hesitating between two tablets

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1

I want to buy a tablet I allready talked to Hippie who made a nice and intresting review about the tablet AIPTEK Hyper Pen 12000 U.
http://products.consumerguide.com/reviews/product.epub?productId=23746

I was going to buy it until i saw some comments on a website that half of the people loved it and the other half hated it.

i found an other one whiche it about the same but i have no idea if it is good.
it is Trust TB-4200. http://www.3wisemonkeys.co.uk/proddet.jsp?id=1306&cat=52

so i would like to know if anyone have it, if it has problems and if someone know if it is a usually good brand.

if someone has a good tablet cheaper than 120 euro please tell me even if it is not A4

thanks in advence for you answers

2

Get a Wacom. They’re very expensive but you won’t have to worry about drivers for windows or OS X, even Linux has decent drivers. Not to mention the fact that it needs no batteries and the construction (at least on the Intuos series) is incredibly solid.

My intuous3 is one of the best input devices I’ve ever used, it really shines in Photoshop and Illustrator.

3

yea but dos the small size bother you when you draw?

4

What comes to size, as for me Volito was too small. But then again Volito isn’t the flagship model of Wacom so their better models might be more accurate.

Personally I feel more natural, when I use bigger tablet. IF I’d be a pro I would definetly get bigger Wacom tablet, but as for now I’ll settle for something else.

5

Small size? I’ve got a 6"x8" which is more than enough. It really depends on how big you like to draw. For me, 4x5 was too small on my old graphire2, when I upgraded the 6x8 was perfect.

From what I can tell, here’s the difference between the two tablets:
-Price, wacom is far far more expensive.

-Size, wacom is smaller

-Construction, can’t say what the aiptek or trust are like but Wacom’s is really nicely made

-Removeable/replaceable nibs, wacom has 3 different nib styles for different feels on the intuos as well as a number of pen types ranging from art pens to airbrush to inking pens

-Pen buttons, the aiptek appears to only have a 2 button pen, the wacom has a 3 button pen which moves the mouse by only hovering over the tablet, no pressing down is required to move the mouse, pressing with the nib causes a left click event (aiptek has this too it seems)

-Pen pressure, wacom has 1024 levels of pressure as well as tilt sensitivity, neither of the other tablets appear to have this and only have 512 levels of pressure.

-The intuos has rubber grips on their pens

-ToolID detection, wacom pens and the wacom eraser (at the opposite end of the pen) each have unique identifiers which allow apps like photoshop to save which tool was selected with that eraser or pen and then when you switch between pens/ends the tool will change in photoshop, one pen can be a brush while the other is an airbrush and another the clone tool etc. The end of your pen can be the eraser etc.

-Wacom drivers allow per application (windows and OS X) settings for the scroll pads, buttons and pen buttons (and each pen you own). You can string keyboard macros, launch apps or do multimedia keyboard button events. AFAIK neither of the other tablets have this. Wacom also provides regular driver updates every 6 months or so, they also support x64 version of windows and will provide vista driver upon vistas release.

-The wacom Intuos3 6x8 has photoshop elements and corel painter essentials as well as hefty discounts on the full versions of those two apps along with other apps.

-The trust and aiptek tablets aren’t supported in OS X.

-Trust doesn’t have much info on the tablet specs like Wacom of Aiptek, the aiptek tablet has about 3/5s the resolution of the Wacom intuos tablet, at 3,048 LPI, the wacom has 5,080 LPI.

-The aiptek drivers appear to have very rudimentry control over tablet functionality like pressure curves and key functions, and they aren’t very new either. The driver for download on their website has timestamps for the files contained in the zip, they’re circa 2001-2003, that’s up to 5 years old. The latest intuos 3 driver is from this last october for windows xp sp2.

-The wacom has an 8’ cable. Aiptek nor Trust mention the cable length.

-The intuos mouse (which I don’t use) has 5 buttons and a scroll wheel, which are customizeble just like the buttons on the pen(s) and the tablet quick keys/scroll pads (eight quick keys and 2 scroll pads)

-Wacom’s entire buisness is making tablets for graphic artists and some buisness people, there aim is to please their customer base which is pretty much the same across the board, they can’t afford to drop the ball, lest they die. Not so with aiptek or trust which produce a lot of other (seemingly sub-par quality) PC products they can do a poor job and get away with it.

(gee I hope that all made some sense)

In my opinion, the intuos3 is worth every dime, it is very expensive (around 300-350 euros for the 6x8 intuos 3) though.

I’d check ebay for the intuos2 (USB) or check newegg for the intuos3.

Have fun and I HTH. Whatever you get, I hope it works great for yah.

BTW, here’s the product pages:

http://www.aiptek.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=R-HP12U&Category_Code=T1&Store_Code=AS


http://www.trust.com/products/product.aspx?artnr=14070

6

I have a Wacom Graphire 3 A6 Tablet and it is large enough. Also bear in mind that with a Wacom you don’t have to buy and batteries for the cordless pen / mouse, so you will save money there.

I spent a lot of time choosing between Wacom and something cheaper, and in the end I am glad I went Wacom. The experience has been flawless and the quality of the product is top notch.

Oh and Wacoms work flawlessley in Linux with no setup fuss, which I’m not sure any others will.

Alex

7

I’d have to go along with everyone else, the Wacom stuff is pricy but you sure as hell get what your pay for. My Intuos 2 is proving to be totally bullet-proof. Plus the battery-free pen is just teh awesome!

8

thank you everybody for ansering.

Dittohead:you conviced me. I think i better buy something good quality to not be disapointed. but i still need to think.

i hesitate now between these two.
the 6x8
http://www.wacom.com/productinfo/6x8.cfm
and the 6x11
http://www.wacom.com/productinfo/6x11.cfm
wich is not mch more expecif

i have a wide screen on my labtop but i might buy a desktop late and i don’t think i’ll have a wide screen.

how does it work when you draw on different screens is it streached or it stay the same size?

edit: is 6x8 A5?

9

heheh… if you got those bucks, go for the 6x11… Unless you got a small table… :wink:
I’d get that 6x11 if I had a wide screen 19’’ flat, but I don’t know if it’s that necessarary if you don’t have a wide screen. Don’t know, but… Well, your choice.

10

yeah 6x8 unless you have a wide screen. the proportions are important for hand movements.

i have a 6x8 graphire3, its ok but not great. its obselete now though, the new ones with nibs are way better.

Alltaken

11

but would it still be ok to take the 6x8 for a wide screen because i think i wont only use it on a wide screen?

12

well i went for the 6x8.

thank you again for everybody who answered and gave me good advices

13

I have dual monitors but I still have the 6x8, I don’t have the room for the 6x11.

The only thing I wish the wacom drivers had was the ability to map the surface of the tablet to a different screen with just a key macro on the keyboard or a button on the tablet. In fact, I’m emailing them about it now.

And yes 6x8 is A5 :slight_smile:

Edit, just noticed your post. Congrats man, you won’t be disappointed :slight_smile:

Edit again:

how does it work when you draw on different screens is it streached or it stay the same size?

You can make it stretched or constrain it to one monitor at a time. Hence my email, I’ll post here what I get back from wacom :slight_smile:

14

thank you, like this i have no doubt, I can sleep normally until i get it :smiley:

15

That’s good, though you won’t sleep because of anticipation :wink:

BTW here’s what I sent Wacom:

Hi,

I’ve been using my Intuos3 for a few months now and I love it. The only thing I’m missing is true multi-monitor support. The current drivers (4.93-3) do support mapping the tablet to different monitors but this is only a per application setting. What would be best is to be able to assign keyboard macros or tablet quick keys to different monitors (or different mapping settings).

That way when I’m in an application that spans both monitors I can use the tablet’s full surface on monitor one and then with a key press or two I can then map the tablet surface to monitor two and work on that monitor, then with another key press switch back to monitor one and continue working.

This would very useful on applications like Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator or others where only the toolbar, menu and work area are on monitor one and the rest of my tools/palettes are on monitor two. I hate switching to the mouse every time I need to use tools on monitor two.

Thanks for the time, it’s much appreciated.

-Nathan

Does that make any sense?

16

No, you sound like you are trying to diss the swedish.

Alltaken

17

[quote=“Alltaken”]

No, you sound like you are trying to diss the sweedish.

Alltaken[/quote]

Once there was a girlyman named Alltaken. His anal cavity was full of strange and notsowonderful artifacts, of which he pulled out often.

Oh, yes, by the way it’s spelled ‘swedish’. :wink:

18

if there is one word that is most certainly banned in this forum, i think it is Anal.

MODERATORS, quick quick, come quick, clean up this mess.

Alltaken

19

yea it makes sense. they should understand.

about the sleeping thing well i didn’t sleep but it didn’t have anything to do with the tablet. i am just sick.

well i can’t complain. i am not at school :smiley:

20

When/if I get a mac (I need to make $20 a week reliably to buy a 20" intel imac :D) I plan to get a macally icecad pad to learn with, it’s very small, but pretty good quality, and said to be pretty good as long as you zoom into images. After that, if I fell comfortable with it, I’ll get a wacom.

Btw, it’s not anal, it’s swedish pidgin! :stuck_out_tongue: