FYI: Monoprice sells some very good graphic tablets for cheap.

[darkswordsman17]

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subdepartment.asp?c_id=108&cp_id=10841

Just wanted to bring this to people's attention as I was wanting a tablet, but I know for many the price of Wacom's tablets are a bit high to try.

You can get a 12x9 tablet for less than $100, or a 10x6.25 for less than $50.

Two caveats. One, it doesn't come with as good of software as Wacom, which is probably a good 50% of the Wacom value. Two, the pen takes a AAA battery.

I've been using SumoPaint and other programs, so the software isn't a huge issue for me, and the battery isn't a huge deal breaker either and I actually prefer the Monoprice pen a bit as I didn't like the way the tip would depress and the button on the Wacom was flimsy and got in the way.

So far, this tablet works as good as the Wacom I had, and the extra size is a big plus. I'm still trying to get used to sketching with it, and it doesn't work quite like I'd like it to (the Wacom was the same for me). For instance its not quite as precise as I'd like (my preferred sketching was using 0.5mm mechanical pencils to give you an idea of what I'd like, and its just unfeasible right now).

No driver issues thus far, it just works. Also has some nice quick button type of parts at the top (stuff like Copy, Paste, and some others you can customize).

 

[VirtualLarry]

I got one of my friends a tablet from Monoprice. I wasn't impressed. The thing screams "cheap chinese junk". Horribly inaccurate.

Spend the $100-150 and get a real name-brand tablet, if you're serious about getting into tablets.

Then again, this was really just meant as an introduction to tablets, and for that, it will suffice.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I got one of my friends a tablet from Monoprice. I wasn't impressed. The thing screams "cheap chinese junk". Horribly inaccurate.

Spend the $100-150 and get a real name-brand tablet, if you're serious about getting into tablets.

Then again, this was really just meant as an introduction to tablets, and for that, it will suffice.

Really? I've used Wacom tablets (owned a Bamboo) and its on par with them as far as accuracy from what I've seen, but I'm still playing around with it. Getting it setup can take a bit and makes a huge difference too (although I'm sure you know that). I personally haven't found any tablet that worked perfectly as far as accuracy, but I think that's possibly unfeasible in a digitizer at the moment. Even the higher end Wacom's I've played with, while better overall, still left accuracy lacking.

The Monoprice doesn't feel high quality, but it seems solid enough to me. Yeah, its cheap plastic, but I don't care about the outer part of the tablet as long as its solid, and the Bamboo pens I've used felt more flimsy although they're not terrible. The higher end Wacoms are nice, but they're also orders of magnitude more expensive. If you had the money to burn or was very dependent on it, the prices are easy to justify, but for someone just wanting to try out a tablet the Monoprice work fine. I'd be using a Cintiq if I could afford it.