Notification Center (at the bottom). Aside from the settings here and in the Duet desktop program, there isn't a way to manipulate the sizing within the app itself, or to stretch it to custom dimensions. So if your screen doesn't fit any of their preset dimension sizes, your view may get cropped or lose quality.

The majority of my time with Duet Pro was spent on the wired version, as the wireless version called Duet Air was an inconsistent mess right out of the gate. For reference, my internet connection is normally pretty fast and stable, and my Bluetooth is equally as good. I normally have no issues with Bluetooth quality dropping. 

When I launched Duet Air, there was an immediate drop in quality compared to when it was plugged in, so much so that the screen was practically unreadable and drawing was impossible. The lag was also really intense. When I tried it again the next time, the screen quality was HD, but the lag was still really bad. Another time, the lag was almost gone, but the screen would become low quality and artifacted whenever I tried to pan or undo.

Basically, Duet Air was always a gamble to use. Which, in all fairness, was to be expected - I'm amazed that Bluetooth can even stream a screen in high quality under good conditions in the first place.

On the wired version, I had much better luck with getting consistent results. The quality overall was pretty good (though not "pixel perfect" as their settings claimed it to be) and the lag was very minimal, maybe half a second tops. Since the dimensions of my computer monitor and my iPad are radically different, matching up the resolution meant making certain parts of the program totally unreadably tiny. There is an option in Clip Studio Paint's preferences to adjust the sizing of its components to fit a tablet screen, but it can often mess with your workspace and takes a lot of fiddling with settings to get back to normal, which would be a big hassle to constantly have to fix every time you're done using the program on your iPad.

Here's an example of the quality and lag being at their best. As you can see, the strokes become jagged when I make any quick turns, which isn't ideal for my purposes since I do a lot of lineart for my comics. The brush I was using here had its stabilizer turned off to demonstrate the stroke quality by itself, but I imagine if you used a stabilizer that might help reduce the jitter a little. 

I also noticed that some of the iPad gestures seemed to work properly, while others didn't. For example, double tapping to undo worked decently (though sometimes the screen would randomly jump somewhere else and get low quality out of nowhere when I did this?) but holding and dragging to pan or zoom was barely functional. This was annoying but not totally unexpected, so I put myself back in the habit of using the zoom buttons in my CSP toolbar. I imagine you could pretty easily use keyboard shortcuts or a Bluetooth remote to get around this, but it's still worth considering.

After disconnecting from Duet Pro, there were a few instances where my computer had issues after the fact. Something about the disconnect of the second monitor made it hard for it to reconfigure my main screen, and more than once it caused my File Explorer and taskbar to crash entirely (and for long enough that I had to restart my computer to get it working again). I've read a few reviews and threads online where others stated a similar problem, or had even worse problems after disconnecting where their entire desktop became unresponsive and they had to force shut down their computer. That definitely isn't ideal if you just finished a drawing and still need to make some final touches on desktop, or if you aren't trying to send your harddrive to an early grave.

EasyCanvas

The second screen mirroring app I tried was EasyCanvas, both the regular and Pro versions. This is the comparison chart listed on their Support page for the two versions:

As you can see, the main difference is that Pro offers a Bluetooth connection and the possibility of future updates. The original EasyCanvas also has more flexibility regarding OS and pen type.

With this app, the desktop program is free to download and the iPad app has a free trial for 2 weeks before you get charged anything. I opted to try Pro first to test both the wired and wireless functions, so it was good to get that free trial and make sure I liked everything before committing financially.

Note that there are two separate desktop programs and apps for each version, so you'll want to make sure you have the correct version of each before trying to use it. Neither one has a real interface for desktop - rather, it just opens a background process that allows the necessary devices to run. All of the customization is in the iOS app.

Another important thing to note is that, unlike Duet Pro, this app doesn't treat your iPad like a second monitor, and rather just duplicates whatever is on your desktop screen. So if you're looking to use your desktop as a separate monitor while also mirroring, this app isn't the one for you.

My Experience

Upon starting the mirror stream, I didn't notice any effects on my desktop whatsoever. It just started right up without issue and without the need to manipulate my main monitor screen.

EasyCanvas allows you to actually control how much of your screen is being mirrored. This is really handy if you want to resize your program to fit the dimensions of your iPad like I did. Another feature I really appreciate is the collapsible sidebar, which gives you a bunch of options for custom shortcuts.

You can even directly control the pen pressure response, which I thought was great since the default was a little different from what I prefer.

The wireless version of EasyCanvas Pro was pretty comparable to Duet Pro's in terms of stroke lag, but the quality was a lot more consistent and had fewer sudden drops.

Where EasyCanvas really shines is the wired version. I had practically no lag whatsoever and very few skips or drops in quality.

It's hard to tell this was even done through mirroring since the response is so good. The interface of CSP was a tiny bit fuzzy and hard to read, but if I decided to switch to tablet view mode then this probably wouldn't be an issue.

The gesture controls also worked without problems, though there was an occasional small delay when zooming and panning.

Disconnecting the app was as simple as closing it, and my computer had no problems when it was done.

Cost Comparison

Clip Studio Paint EX: $9 USD per month after a free trial period

Clip Studio Paint PRO: $4.49 USD per month after a free trial period OR $25 USD annually

Duet Pro: $10 USD upfront for the app, $30 USD annually

EasyCanvas: $12 USD upfront or $5 USD annually for the Pro version

If you're a CSP PRO user who already owns the desktop version and doesn't want to pay for the app, the most cost effective route would be to use EasyCanvas. If you aren't concerned with wireless, a $12 USD single purchase of the regular app is much cheaper than paying $5 USD a month for the iPad CSP PRO app. Or, if wireless is important to you, $5 USD per year is still a massive discount.

If you're a CSP EX user who already owns the desktop version, you have some options. If you primarily use EX for page management, then using the desktop version of EX for that while sticking to the PRO version on the iPad for drawing would save you a few dollars a month on the subscription, and would be cheaper than paying for the Duet Pro app. Otherwise, EasyCanvas (both versions) is the cheapest way to go.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I think the decision of which mirroring app to use, if any, falls upon your standards of what is acceptable in your drawing experience. If you don't mind lag or occasional quality fluctuations, either app would serve your needs well. And each app has its own merits that you can weigh against each other for yourself. 

For me personally, reliable quality and connectivity is important since I use CSP for my work, so I'm probably going to stick to the EX app for now. But I intend to keep using EasyCanvas when I want to record my screen, livestream, or try out a desktop-only art program. I think the one-time purchase for the wired version is great for people like myself who probably won't be using it everyday.

I know there are more screen mirroring programs out there for PC, but these are the ones I found that are catered towards art in particular. If there are any others out there that you'd be interested in seeing reviewed, let me know and I can give it a try!

I hope you found this helpful!