There you are: you have finally decided to purchase a graphics tablet. Whatever your reasons may be for purchasing one, you are now faced with a very major decision: amongst all the numerous graphics tablets out there, which one would best suit your needs and your budget?

Wacom is, without any doubt, a genius when it comes to graphics tablet (also known as pen tablet) technology and is continually improving their products. Due to these frequent upgrades, this article will only touch the following Wacom models:  Bamboo / Bamboo Touch, (a fresh new line of pen and touch tablets), Intuos4 Wireless (the only wireless pen tablet), Intuos4 (the 4th generation of Intuos) and Cintiq (the one and only pen-on-monitor-screen experience).

All Wacom graphics tablets are easy to install and use, thanks to Wacom’s Plug & Play technology. Every Wacom tablet is compatible with Macintosh and Windows, supports widescreen format, offers application and tool settings, provides a slim, comfortable, ergonomic design, plus comes equipped with a USB cable and a programmable, cordless and battery-free ergonomic pen (except for Bamboo Touch). Therefore, your decision will be based on the main differences between these major models. Those include: touch input, pressure sensitivity, resolution and size.

• Touch Input or Multi-Touch Input allows you to navigate and interact with the computer with just a tap of the finger or the touch of two fingers.


• Pressure sensitivity of the pen tip and its eraser (when present) is measured in levels: 512 levels for the Bamboo Pen drawing tablets, 1024 levels, for the new Bamboo Pen & Touch tablets and Cintiq 12WX pen displays, and 2048 levels (the highest thus far) for the recent Intuos4 & Intuos4 Wireless pen tablets, plus the upgraded Cintiq 21UX pen displays.

• Resolution, measured in lines per square inch, is marked at 2,540 for the Bamboo series and 5,080 for the Intuos4 and Cintiq models. Based on these two differences alone, if one needs or desires more precision and sharper results, the Intuos4 or the Cintiq are by far the better choices.

• Size relates to the active area of the graphics tablet, which is the drawing/writing area and not the actual size of the tablet. If space is really a tight issue, make sure you take into consideration the entire dimensions of the graphics tablet.

Since the active area of a tablet matches your computer screen no matter what size it is, don’t let a smaller sized Wacom tablet fool you: the smaller sizes often offer just as many features as the larger ones in the same series. Size becomes a concern when considering desk space, laptop use, portability, user preferences, and accuracy. Bamboo / Bamboo Touch, Intuos4 Wireless, and Intuos4 Small are all wonderful options for small working environments. 

The unique graphic tablets in this section are "entrance level" tablets. They are great for beginners and budding artists and perfect for any office, be it at home, school or at work. The new possibilities range from navigating with a tap of a finger and personalizing your work with your signature or other sketches to touching-up photos and even working wirelessly. They all come with Wacom's one-year warranty.

Let’s start by comparing the five new, freshly released (Sept. 2009):

Bamboo models.

First, Bamboo offers the simple, one-feature tablets:

Bamboo Pen (small, black) is specified mostly for office work rather than artistic tasks. Packaged with one creative software, it performs very well by working with your computer for marking up documents, jotting down notes,writing your signature, drawing and sketching. So if you do not need or are not interested in multi-touch input, and the budget is as tight as your desk space, this is the perfect pen tablet for you. Clean and simple, there are no ExpressKeys to worry about.

Then come the double-input tablets which combine both pen and multi-touch technologies into one unit.  These Bamboo tablets spontaneously switch from touch input to pen input when the pen is near the tablet's active area. They also boast TWICE the pen pressure-sensitivity than the simple Bamboo Pen for more accurate and sharper digital results.

All Bamboo tablets are reversible, have a textured surface imitating a pen on paper sensation, and feature a glowing LED status light.

All Bamboo Pen graphic tablets (with pen input) come with a matching two-button customizable, cordless, and battery- free digitizer pen with 3 extra pen nibs. These tablets also feature an attached red-fabric pen loop to store the stylus. 

(Bamboo pen erasers are just that - erasers.  They do not have any pressure-sensitivity capabilities.)

Wacom's only wireless pen tablet, the Intuos4 Wireless, is a latest addition to the professional line of Intuos4 pen tablets, The wireless Intuos4 is ideal for professionals always on the move and for teaching environments like classrooms, seminars, business presentations and workshops where the instructor or speaker is always at a considerable distance from the computer screen.

Anybody who hates wires, USB or serial connections, will delight in the absolute freedom of being totally untethered from the computer. Imagine lounging in your favorite chair while working on your PC or Mac !

Work sessions go uninterrupted even while the battery is recharging via the included 8-foot USB cable! Plus, there are no reported interferences when using other Bluetooth products in the vicinity of Wacom's fast and sophisticated method of transmission.

Every improved, advanced and innovative feature found on all Intuos4 pen tablets also graces this sleek black wireless Wacom tablet. Registering the Intuos4 Wireless with Wacom also allows access to 4 downloadable free software. What distinguishes the wireless Intuos4 from the rest of the Intuos4 series, is that you can control your computer from a considerable distance (up to 33 feet), without any cables.

The light-weight Intuos4 Wireless is only available in one size: medium. However, to allow room for the lithium-ion rechargeable battery, the active surface area (8x5 inches) is slightly smaller than that of the regular Intuos4 Medium pen tablet. Furthermore, unlike the other Intuos4 pen tablets, this wireless tablet with Bluetooth technology comes with an optional clip-on pen loop, (a great way to secure your pen while on the move), but does not come with a mouse.

(Intuos4 Wireless has now permanently replaced, in Feb. 2010, the discontinued Graphire Bluetooth wireless graphic tablet.)

Wacom released their completely redesigned Intuos pen tablet in March 2009. This black, sleek upgrade of the Intuos3 series is a long-desired and welcomed addition to the graphic tablet community.

Intuos4 pen tablets, with a 2-year warranty, positions the ExpressKeys (for shortcuts) and the Touch Ring (for quick scrolling and zooming) on the side of the ambidextrous tablet.

The Intuos4 also adds tilt control and tool recognition (Tool ID) to the mix, added bonuses for any serious user. It even offers more pen tips for different writing and drawing results with the one accompanying latex-free cushioned Grip Pen which provides extra comfort and reduces tension.

Extra accessories are available for the Intuos4 such as an array of different pen types ranging from the classic pen for a more natural, day-to-day work and feel to the sophisticated airbrush for unbelievably realistic paintings and other art designs.

If you are a serious graphic artist or a professional with elaborate artistic ideas who spends long hours using artistic software, an Intuos4 is certainly a worthwhile investment.  Most professionals, be they graphics artists, technicians or designers, with highly detailed expectations would describe it as an essential tool. That said, there are still 4 different sizes to choose from!

• Intuos4 Small (6x4) is easily portable with more features than the Bamboo series and perfect for small desk spaces yet affordable. It has less ExpressKeys (6 in all) than the 3 larger Intuos4 models and the ExpressKeys show-settings function is a pop-up display on-screen. 

(All the other Intuos4 sizes Medium, Large and Extra Large have 8 ExpressKeys
and an illuminated EspressKeysDisplay directly on the pen tablet.
Forgetting shortcut-settings is now a thing of the past.)

• Intuos4 Medium (9x6) is the most popular Intuos4 pen tablet due to its versatility: it offers a sufficient amount of work space on the drawing area, yet still small enough for cramped spaces. It's also a perfect traveling companion for the laptop and ideal for serious students on the go.

• Intuos4 Large (13x8) targets the CAD users, and technical illustrators which may desire a larger surface area and artists who are used to drawing or painting with large sweeping motions. It is also optimized for work in single screen or for multiple monitor work stations and is ideal for editing HDTV videos. Remember, the larger your tablet surface, the more you will need to move your arms which may be viewed as a disadvantage to some users.

• Intuo4 Extra Large (18x12) is the only Intuos4 pen tablet with an integrated USB cable. All the other smaller sizes have a detachable cable (detaches from the computer and the tablet for easier storage and portability). Intuos4 XL greatly assists professional photo-retouching artists, illustrators, animators and industrial designers in any industry including automobile, textile and fashion with challenging endeavours, allowing for wider sweeping strokes. It is geared towards sophisticated and high-performance work involving precision and accurate results like digital imagery, audio-visual tasks, graphic arts, and architecture. It offers optimal use of wide screen and double monitors and is excellent for creating HDTV videos.

 

Cintiq Pen Displays are the combination of top graphic tablet technology merged with an LCD monitor. The result: a state-of-the-art monitor that allows you to write or draw directly on the screen with unparalleled accuracy! The fact that it is totally adjustable to any angle and for any purpose (on your desk or on your knees) makes it the holy grail of the Wacom graphics tablets and obviously, the most expensive.

The Cintiq series, will greatly improve work flow and efficiency while providing spectacular, detailed results in any professional field ranging from industrial designers, audio-editors and animators to doctors, educators and story-board creators requiring faster visual effects. These interactive pen displays naturally become your digital canvas or your easel.

Many claim to have improved productivity by as much as 100% thanks to the ultimate working / drawing freedom and comfort a Cintiq provides.  Yet again, there are 2 Cintiq ’s to choose from.  First,  they differ in size, measured diagonally, from the small 12.1” to the large 21.3”.   

Touched by a Tablet is written by Annie Goss for DrawitTablet.com

Updated:  March 2010

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