Pc Drawing/Sketching Tablet

[Jostyrostelli]

I am concidering buying a Sketch Tablet for my pc, I need to draw a lot for my study and I thought this might get in handy.

Altough it's also kindof limited in it's use, I can only draw with it..

Does anyone of you have experience with these Tablets? And which I should get?

I saw that Trust has a few of them..

Where should I pay attention to when I go look for one? (Like dpi if you buy a printer)

Thanks in advance 8)

This is what Trust offers.

[Kip_6666]

I've got this one, relabled as a aldi product:
http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=14070

And that trust one is relabled from a aiptek. I paid 30 euros at the aldi for it, not a bad deal. Cept now i can't find the gay pen, so its useless to me atm

These are cheap options. The pens are kinda heavy because it holds batteries. Its ok for the casual user.

The next step would be a wacom one. Though for a ok price the tablet is going to be a bit smaller than the aiptek one. But I hear people say the quailty is a bit better. The pen is also a bit lighter because it doesn't hold the batteries.

Its hard to make a good suggestion with input devices cause everyone is different, and uses the items in a differnt way.

[Jostyrostelli]

Okey, do you know if there's a difference between pens and batteries in them?

I think 50 euros would be more than enough for me to afford right now.

Oh and I don't need the stupid mouse, that's why I didn't buy that one today in the shop, I don't wanna pay for the mouse.

[Kip_6666]

I'd go for this, it should be around 50 euros online.

http://www.my-volito.com/volito/intro.asp?lang=en
Its small though.


But if size really matters the trust one would be cool, but not for the price they list on thier website. Thats insane. 90 euros .. :/

[Jostyrostelli]

Oh that looks nice, but should that be a problem if the pen hasn't got a battery then?

Seems to me that the electronics are different (how it recognises the pens location)..

How is the sensetivity on your tablet? Can you adjust it? If I buy that one and I wanna draw something big, it doesn't fit on the tablet

edit: yeah trust is expensive, I already looked at the Aldi website, but they didn't have it this week hehe..

I'll try to find a similar one, I really need a bigger screen, 9x13 cm isn't alot.

[Kip_6666]

I honestly can't tell you because I haven't used it in a while. But i remember it being pressure sensative. Harder you press the thicker the line. If the application supported it.
And i believe you could adjust most things.

As for the wacom thing. It works a bit different. It doesn't need a battery in the pen.

I've never used one of those for a long time, but in the store the lighter pen does make it easier to work with. But the size of the tablet was a bit small. Though you can just lift your hand and go back to the center of the tablet if u reach the end iirc.

With the tablet i have thats a bit different. The a4 size tablet is equal to your screen. So place the pen in the top right of the tablet means the cursor goes to the top right of your screen.

i'll try and find my pen.

[Jostyrostelli]

A4 paper-size would be the best, I could just place a drawing or a sketch underneath it (with some you can) and so I can make my sketches digital.

So you have a pen with battery inside it? How heavy is it? Do you have to move it with 2 hands?

[chaos386]

You should be able to find Wacom tablets in many sizes. The biggest one I saw on their website was 30cm by 45cm. Really pricy though, >USD$400.
If you really want to go all out, you could buy a tablet PC, which is basically a full laptop with a touch-sensitive screen that swivels to fold back on itself. My sister has one and it's just like drawing on a piece of paper since you can see what you're drawing where you draw it.

[Jostyrostelli]

TabletPc is too much good

I already have a laptop, I'm gonna use it for this:

I make a lot of sketches (like 50-100) before making a design of a house/building and when I got to inlcude it in a presentation (Powerpoint) or paperwork I need to digitalize it.
So it has to have the ability to sketch over an existing drawing, if you know what I mean.

So A4-papersize is enough, mostly I will use it with smaller sketches.

So tabletpc is not necesarry, because I only sketch on paper, and digitalize it lateron.

[Kip_6666]

Originally Posted by Jostyrostelli

A4 paper-size would be the best, I could just place a drawing or a sketch underneath it (with some you can) and so I can make my sketches digital.

So you have a pen with battery inside it? How heavy is it? Do you have to move it with 2 hands?

Well it contains 1 aaa battery. And this makes it a bit heavier than your average pen for writing. Its definatly something your going to notice and will have to adjust too.

[Jostyrostelli]

Well I have very strong arms so I can move the 0.001 grams I think

I will check out more shops and ask those guy-waitresses what's so special about them..

[Kip_6666]

They'll probaly read the box for you

ASk them to try them for yourself. Thats the best way to get a quick impression.

[Jostyrostelli]

Let them hook them up to a computer in the shop?

That's a good idea.. 8)

I'm gonna do that with a soundcard too, let them hook it up on a computer and install everything, play GTA San Andreas for 2 hours and then say "Thanks, I know enough, bye"

[Jostyrostelli]

I went to shops today and they only have small tablets, or nothing at all..

I checked Trust..I'm interested in this one:
Wireless Scroll Tablet 1200-V2

But I want one without a mouse (every tablet I've seen has a mouse )

And it has to be cheap (100 euros max)

And Wacom is very nice, but also VERY expensive, the guy at the shop gave me one and afterwarts he said, yeh 400 euros.

Came across this:

Trust A4 : 139 euros
Wacom A4 : 499 euros

Edit:
Saw this, I think it's nice, and maybe I'll buy this one:

Trust 1200-V2 9"x12" (228x304mm)

[monkeymax]

Josty,
I've got a Nisis A4 tablet I bought just over two years ago. It was expensive back then (£90) but has been quite useful. However, be prepared. The A4 tablets are BIG! You've gotta think, A4 size then an extra couple of inches for the borders of the tablet. The tablet itself also is not light, so is a little annoying when I try to draw with tablet on my lap - for this I wish I had a smaller one. But with tablet on table it's perfect.

Mine has a liftable top cover so I can place A4 paper underneath and trace paper stuff which is useful.

The battery in the pen isn't so bad, you get used to the extra weight real quick and if the one you get is anything like mine, the pen will be well weighted so that the battery is nor really noticed and well supported between finger and thumb.

Mine came with a mouse. Waste of time I know, as I've got a wireless mouse already that's much better. So I've just never used my mouse! Don't think it adds much to the price so don't worry about it.

Mine apparently has 512 levels of sensitivity! I'll be honest, I've never noticed that many levels, but it certainly does draw darker/thicker lines if I press harder on the pen. I'm just constantly worried I'm gonna break it!

Unfortunately, recently the tablet and pen have not been working too well - the point 'shakes' a lot when I'm using the pen (not me, honest)... haven't looked at it much to try to sort it out yet.

Lastly, rather ironically even though it's a PC-only product it needed special drivers on my PC, yet when I plugged it into my OS9 Mac (which doesn't even have built-in USB, I'm using a PCMCIA USB card) it worked straight off without drivers! Go figure. Be prepared to have to install a bunch of drivers and don't bother about the bundled software, it's all useless...

HTH,

-Max

[Edit] Oh yes, and while the Wacoms are very nice (have used a few of varying ages in my time! First one I used was around 8 years ago and they were nice back then!) you certainly do have to pay a little more for them... [/Edit]

[Jostyrostelli]

Thanks for the review Monkeymax!
They are indeed heavy, I went to a shop yesterday and have it unpacked and I was surprised how light that Trust A4 size one is, some are over a kilo.

I saw both Trusts A4 yesterday, the 1200 and the 1200 V-2.
The V2 has 24 extra functions (which I'll prolly never use) and the 1200 is 20 euros cheaper.

It's this one:Trust 1200

And yep, the Wacoms are VERY expensive. I saw some of them for 1000 euros.
And I wanna have my VW Bug first

Thanks again for the info.

[bihus]

Hey, Josty, don't know if you already know the site, since it's dutch, but you might want to check http://www.tweakers.net/pricewatch

[Jostyrostelli]

Yeah, thanks I already checked it.

[bihus]

Oh, well, it was worth the shot

[Null]

Wacom (http://www.wacom.com/index2.cfm) makes some rather high end ones, this is what pros usually use, but they aren't cheap, but worth checkin out.