Wacom... I wants it!

goldenfalcon

Help me! I currently own this, but I want a Wacom. And many of you probably notice the price difference, and so does my wife. How do I convince her that I need this upgrade or am I doomed to use this cheap drawing tablet?

In other words, will I notice a difference using a Wacom instead or is owning a drawing tablet good enough? (Besides the fact that I am having to use GIMP to draw instead of PS, because DigiPro can't make the driver to work with PS)

amateurhour

Wacom has the best technology, better pressure sensitivity, a greater pressure sensitivity range, better driver, software, and hardware support, and is the industry standard with the most external third party support.

You will notice a difference between the two tablets, especially if you want to use photoshop over gimp.

I think the new bamboo fun model (the one that's like $100-$120 has 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity so for a reasonably low price you could get something that's at least double the performance of your current model, but realistically more just because of the PS support.

Deebaser

Dude, it's looks like the good ones are only $200. Save up for it. Tell your wife you'll brownbag it or cut other expenses until you "save up" enough for the tablet you really want. That's how my fiance and I sometimes deal with toy purchases.

As to the quality difference, IANAPOTIA (I am not an practitioner of the illustrating arts)

Wassermelone

Wacoms are so good they are the defacto industry monopoly that no one even cares exists. I don't think theres any creative company that doesn't use Wacom's for their tablet needs for exactly the reasons that Amateurhour went over.

I've been using Wacoms of every stripe from graphire (the previous name for Bamboo) to cintiq for 13 years now (holy shit? really? I can't even believe that its been that long ) and they make me happy in the pants.

MagicToaster

A noticable performance diffrence will depend on your skills not the equipment. A Toyota and a Ferrari won't perform the same, but if you just use it to drive in a school zone at 15mph... it's gonna get you to the same place just as fast.

After saying that, Wacom is indeed the superior tablet.

Belruel

I worked for years on a tablet kind of like that one you have (only it was older obviously), and when I finally got a wacom, it was amazing. The pen is so light, the pressure sensitivity is amazing, and the software support was so comforting.

But. As magicaltoaster says, the tools are worthless if you don't know what you're doing with em. If you think your skills are being held back with that tablet, or if you have had it for years and use it all the time, then it is time to upgrade.

I know many people who have wacoms... and they go into their drawer, and they stay there. But I don't think you'll have that problem as you already have used a tablet. Usually that happens when people expect a tablet to be easy to use right out of the box.

amateurhour

I'll second making sure you actually need an upgraded tablet and also going with the cheapest model with pen functionality.

I bought the bamboo fun like four years ago and it collected dust for two of those years before I ever started messing with it.

Derrick

I just bought the large size Intuos4. It's hard to even describe how much better it is than the cheap-o tablets. It's not one huge thing, it's just a mountain of little things that make all the difference. Like when you start drawing it feels like pencil to paper. They actually give you different pen nibs for different feels. My cheap-o glitched periodically in interesting ways. My Wacom hasn't yet.

Photoshop is cool and all, but I'm really leaning toward the Corel line for actual drawing/painting right now. It feels a lot more like physical media, and the tablet just feels for natural to me there. The tilt and pressure sensitivity just kind of work intuitively. If you're used to physical media at all, you'll appreciate the sense of "home."

I'm not sure what all the tablets come with, but mine came with quite a few programs and such that make the price hurt a little less . Personally I'm kinda "meh" on the default photoshop brushes and the ones that come with the wacom. Anyone have any suggestions on good brushes for the tablet to use in PS?

Molybdenum

1: Yes, you will notice.

2: On a budget? Look for used Intuos 2-3's or get a Bamboo Fun

AlyceInWonderland

I've had my Intuos 3 for about 4 or 5 years now, and it's one of the best things I've ever gotten. There is a huge difference between low end drawing tablets, and Wacom tablets. HUGE difference.

Brown bag it for a month or two, and treat yourself to sweet-ass tablet.

Delzhand

The Intuos 3 is such a sweet piece of hardware. I love the hardware buttons - I use the left scroll strip for brush size +/- and the right one for brush opacity +/-. Mapped step backward/forwards through history with the pen buttons. Being able to undo the last few steps without moving your hand is incredibly useful.