And by that I mean a pen display tablet for digital drawing. I've been using a Wacom Bamboo for countless millennia now, always putting off an upgrade due to the cost and the fact that my crappy old computer made any such move not really worth it because it could barely handle digital drawing at all. But now that my computer has finally kicked the bucket and been replaced, along with a shiny new 4k monitor, I think the time for a new tablet is upon me.

I have always wanted a display tablet, because the disconnect when drawing on a tablet while looking at my computer screen has always been my biggest complaint and the main reason why I don't draw nearly as much as I'd like. It's just really awkward for me, and I never totally got used to it even so I've been using a tablet for over a decade. So now that I actually have the option of drawing and looking at the same surface, I am gonna take it.

The problem is, I don't know enough about tablets to pick the best one for me. I do know that my budget is not as uh, flexible as it used to be. I need to keep it as far under $1k as possible... but I also don't wanna sacrifice a good experience and quality. It's not worth the (potentially) hundreds of dollars if it's not a significant upgrade from my current tablet.

So far the ones I hear most about are XP-Pen 15.6, Cintiq 16, and Huion Kamvas GT-191. But I have, of course, never used any of them or anything remotely like them.

This is where you art people come in:
Do you have any experience with these models? Recommendations either out of those or for something else entirely?
What will give me the most "drawing on paper" like experience?
What will give me the smoothest lines with the best control?
And as an aside, do you have any recommendations for (preferably either free or low-cost) drawing software? I'm used to Sai; it's all I've had in the past decade, but I lost it along with my computer and it isn't compatible with my new setup. I downloaded Krita, but I'm still keeping my eyes open for things to try.

@Priestess of Pie: Great minds think alike. :D I also agree with what you said about Clip Studio, though ooooof, that subscription charge on the iPad version is slightly annoying... but so worth it if you gots money.

i'mma be honest with y'all i HATE watching video reviews. I don't have the patience for 'em and find 99% really irritating and draining to watch, so I end up missing the more valuable information. I prefer written reviews that utilize charts or bullet points and make easy-to-follow comparisons. Things that get right to the point.
I've read a fair amount of those already so far, which is what led me to the 3 models mentioned in my post; I'm just at that point where further reviews aren't gonna do me much good and I rather get a wider variety of people's personal experiences and see if there are any major suggestions/options that I'm missing.
For instance, y'all talking about Huion has bumped it up higher on the list. Its reviews are about even with the other two, and the comparisons I've read are all very similar at the end of the day. So this is the kind of feedback that's most helpful to me, and thanks for sharing your experiences.

I will have to look into clip studio; I've known about it for a while, but don't know anyone who has used it. How does it compare with Sai?

As for ipads, I'm pretty iffy on those and anything else that starts with a lowercase i. Especially since I'd only want it for drawing.

@Scribartz: I really appreciate your detailed experiences, thank you! One thing I don't like about the Wacom is the lack of buttons; I use keyboard controls with my current tablet, but if I'm gonna be drawing on the screen, it's gonna be a lot more convenient to have the buttons actually on the device. Considering that and the price, the Wacom is p much at the bottom of my list rn. I'm hearing a lot more feedback about Huion here, which is helpful 'cause it was the one I saw the fewest reviews for in my online search and comparisons. I probably won't feel very strongly about my decision at any point tbh; without having used either brand before, I can only go on other people's experiences and hope for the best. In terms of price, overall review ratings, and features, Huion and XP-Pen come out about the same so far.

At this point I'd probably go with the Huion. Searching for more reviews online puts that and XP-Pen side by side, with Huion coming out on top slightly more often. And you have a good point: worst case, I can always make a return and try again.

@Priestess of Pie: sounds pretty good. I'm slowly getting the hang of Krita, but I'll have to give that one a look. Sai's line stabilizers were perfect. Krita has stabilizers, but they're a bit fiddly and the line-drawing experience is just not as smooth (at least from what I've done so far, though I'm getting a better handle on which settings work best for me).