Good drawing tablet?

[Ness]

So my mom is asking me what I'd like for christmas... and I don't really know, so I started thinking about some new "toys" I might want to play with. Seeing as I'm a CG major, I figured a drawing tablet may have some practical value, if not only for fun.

But I don't have the first clue where to begin looking for which ones are worthwhile. I was wondering if anyone had some good recommendations on what specific ones are worth it, and if they knew of any good place I could point my mom (who usually get all electronics at Best Buy) to pick one up.

Any good input is appreciated.

 

[Ness]

Nothing?

 

[Czar]

Wacom, anything from wacom, dont even look at other brands

 

[rbV5]

I'd say Wacom as well. I use my graphire2 with Corel Painter mostly, and love it! Intuos2 would be better for more demanding work, and they have a variety of sizes.

 

[Matthias99]

A good friend of mine -- an illustration major at Pratt who did a *lot* of work on his computer -- used a Wacom tablet. Seemed to like it. Can't recommend anything personally, as I have zero artistic ability.

 

[Dug]

Wacom
You'll stop using your mouse for drawing once you get used to it.

 

[mooojojojo]

Well as already said - Wacom. But not anything form Wacom.

Avoid the Volito (I'm not sure if it's actually available in the US) - I got it - sold it - it's useless for pressure sensitivity.

For budget - go Graphire2. I'd stay away from the Graphire3 - the driver for it is a stripped down version of the Graphire2 driver (which is the same as for the Intuos). The pressure adjustment instead of the curve adjustment is reduced to a slider (according to Wacom tech support). And I personally think the Graphire3 is uglier than the 2nd (this is entirely based on pictures from the net).

For the ultimate (and it's not that pricey) - Intuos2. I'm using a 6x8 Intuos at work and I think the size is a good match for the 19" CRT there. Anything more and I think the hand movements would start to get excessively long.

So if you want a tablet you'll keep for a long time - Intuos2 6x8 USB.