Tablet Discussion Thread - Everything You Need to Know!

What brand of tablets, other than Wacom, should I include?

Trust	12.7%	[ 63 ]
Aiptek	8.1%	[ 40 ]
Digipro/UC Logic	9.1%	[ 45 ]
Genius	32.3%	[ 160 ]
Calcomp	3.8%	[ 19 ]
Other (Please Specify)	34.1%	[ 169 ]
Total Votes:			[ 496 ]

[Vicemage]

A tablet will actually work with any program, period. All it is, is a mouse shaped like a pen, at the heart of things. smile With programs that have support for pressure sensitivity, again, all tablets will work with it; there's no switch in your program that says, "That's not Tablet X so I'm not going to work now."

There's not a LOT of difference between Bamboo and Bamboo fun... but there's no eraser built-in on Bamboo, and Fun comes with bundled software... it's worth it to go for the Fun.

[MinaMouse]

Model: Graphire3, 6x8
Price: $150, I believe?
Levels: 512
Usage: Art, writing. Good for a beginner but enough sensitivity for serious art.
Pros: Very very good tablet! I've had it for 4+ years, and it works just like new. I've never felt the need to upgrade, I like the size very much. It's biggish; it takes up some desk space but it's thin and light and storage is no problem. Wonderfully durable -- survived a trip to India! But then again, I'm very careful with it and it rarely leaves my desk. I'd really suggest one of these if you can find it on eBay, it's older but good so probably cheaper.
Cons: It scratches awfully easy; sometimes when I'm drawing, I can see my drawing on the face of the shield! That can be distracting. But it doesn't affect performance at all, and if you just ignore it, it's no problem. XD but I guess if you're really OCD it could be a problem?

[Revenais]

Vicemage

A tablet will actually work with any program, period. All it is, is a mouse shaped like a pen, at the heart of things. smile With programs that have support for pressure sensitivity, again, all tablets will work with it; there's no switch in your program that says, "That's not Tablet X so I'm not going to work now."

There's not a LOT of difference between Bamboo and Bamboo fun... but there's no eraser built-in on Bamboo, and Fun comes with bundled software... it's worth it to go for the Fun.

There is one thing, though. I've researched and have had personal experience myself with the Bamboo Fun and Gimp. There is a severe lag if you try to draw with it. You can find more info on it here.

However, if you buy a Bamboo Fun, you'll be okay. Photoshop Elements is a great program once you get adjusted. And Open Canvas 1.1 is free to download (There's a sticky with the download link here.) I pretty much freaked out when I found out Gimp has issues with the Bamboo Fun (After using Gimp for 3 years, I was a little stubborn to try a new program.), but once I adjusted to Elements, I was fine.

[Call Me Vee]

Family: Used (I know, scary, right?) Graphire4 6x8
Price: $80
Levels: 512, I think?
Usage: Coloring. Drawing. Sketching.
Pros: Hello? It's a tablet. Need I say more?
Cons: ...Every once in a while the computer rejects the drivers for it and they need to be reinstalled. Other than that, though, it's worked /perfectly/.

And Open Canvas is really nice, but I tend to prefer Photoshop with it, though just about any program will do. I heard that Vista has some program that lets you write into a word document?

[Vicemage]

Swordy Hero

Vicemage

A tablet will actually work with any program, period. All it is, is a mouse shaped like a pen, at the heart of things. smile With programs that have support for pressure sensitivity, again, all tablets will work with it; there's no switch in your program that says, "That's not Tablet X so I'm not going to work now."

There's not a LOT of difference between Bamboo and Bamboo fun... but there's no eraser built-in on Bamboo, and Fun comes with bundled software... it's worth it to go for the Fun.

There is one thing, though. I've researched and have had personal experience myself with the Bamboo Fun and Gimp. There is a severe lag if you try to draw with it. You can find more info on it here.

However, if you buy a Bamboo Fun, you'll be okay. Photoshop Elements is a great program once you get adjusted. And Open Canvas 1.1 is free to download (There's a sticky with the download link here.) I pretty much freaked out when I found out Gimp has issues with the Bamboo Fun (After using Gimp for 3 years, I was a little stubborn to try a new program.), but once I adjusted to Elements, I was fine.

Ah, I was unaware of that as I don't use either Gimp or a Bamboo (my Graphire 1 still works just fine). I stand corrected (or is it amended?) Thanks for the extra info! smile

[ayu_inu]

Please someone turn this thread into a sticky! I'm tired of posts asking about tablets... emo

[meatwad4900]

ayu_inu

Please someone turn this thread into a sticky! I'm tired of posts asking about tablets... emo

I agree with this, there's some really useful information that would pretty much answer a good amount of those tablet threads.

[ayu_inu]

Family : Graphire 4 4x5
Price:$99 CAD
Levels:512
Usage: I use my tablet almost evrey day. Be it for doodling talking random notes drawing full pictures sketches ect.
Pros:It's portable and i can remove the plastic piece to put a picture in it.
Cons: I make big strokes while i draw so it's hard for me to make a good drawing. It'smade of plastic so if it did happen to fall on concrete or get any scratches i'm screwed. The graphire line was replaced by the bamboo so if a new one was needed wacom isn't the place to look

[Zephire]

Hey Swordy, could you link to this post somewhere? I'll try and keep an up to date list of user reviews in this thread, so if people want to know what others think about a specific model model they won't need to sift through multiple posts.

User Reviews:

Wacom Bamboo Fun
Bamboo Fun Small

Wacom Cintiq
Cintiq 20WSX

Wacom Graphire
Graphire4 (4x5)
Graphire4 (4x5)
Graphire4 (4x5)
Graphire4 (4x5)
Graphire4 (6x8 )

Graphire3 (4x5)
Graphire3 (6x8 )

Intous
Intous3 Professional (6x8 )
Intous (9x12)

Tablet PC
Lenovo X60 T Penabled Tablet PC (upgraded)

[IconLizard]

Nice list there, Zeph'.

I might do a quick review of my tablet pc and Intuos in a few days to add to it.

[Zephire]

Thanks :3 It's always easier to just click a link to the information than going through multiple posts. And you just know some person will start a thread about what tablet to get and when pointed to this thread they'll say they looked but didn't feel like reading posts xd

[Revenais]

I put it on the front page. Thanks for making the list!

Also, I PMed a mod, and they're going to discuss it being stickied or not with the other mods.

[Fallen Star]

I guess I should add my review of my tablet now. <3
So here is my lovely tablet.

Isn't is pretty? XD Or perhaps it hurts your eyes?

Family: Wacom Graphire4 4X5
Price: $70 at Best Buy
Pen Replacement Price: To tell you the truth...I'm not sure. It should be available at the Wacom website though.
Levels: 512
Usage: I used it for drawing and image-editing. It can be use for writing or anything of that sort. Looking at the price and how long it lasted me, I'll say this is a beginner's tablet, that is, if you never bought a tablet before, a Graphire is a nice first.
Pros: Well, it's cheap and it works. Well too, in fact. I had it for around 2 years and it never gave me too much problems...As you can see from my picture, I took advantage of its plastic cover. It's possible to use it as a photo frame. XD It's very light and portable. I take it with me EVERYWHERE and it is possible too, being how small it is. I been using it non-stop for the past 2 years, and the scratches on it are unnoticeable unless you put it to an light. The package came with the 'software suite', a pen, mouse and pen holder, so it a bang for your buck. I prefer the smaller size mainly because it's less strain on my wrist, so...I guess that would be a pro!
Cons: Heh, after two years of my abuse, it stopped working. I had to reinstall the drive a few times sometimes, for me to get it to work. Sometimes Photoshop refuses to recognize the tablet drive, so a restart is needed. After the first year of owning it, a connectivity issues arose, so I had to move around the USB plug to get it to work. I'm not the only one that had that issue. It seems to happen to people that carry it around with them all the time. >< Also, mouse is pretty much useless to me. The mouse took out about half the active space so I can't really more it much. XD
Other:
To reestablish the point, I abused my tablet, I ADMIT IT. Abused it as much as I abused my tabletop. XD Overall, it's a good tablet for its price. However, the Graphire series has been replaced by the Bamboo, so it might get harder to find a Graphire.

[Espiritual]

Fallen Star

To reestablish the point, I abused my tablet, I ADMIT IT. Abused it as much as I abused my tabletop. XD Overall, it's a good tablet for its price. However, the Graphire series has been replaced by the Bamboo, so it might get harder to find a Graphire.

Lets see you compare to me. I'm the worst of the worst with my three tablets... XDDD;;;

Not all the Graphire series will be replaced there is one that will be continued to be sold as far as I know which is the 6X8 wireless. But in due time I guess it will be gone... There goes another family branch...

[Zephire]

It's a pity that the Graphire has been replaced by the Bamboo. I like the name Graphire over Bamboo, and it has nothing to do with the fact that the Graphire is similar to my username... at least not completely >_>;; It just sounds cooler and more elegant.

Truthfully, I don't know if I'd want to use a wireless tablet. To me it strikes me that more can go wrong, and it would be harder to troubleshoot than a regular tablet. And the tablet would need its own power source instead of just using the USB from a computer.

And It'll be a bit before the mods decide to sticky this or not, but in the meantime hakubaikou put a link to this thread in the art resource sticky, so many kudos to her 3nodding