InC's TC: A tablet

[InCreator]

Well, after seeing what magic Andail and many others do with a wacom, I decided to get one of these to myself.
But!

* I don't know much about tablets. In matter fact, I've never seen or used such things at all!
* I've heard that anything other than a Wacom is a waste of money
* The prices of wacoms here range from $60  to $3770, and this scares me. Why so huge difference?

I was thinking about this one: Wacom CTE-430/B1 Wacom Graphire3 Studio, Pen set/ Steel Blue, A6, USB, at the price of about $145 (Which is close to maximum I could spend unless I want my parents to start to worry about my sense(less): Even this will be the buy they will never understand)

Is such tablet okay?
Or there's no much difference between cheaper and more expensive ones, just some design/extra button ones, which won't actually change much, so I could buy cheaper one instead?


Any tips on buying?
What are the specialities/extra stuff/characteristics I need to keep in mind/ ask for?

[Tiki]

I have a Wacom tablet.  Eh.. it's an 8x6 I believe - runs about $99.  I completely recommend it.  I was on quite the budget when buying it, hence the smallest size available (or so I believe..)   Still, its size isn't a hinderence, espicially if its your first wacom.  I personally am looking foward to a much larger tablet in the future, but in my opinion, it's completely unnecesary to buy a large one unless you are confident of plenty of use, and are a competent artist.

So, in summary - Test the water!  If you dig it, expand!  I personally love mine!

[Domino]

I have a smaller Wacom tablet that i got from a guy at work because he never used it.  It's funny that i rarely use it myself, but i have tested it out and i feel it really does help me when drawing instead of using the mouse.  I think it is a Graphire or something like that.

It is probably 8 inches by 8 inches, i'm not sure.  But it is perfect for sitting on my lap while i doodle in NeoPaint.  What would be the purpose of a larger tablet?  I seriously don't know, but maybe somebody could fill me in.

Once i get used to drawing with it, i know i could create some killer backgrounds.

Shawn

[Renal Shutdown]

1. Dude. Renouncing Technology might be your most viable option, ever.
2. http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=13022
It's A4 (9"x12"), it's cheap and it has features.  I'd suggest spending the littlest amount possible to begin with, since it'll take a while to get used to.  For me, it's like having to learn how to draw all over again.  It seems pointless trying to learn with oil paints before you've master the pencil.
3. It's A4. Which means tracing normal pics is easy to begin with.

[scotch]

I'd only buy a wacom in future, no tablet I've tried has worked with everything as perfectly (and I'd never use a tablet with a battery powered pen again...).  The cheaper ones are ok, I believe mine is the cheapest that was available when I bought it and it's fine, although slightly small.
The price difference is because the low end (Graphire, Volito) ones are aimed at home users, and the midrange (Intuos) ones at pros... the absolute most expensive ones are LCD panel based, and I don't think anyone sane actually uses them.

[Kweepa]

I've got a Graphire sitting here, hardly used.
It was great when it worked but I installed some of the software that came with it and it broke the pressure sensitivity in Photoshop. Uninstalling then broke the tablet-relative movement.
I just haven't had the will to uninstall and reinstall everything. I'm afraid it'll never work again.

[stuh505]

I have a 4x5 Wacom and it works very well.  It might be nice to have the next size up, but it's not really necessary because when I get on a roll with this I forget that it's there between me and the screen.  My cousin has the huge size and he says it's too big.  I spent $100 on mine.

[InCreator]

argh!
I went through 11 computer stores yesterday.
Only in 2 of them, salesman actually understood what I'm looking for!
And of course, no tablets, if you want one, pre-order.

Choices were also very weak. Trust 200 and Trust 400, both cheap and small. I somehow don't trust Trust, neither, there's always problems with its stuff. I have a Trust mouse that works only when it's sunny weather and a 2.1 speaker set that works fine only at 10% of the dB written on manual. No wacoms in stores at all!

Sometimes I still have the feeling that despite all he European Union, democracy, independence and capitalism, Estonia is still just a westmost province of Soviet Union. At least, if it comes to tech whole world is using for a long time already. It should have been funny to watch salesmen looking at each other confusedly and telepathically asking from each other "do you UNDERSTAND what this customer wants from me?" but it somehow wasn't funny at all. Quite sad, instead.

There's 2 small companies importing wacoms, but they don't have store chains around the country so I contacting them is quite difficult.
Well, my crusade goes on.

[Squinky]

I had a bit of trouble finding one here also. I noticed some on sale for like $70 dollars at wal-mart once and went to get it and they were all gone. No stores carried them in boise idaho at all so I ordered mine off the internet for $90 and got one of the smaller wacoms....it works okay ( i hardly use it but have had plans to use it for like a year now...soon though) My main problem was that I was used to the feel of paper, and the drawing surface is plastic and smooth. I put a sheet of rough grain paper over it and I found I have more control when I draw with it....

[stuh505]

Best Buy should carry them

[TheYak]

I've got a Wacom Graphire2 3x4 and Wacom Intuos 12x18.  The 3x4 worked wonderfully and I used the hell out of it.  Getting a cheap and small tablet's probably the way to go if you're just starting out.  For the first week of use, I didn't think I'd want to keep using it.  Later, had to go larger out of minor frustrations with the 3x4. 

The Intuos vs. Graphire features differ somewhat.  There are additional pens available for the Intuos, they've got more levels of pressure sensitivity as well as tilt-detection.  I suppose it all depends on whether you're doing painting-style stuff or quick sketches.

[InCreator]

Well, the crusade is over.

After fighting myself for a long time, I finally decided that I don't need another piece of rarely used, but expensive tech junk (since it already occupies more of my room than I do) and bought a really cheap and simple tablet.

Trust 400. A5 format, and being a person, who has mouse sensitivity usually at max, even A5 is too much to moving around for my wrist (lazy, eh?). For a $65 I think it's enough for now, since I can't do anything good with it anyway... yet.

Despite its impossibilty to make a straight (or almost straight) diagonal lines, the tablet works fine. I also made my first steps using PhotoShop, which so far just wasted my HD space. (reason: way too complicated prog for so lazy bastard - as i am to learn).

Things are going well.
PS will be ripped apart.
Damn it's difficult...!!