pen input tablets

[sapi]

Hey

I'm considering picking up a [usb/whatever] pen tablet for idle doodlings

Considering that a) I'd like things to remain as cheap as possible and b) I don't need exceptional accuracy, as I won't be using it much for graphics work, does anyone have an ideas?

The only real brand I've heard stuff about is wacom, but that seems to be targeted more at designers?

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

I have a Wacom Graphire 4 classic and I'm a complete amateur using it for idle doodlings myself. Using them takes a tad of practice, but it's easy to get used to them.
I used it for quite some time and I think it's really good concerning the accuracy, pressure sensitivity etc...
I just pretty much quit using it because I got a tablet PC a few months ago (wacom-manufactured display), which has pretty obvious advantages - i.e. directly painting on the screen. So if you plan to buy a laptop anytime soon, you could consider saving the money for the tablet now and go for a convertible then...

Sorry I can't comment on other manufacturers as I have never used a different one.

[Freddie]

Hey

I'm considering picking up a [usb/whatever] pen tablet for idle doodlings

Considering that a) I'd like things to remain as cheap as possible and b) I don't need exceptional accuracy, as I won't be using it much for graphics work, does anyone have an ideas?

The only real brand I've heard stuff about is wacom, but that seems to be targeted more at designers?

I once had a Wacom tablet (years ago), I was into graphic design at the time I thought it would be a good thing to have and would be able to make some pictures.

I never really got on with it to be honest, it was cheap, it felt cheap and I don't know I just got fed up with and never really used it. At work we have a professional graphic designer to do all of out marketing material and web pages etc, and he never uses a graphics tablet.

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

Freddie: A friend of mine bought one and he considers it pretty useless as well - problem is if Sapi tries using one he'll most likely have a hard time at first (just as I did), so that's not really representative.

My friend just couldn't seem to get used to it, whilst it took me a couple of hours, after which I considered it great (still used a mouse when lots of menus were involved though).

My guess is that it would be best to find a retailer taking things back with full refunds after a couple of days and try it...

[sapi]

Yeah; I'll have to have a look around for such a retailer, I guess.

The main thing that I could see myself using it for would be just general note-taking of stuff that's impractical to type (formulae and the like); so while I might potentially use it for graphics design, that wouldn't be its primary purpose.

I can definitely understand how a tablet would be better for that sort of thing, but as I'm more looking for an ancillary item, it's probably overkill

I poked around a bit on the wacom website after reading your post, and the entry-level Graphire4 is apparently around A6 size; the question here, I guess, is whether that'd be big enough?

How do things like that work, anyway? Does it basically interact on a set part of the screen, selected by you, or does the entire tablet work on the scale of the entire screen (that'd seem a bit stupid, is all )?

[Niccolo Machiavelli]

Yeah; I'll have to have a look around for such a retailer, I guess.

The main thing that I could see myself using it for would be just general note-taking of stuff that's impractical to type (formulae and the like); so while I might potentially use it for graphics design, that wouldn't be its primary purpose.

Whilst I constantly use my tablet PC for taking notes, I have absolutely never used my tablet for such a thing - seems rather impractical to me for that purpose. The difference is that I operate the tablet PC solely with the pen - tapping on the taskbar to bring up the notepad and taking a note on the screen is obviously quite convenient.
With my desktop, it's different in that I prefer using a mouse for the most part - constantly switching between tablet and mouse for the purpose of taking notes is just inconvenient - I personally never did that. So if that's your primary use for it, I'd rather dissuade from getting one.

I can definitely understand how a tablet would be better for that sort of thing, but as I'm more looking for an ancillary item, it's probably overkill

I guess trust tablets work as well, but I don't have any first hand experience with them.

I poked around a bit on the wacom website after reading your post, and the entry-level Graphire4 is apparently around A6 size; the question here, I guess, is whether that'd be big enough?

it depends - I solely used it for photoshop and as you can zoom in as you like, I've never found the size of the tablet too small. Of course it also depends on ehich resolution you're running your screen on. On 1920*1200, I have no problems accessing buttons in photoshop when in pen mode (see below), but when I do menu-based things (adjusting levels, fumbling around with filters), I switched to the mouse - I've grown to use mouse mode for the most part anyway, so it's not a problem at all.

How do things like that work, anyway? Does it basically interact on a set part of the screen, selected by you, or does the entire tablet work on the scale of the entire screen (that'd seem a bit stupid, is all )?

You can freely configure the screen area it corresponds to. Further, you can switch between pen mode (absolute positioning; the cursor will jump to a corresponding point of the designated area on the screen when the pen is moved over the tablet) and mouse mode (relative positioning; more like a conventional mouse, works like you use the pen to pick the curser up anywhere on the tablet and slide it around).

[sapi]

Whilst I constantly use my tablet PC for taking notes, I have absolutely never used my tablet for such a thing - seems rather impractical to me for that purpose. The difference is that I operate the tablet PC solely with the pen - tapping on the taskbar to bring up the notepad and taking a note on the screen is obviously quite convenient.
With my desktop, it's different in that I prefer using a mouse for the most part - constantly switching between tablet and mouse for the purpose of taking notes is just inconvenient - I personally never did that. So if that's your primary use for it, I'd rather dissuade from getting one.

Hmm, yeah, was afraid of that

The main thing that's bee irritating me with using the keyboard and mouse is when we've got extended formulae to solve, and to record - it's simply not practical to stuff around typing (especially with greek symbols and the like) when I could do it in a tenth of the time with a pen and paper...