In need of a new graphics tablet

[Sarithus]

Hey Guild.

I've been using an Intous 3 for many, many years now, but my last pen is nearly at its end and I'm growing tired of the old design of the Intuos 3. Problem is, I am no longer clued up on tablets. I think I had a 'bamboo fun' for a little while before changing to the Intuos and sticking with that. Since then I've kept the Intuos 4, 5 and the cintiq's in the back of my mind. However, the Intuos range seems to have disappeared, or at least numbered Intuos tablets. (Discontinued, perhaps?) and Wacom seems to have done some sort of overhaul with their products.

I need to do some research, but in the mean time, what would you recommend I get? Thanks.

[J.Edward]

Depends what you can afford. If you can afford it, go with the cintiq.
Only down side to using a cintiq is that you are literally sitting right up on your monitor and eye strain can lead to some really bad headaches after a full days work.
They still make intuos tablets. I think they've gone to calling them pro and non-pro.

The 13hd cintiq is pleasant to use on you lap but the screen real estate is a bit small. Resolution is great and works well but it can't be used as a stand alone monitor like the larger cintiqs.
The 22hd would be more than big enough. If you just have money to burn, then go all the way for the 27qhd touch.
It's a lot of money but I doubt you would be disappointed. You just wouldn't be able to eat or pay rent for a good while.

[Sarithus]

Depends what you can afford. If you can afford it, go with the cintiq.
Only down side to using a cintiq is that you are literally sitting right up on your monitor and eye strain can lead to some really bad headaches after a full days work.
They still make intuos tablets. I think they've gone to calling them pro and non-pro.

The 13hd cintiq is pleasant to use on you lap but the screen real estate is a bit small. Resolution is great and works well but it can't be used as a stand alone monitor like the larger cintiqs.
The 22hd would be more than big enough. If you just have money to burn, then go all the way for the 27qhd touch.
It's a lot of money but I doubt you would be disappointed. You just wouldn't be able to eat or pay rent for a good while.

I've always been fascinated by the Cintiq but I don't think it's for me. I can imagine a lot of neck strain as well as the eye strain as you say. Not to mention that your hand is covering up part of what you're looking at, just like a piece of paper, and I'm used to the more traditional tablets by now.

So if I'm not mistaken the Intuos 3,4 and 5 line have been replaced and are now called Intuos pro. The regular tablets just called Intuos replace the bamboo fun and those lesser tablets.

I guess an Intuos Pro is probably for me then since I had the 3 and anything will be an upgrade over that old tablet nowadays, anyway.

[Dain]

Hi,
What a coincidence ... let me explain, would you. Maybe you will find something interesting
I'm myself still using the intuos 3 and was given the opportunity to get the Intuos Pro tablet (the current, and 6th version)
It was a possible present for my birthday, the 16th of March, so you see it wasn't long ago.
so then I started to read articles about the new tablets. It is indeed a big jump from Intuos 3 to 6th/ Pro.

At the end of the day, I didn't go for it, mainly because my Intuos 3 works fine on OSX Yosemite, still have nibs and I wasn't convinced by the new features of the new tablet; even if I have to admit that the idea of buying it is still there and doesn't want to get away. I didn't find something very interesting, very helpful. Maybe I've missed or underestimated something. I don't say I'm 100% accurate.
Anyway, here's my thoughts about the new Intuos 6/ Pro. Hope you'll find it helpful, in any way

Intuos Pro has basically:
- Bluetooth connexion
- Touch gestures
- Pressure levels
- New set of buttons
- New surface
- New sizes

And here are my thoughts at the moment. If anyone disagrees, please just give your opinion. It's good to compare ideas.
- Bluetooth connexion:
The issue is the battery life span. You need to plug the power cable everyday for the bluetooth to work for a day of working hard. Well, I rather prefer leaving the cables plugged in all the time.

- Touch gestures
Sounds nice but it appears that there are issues when lifting the tip of the pen and still having a finger touching the surface. You get unwanted rotations, slides, zooms etc. At the end of the day, I read comments of people just disabling the function of gestures with 2-3 fingers. This will be certainly improved in the future.

- Pressure levels
Doubled from Intuos 3. Not sure I would find a use though. 1K levels is still ok for me.

- New set of buttons
Cool, but would I spend 350€ just for buttons? Nope.

- New surface
Better than the 4th and 5th versions, which were rather "eating" nibs but I've read that the surface of Intuos 3 was the best in therms of nibs life span.

- New sizes
The active surface of the new tablets is smaller in comparison of the Intuos 3. About 1cm for the medium size. I found that annoying.

[Sarithus]

Hi,
What a coincidence ... let me explain, would you. Maybe you will find something interesting
I'm myself still using the intuos 3 and was given the opportunity to get the Intuos Pro tablet (the current, and 6th version)
It was a possible present for my birthday, the 16th of March, so you see it wasn't long ago.
so then I started to read articles about the new tablets. It is indeed a big jump from Intuos 3 to 6th/ Pro.

At the end of the day, I didn't go for it, mainly because my Intuos 3 works fine on OSX Yosemite, still have nibs and I wasn't convinced by the new features of the new tablet; even if I have to admit that the idea of buying it is still there and doesn't want to get away. I didn't find something very interesting, very helpful. Maybe I've missed or underestimated something. I don't say I'm 100% accurate.
Anyway, here's my thoughts about the new Intuos 6/ Pro. Hope you'll find it helpful, in any way

Intuos Pro has basically:
- Bluetooth connexion
- Touch gestures
- Pressure levels
- New set of buttons
- New surface
- New sizes

And here are my thoughts at the moment. If anyone disagrees, please just give your opinion. It's good to compare ideas.
- Bluetooth connexion:
The issue is the battery life span. You need to plug the power cable everyday for the bluetooth to work for a day of working hard. Well, I rather prefer leaving the cables plugged in all the time.

- Touch gestures
Sounds nice but it appears that there are issues when lifting the tip of the pen and still having a finger touching the surface. You get unwanted rotations, slides, zooms etc. At the end of the day, I read comments of people just disabling the function of gestures with 2-3 fingers. This will be certainly improved in the future.

- Pressure levels
Doubled from Intuos 3. Not sure I would find a use though. 1K levels is still ok for me.

- New set of buttons
Cool, but would I spend 350€ just for buttons? Nope.

- New surface
Better than the 4th and 5th versions, which were rather "eating" nibs but I've read that the surface of Intuos 3 was the best in therms of nibs life span.

- New sizes
The active surface of the new tablets is smaller in comparison of the Intuos 3. About 1cm for the medium size. I found that annoying.

I appreciate the post, however in my situation I'll still be going for an Intous Pro as my Intuos 3 is starting to creak. Literally. The rubber grip on the pen has also been ripped half off and the two buttons are missing. In regards to the touch gestures I believe you can turn them off, so if I have any issues I'll probably just do that. Things like touch gestures are just an added extra, really. I just want a new tablet and I'd rather get the 3's predecessor than another 3.

[Dain]

No worries,
I would love to hear your own opinion about this new tablet, once purchased and well tested. You may actually change my own opinion

[Sarithus]

I know you mentioned the size...but I didn't realise they did this. Why on earth did they need to shrink like this? It seems the active area is only within the white brackets. Why not the full area? It's like an Intuos 3 small.

[Jaxilon]

I have a 4 touch but to be honest I barely use the touch feature. I hate it when I get my image rotated and have to break my flow trying to remember how to reset it. Mine is the large tablet because I wasnt sure which size I needed and if I'm honest its a bit more area than I really use. I would be happy with half the size I think.

I also have a Cintiq companion. I love it but for a couple things. The icons in PS are really small and can sometimes be hard to click on and if you want to hot key it you have to bring along a keyboard. The rocker switch is fantastic however I really like the spindisk I have on my intuos 4 for zooming in and out. I set my rocker for undo, redo, zoom in, zoom out and that takes care of most of my needs. Still I can take my cintiq with me or go sit outside to draw or flop on the bed and paint and that's pretty great IMO.

Of course the Cintiq companion is a lot more pricey than one of the intuos. I think that will depend on portability needs. I have not used one of the desktop cintiqs.

[Sarithus]

Intuos Pro Medium has arrived. Smaller than expected, but it it's fine as I wanted a smaller tablet anyway. Really happy with the overall feel of the tablet and the pen itself, very smooth and black, thin and light. Much more comfortable compared to the sharp grey ugly square that the Intuos 3 is. It feels a lot more like drawing on paper thanks to the matte sort of surface. The only issue I can see at the moment is that yes, the pen nibs being worn out is somewhat of an issue. Only been using it for about an hour and already there is a noticeable slant in the nib.

[Midgardsormr]

Maybe you should consider trying to find an Intuos 2. I've had one for about 8 years, and I have never changed the nib. I think the nibs were harder, and the surface isn't textured, so it doesn't wear down as quickly. It could also be that I have a light touch, I suppose. Then again, I also don't actually paint with it all that often. I have been using it as my primary input device at work for the past four years, but I mostly deal with vectors.

edit: Oh, and I was wondering about that active surface issue: I know it's possible to reduce it, but is it also possible to enlarge it to cover more of the tablet than is shown in the product photos?