New comer in need of help

[polexius]

Hey guys..and girls. Anyway, I'm not that new to CA but I'm an active visitor. I have been wanting to get some stuff posted and now I got almost all the tools to do so. What I need now is a digital tablet. I have been trying to bid on Ebay but no luck. Is there anythign in particular that I should look for or anything like that? Does the size of the tablet matter? I have PSP9 installed in my computer now so this should be the last thing I need. Thanks in advance for any responses.

[Jin]

Hi,

Wacom tablets are the best.

Wacom is a great company, good products, and their tech support is free and friendly.

The most popular Wacom tablets are the 6 x 8 inch Intuos tablets.

6 x 8 (or whatever size) is the working area, not the whole tablet size. My Intuos 2 tablet takes up approximately 13 x 10 inches on my desktop, so the footprint is something to consider when deciding what size to buy, in addition to the price being a consideration.

I found a 9 x 12 inch (working area) tablet to be too large to allow me to comfortably work on both the tablet and keyboard and returned it for my 6 x 8 tablet.

Some people find the 4 x 5 inch tablets just fine. Others want to make large movements and are willing to pay the higher price for one of the larger tablets.

I think the 6 x 8 is so popular for the reasons I mentioned above (desk space considerations) and because it provides plenty of room in the working area.

If you're just beginning and price is an issue, the Graphire tablets should be just fine, though they have half the levels (512) of pressure sensitivity the Intuos tablets have (1024) and do not support Tilt (meaning brushstrokes are affected by the angle at which the stylus, or pen, is held in relation to the tablet).

Check the Wacom site for refurbished tablets. They come with a one year warranty and all the software bundled with the new more expensive tablets... and they're quite a bit less expensive.

As I type this, there's only one 4 x 5 inch Graphire 3 USB tablet available but the list changes frequently and there usually are several tablet models and sizes available:

http://wacomdirect.wacom.com/wacomdirect/reftablet.asp?

It's best to buy a USB tablet since that's what newer computers use rather than Serial connections.

Good luck,


Jinny

[polexius]

Thanks a lot. I'm open for any more suggestion but you really had a bunch to say. Yeah, I was looking at the Intuos tablets and they seem pretty good. As for the price, I'm not looking to go cheap, just something that I can invest on and learn from. Thanks again, I'll check out the website.

[polexius]

Hey again. Well I was snooping around for a good deal and I came across a bran new 4x5 tablet and well, I just wanted to know if this is a fair deal the features are as follow straight from the seller himself.
Battery-free, cordless technology 1024 levels of pen tip and eraser pressure sensitivity pen tilt and bearing for natural feel and control with INTUOS2 grip pen 2D mouse Adobe Photoshop Elements Corel Painter Classic and Wacom Pentools
What do you guys think?