I want to buy one of these but I am under the impression that the image on your PC monitor is also visible on the ‘active area’ of the graphics tablet. However, after looking at pics on the net I noticed that photos of them being used shows that the tablet in fact has no visual display area. It just appears blank and you have to look at the monitor while using it. Does anyone have a graphics tablet? Can you tell me what they actually do and shed some light on my question? Thanks in advance for any info…
There’s no visual display on the WACOM, you still need to look at the monitor. They basically do the same thing as a mouse, but by using the pen on the tablet, you have much finer control. The active area of the tablet corresponds to your monitor, so if you hold the pen over the center of the active area, the cursor on the screen will also be in the center (unlike a regular mouse).
If you do any graphics work - photo’s, art, etc - then a WACOM tablet is a much better way to work, than a mouse is.
Wacom produces a monitor with a graphics tablet build in. My gf has one at work, 20 inch or so, 1600x1200 resolution. Sweet toy. You can use it up right and flat on the table.
I bet that’s cheap (not). 
[quote=“irishstu”]
I bet that’s cheap (not). 
[/quote]
I am not sure. I also saw it at a conference, they told me the price, but I don’t remember. It was not too bad considering the coolness factor of this device.
[quote=“ratlung”][quote=“irishstu”]
I bet that’s cheap (not). [/quote]
I am not sure. I also saw it at a conference, they told me the price, but I don’t remember. It was not too bad considering the coolness factor of this device.[/quote]
Well, I know that the bigger the wacom tablet you get, the more the price (and it seems to go up by A LOT). That’s without it even having a monitor.
Also, in case anyone here is unaware, there are at least two types of Wacom tablets. The main ones are Graphire and Intuous. Intuous is much more expensive beacuse it is more sensitive. You really need to decide how serious you are about this whole thing. Also, what you see is not what you get with these things. If you see a Wacom tablet that looks about 8" by 6" (this is an example only), then the actual working area may only be 6" by 4". You’ll see a rectangle market out, which is the working area.
A friend of mine at work (graphic designer) got a tablet PC mainly to use it as a sort of Wacom tablet with “viewable” working surface. It rocks.
Thanks for the info. I have had Photoshop CS and Illustrator CS, which I bought used for a few weeks now and they are both great. I was watching some training CDs from Lynda.com (highly reccommended for newbies like me) and they said that people should use the tablets for their sensitivity and tilt levels.
Reaper, if you want to try one out, you can borrow mine for a few weeks. I’m not really using it much these days.
Wow! Just $2,500 to $3,000!
Oh wait a minute… that’s US dollars…
They announced their first widescreen tablet a few days ago.
As Irishstu mentioned - they aint cheap. I’ve got a Graphire version (the cheaper one), which has a 4" by 5" workable area (I don’t have the desk space for anything bigger), but that still cost me about $3000 at one of the 3C’s.
If anyone’s interested in a cheap Wacom, I’m selling mine on Taiwanted. taiwanted.com/detail.php?siteid=8354
Get a Wacom for 1000nt$ while you can.