Wacom

I am not sure which on to get...

http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-CTH661-...3?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1270601523&sr=8-3

http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Bamboo-Touch-Small-Tablet/dp/B002OOWC3S/ref=pd_cp_e_2

Two of my friends have the smaller one and I have used it a bit. But I dont really know how the extra size would work for me.

I would use this on top of my keyboard in class to take notes and the bigger one will just fit on top of my keyboard and palm rest and so does the smaller one.

I would be mostly using it for taking notes in chem, calc, and physics so I am thinking the bigger one would be better for drawing things but I think I could get by with the smaller one.

Any thoughts or has anyone used both sizes before.

The price is not really a big deciding point. I care more about function.

Thank you

 

LOL nice. I was looking at the exact samething to use in MS Onenote for drawing diagrams in class (damn those trusses). I am getting better at drawing with my touchpad though and I master the short cuts for subscript and super script. I was looking at the bamboo pen and touch by the way.

 

Big or small doesn't really make much of a difference. When I use my Bamboo, I always concentrate in a single area, since zooming is so effortless.

Thus I end up using maybe a 1x1 inch drawing area total.

 

Kestay is also a member of this forum (and a friend at school) has the Bamboo fun but I still dont know which to pick

ps. he says it works awesome with Onenote and Evernote.

 

Yeah I agree that the size of the tablet really isn't an issue. I thought at first that the smallest size might be too small, but I find myself doing small wrist flicks so as Lithus says the actual area you write/draw on is very small.

Btw both of the tablets you linked have the same functionalities I think, just that the "Fun" has a package with softwares and stuff.

 

The software does not matter, I get CS4 and other stuff from my school.

 

Well then I think there's no actual practical difference between those 2 except size.

Well except maybe the Pen & Touch has touch feature, but that's a bit gimmicky seeing as you have a touchpad on your laptop.

 

Other than size....

I was just wondering if the extra size would be helpful when writing equations and things like that.

 

Oh nice, thanks for the confirmation. if I make some money during the summer than I might pick one up. Which ever is cheaper.

 

I am doing "hw" with him right now and that is what he is using

 

I honestly wouldn't think so. From my past experience, doing long lines tends to mess them up. Smaller flickers provide better results in terms of accuracy of the movement/line. But if it's for equations purely maybe the size would help.

Know that the tablet takes the entirety of your screen real estate so regardless you can use the whole size of your screen.

 

Since you're buying from Amazon, I'll assume you're in the States. As of a month and a half ago, Most Staples carry both of those and more with a demo piece (The ones I saw in Miami, New York and Jersey had em)

 

@Johnney T,
It will work much better if you have vista or windows 7, because they have built in tablet support and handwriting to text recognition. XP does not have built in tablet support, unless you get the "XP Tablet Edition 2005" which I have used on my previous notebook and it worked well, I should also mention they no longer sell this XP edition. Evernote solves this problem because it has its own text recognition through the cloud. allowing you to search through your notes.

If you have windows 7, Vista, or XP Tablet Edition and you use your laptop with an external monitor, you can practically replace both your external keyboard and mouse with an external tablet, winning you a lot more desk space to work with, especially if you get the smaller tablet.

Lastly, you have no idea how useful this is for tasks you wouldn't even think of. Examples are: MS Office Excel because you can jump to cells very quickly and easily once you get used to using the pen (about 3 days of good usage for me). Plants vs. Zombies, a terribly addicting game from Pop Cap that I got from steam. You will be surprised how often you are picking up the pen, or wishing you had brought it with you.

Hope this provides some incite.

 

Thanks. I am on W7 Pro (from MSDNAA) at the moment and I don't see that changing anytime soon. But really I am using this as more of a mobile solution as Clutch described. Perhaps I will find more uses for it in the long run.

Plants vs Zombies with a tablet? Interesting thought.

 

I hear that the Monoprice tablets are just as nice as the Wacom tablets minus a few asthetics for a very small fraction of the price.

Just as compatible, just as much pressure sensitivity. If your asking the question about whats better that probably means your just wanting to get your foot in the door, so no need to drop hundreds for a Wacom. You can try something like the monoprice tablet to see how well it suites you and if you will really use it on a regular basis, then later on upgrade to a Wacom if you wish.

I personally use a Wacom Graphire 4 4x6 but I am waiting for a killer deal for a Wacom Intuos 4 Medium to come around (waiting for like half off refurbished)

Read some of the reviews on these Monoprice tablets here is just one of them: http://www.monoprice.com/products/p...=10841&cs_id=1084101&p_id=6251&seq=1&format=2

People swear up and down that its a complete steal compared to Wacom as it does the same thing for so cheap, and even some former/current Wacom owners have one of these.

 

I think I am going to go for the smaller Wacom.

But Amazon has brought up the price $20 overnight...

Is this a legit store?
http://www.pcrush.com/product/Graphic-Tablets/458415/Wacom-Bamboo-Touch-Graphics-Tablet?refid=1238

 

get the bigger one. A6 is unbearebly useless. A5 is the perfect balance, to my taste

 

I just realized that was not the correct model, the one I want is this one, http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-Bamboo-Touch-Small-Tablet/dp/B002OOWC3S/ref=pd_cp_e_2 but it was cheaper last week.

 

$99? You could probably get a used A5 Intuos3 for that or similar price.

You just need to decide, what exactly you are going to do with it. If just taking notes, the small one will suffice and, since you can map a portion of the screen to your tablet and use it vertically, it might be even better sometimes. But if you are planning on drawing, you better get something bigger coz constant zooming in/out gets seriously annoying after a while

 

I am going to go for the smaller one (of the choices from above) if I can find one at a good price, $90 and $85 is what I saw last week and I was hoping to get that price.

 

I might just pick up the cheaper "pen" instead of the "pen and touch". Much cheaper.

 

too bad play.com don't ship outside of europe, they got them for just EUR49.99, which is like $65 or so.

and yeah, I'll second Johnny, get the "pen" version, that touch feature will be quite useless for you anyways

 

I know! I miss play.com so much since I left the UK.

 

What's this about zooming I hear? O_O The tablet will encompass the entire screen real estate regardless of size >.>

 

Yes, by default it will. But you can always change the mapping to better suit your needs.

 

I like the idea about only getting the pen part without the multi touch (I have a mouse already). And that is only $58. I will have to think about it. BUt I think I will go with that.

 

Nobody even acknowledged my post lol, you can get a dirt cheap tablet that is identical to the wacom features/performance from monoprice.

I think in the case presented here its a very valid option.

 

But I am familiar with the Wacom because my friends have them and I know how they work. I did look at them but I could not find as much feedback about them

 

Exactly its popularity/marketing thing.

Just pretend Apple = Wacom and Monoprice is the underdog. It can perform the same and cost way less but people will always say apple is the best because that is what they know to be best. I totally agree too it is the best, but you have to pay a large premium. A premium I was willing to pay at the time before I knew there were good alternative tablets.

Now however if I was starting off I would get one of these for sure, and then later get the Wacom if I feel the need to upgrade.

Read the customer reviews on the site, there are a lot of them. Honest reviews that mention the short comings of the monoprice units. Yes they are not as nice but less than 1/5 the cost with all the same features/functions.

 

Size doesn't really matter. You're going to be very confused for a while until you get the hang of it. I'd just get the smaller one for portability and cheaper price point.

 

Size does matter depending on your work flow and technique.

If you want to paint or sketch a larger pad is obviously what you need, If you just want a tablet to work with for touching up photo's or something then a small one is fine.

 

arg, now I have a problem again, the pen only version has 512 sensitivity levels verse 1024 on the pen and touch... Would that really make a difference? This will be used for writing, notes, and solidworks. Not any fancy painting (I dont plan on that at least)

I have used the pen and touch and liked it but the craft (the same size) has an eraser on the back of the pen, but that it $121.


So many choices...

The main thing I am going for is productivity. I am not thinking an eraser is worth an extra $40 but I am not sure if the extra levels of sensitivity are worth the price. If I go for the pen and touch I would spring for the craft with the eraser though.

 

Not sure for your specific case but speaking of the most common use of a Wacom using it in photoshop or similar 512 is just fine.

The most common things to use with pressure sensitivity are opacity or brush size. Have you ever done a project and in that same project worked with a brush that is 512 different levels of opacity or size?

Probably (definitely) not a higher level range helps make things more smooth but not enough to really worry about.

The eraser is handy but I can click the eraser tool icon just as fast as I can flip the pen around to use it on.

I say out of every 200 projects I do I may use the eraser one time? Its a horrible way to work destroying the pixels, learn non destructive means of editing like layer masks.

 

I like the way you think

I think the cheaper one it is. I will think about it a few more hours tonight before I pull the trigger.

And if I dont like it I could sell it pretty easily I guess.

 

I ordered the pen version.

 

well. i got the tablet today and I like it but it does not have the 4 buttons on the side like the pen and touch has. Other than that I do like it. I am using it to write this message

 

congrats! Welcome to the club

 

I have only had it for one day and here is an example of my physics notes.

note: My hand writing is not that good but it takes some getting used to.

 

Nice. ^^ My hand writing is horrid, drawing (diagrams) is not too bad though. I will probably pick one up at the start of my next school year, I've finished classes and my last final is next week.

 

I would recommend a week to get used to it and learn how to use Evernote.

 

I'd probably stick with onenote as one of my class mates runs a "sharepoint" server and we all share notes and can edit from the same notebook. ^_^

 

Saving trees I see lol

I like the idea, I just print off PDF's for who wants them if they have to miss class (but I still go over the stuff with them so I can teach myself and those who miss).

 

Bigger 1 for God's sake.
You will be happy with the Big 1 definitely.
Small 1 is good for some people(get used to) and newbie usages but if you're in Digital Painting, Medium/Big size is the best.

 

try Alias Sketchbook Pro, it's free for students

example)))

 

what exactly is a wacom

 

Nice. Although I can't draw to save my life.

They make graphics tablets. See the first post.

 

I am only using it for text so it works rather well for me, but for drawing I would get the bigger one.

 

Where can I get the student license?

 

If you just use it to take notes, and not artist using to draw paintings ..etc.
A very good choice instead of that tablet is something like "siso tablo". It cost around $100, but it turns your lcd screen into a tablet. You can write directly on your lcd screen with its included tablet pen. It's also far more portable than wacom.
http://www.hantech.ca/product/product_detail.asp?M&S=3&bCateName=TABLO&CATEID=00030001

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students.autodesk.com

you will need to register with your university email and then, after activation (make sure activation email doesn't get into spam category, as it happened with mine) you can download it from there