A6:
I've been using an A6 size wacom for about 5 or 6 months and to be honest I feel _less_ than creative on the tiny thing. It's great for browsing the net but has far too many warped areas, the sheilding is terrible and drawing straight lines in photoshop often come out a bit wobbly.

A5:
In my old Job I used an A5 for about 2 years. I must admit that I did far more creative work and sometimes felt compelled to use it becuase it was "there". The tilt and sensitivity were fantastic, however I did notice that occasionally drawing lines in photoshop would sometimes come out all wiggly. I'm not sure if this is just my hand or the rez on the tablet.

A4:
At my old company we also had an ancient serial Ituos1 A4. This thing just seemed super silly massive, was a total workout to move the cursor from one side of the screen to the other. We hardly ever used it, the thing ended up on our game designers desk, to which he used it for sketching at lunchtime and took to his laser mouse for all other tasks.
I noticed the rez on this thing was incredible.

So, now that I'm ready to buy a new Wacom (obviously, the intuos3) and with my laptop screen being just a tad bigger than A4, and wanting to do more creative stuff - or at least be be inspired to, I can't choose which size to buy! There are obvious speed gains to an A5 but the A4 would compliment my laptop.

(there's a bluetooth version of the A5, too)

quite simply: bigger is better. besides you can separate the drawing area into several smaller ones, giving you e.g. another quickpoint area or whatever it's called.

personally i'm not too fond of the intuos3. the buttons feel somewhat cheaply made and often get in the way/rub on my palms. also the pen feels funny, long, thin and too lightweight for me, but at least you can use tifferent type of pen nips on this one.

btw. at your old company you most likely had an intuos a4 oversize (GD12x12). that's 2 -3 times thicker than the normal intuos (GD09x12). the oversize models are no longer available for the intuos3.

Im loving my intuos2 a4, after moving from a graphire a year ago. feels just the right size to me, although it took a bit of getting used to. If you need quick navigation theres always quickpoint mode which I use pretty often.

Yep, I'm agreed with Rooster here. Got an Intuos2 A4 nearly a year ago, and I love it.

whats this quickpoint wizardry I hear you drudes speak of?

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whats this quickpoint wizardry I hear you drudes speak of?

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You can divde the tablet into 2 areas. One large area for drawing then a smaller area to navigate your computer. Since the small area is mapped to the whole screen, you only need a wrist movement to move the cursor instead of a full arm motion.

Is the wacom graphire 6x8 any good?
getting it today after taking back the bluetooth6x8(didn't work,far as i got was connecting the pen).
But most of all does it have quickpoint wizardry?

graphire drivers are dismal, I use one and there's certainly no quick point magic.

hang on, the bluetooth graphire is the same price as an intuos3... are you mad?

Not in canada... 150+ dolars more.
Worth it or not?
This is my first tablet after all,so I want it to last pretty long.

I think it depends mostly on the size you're used to with regular drawing. I usually make small drawings, so i'm loving my A6 Graphire [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Intuos seems nice, but it's a bit too expensive for what i use it for, imo. I tried A4 at school, but that thing is so huge that it feels more like you're boxing than drawing [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]
So i'd say A5, since you dont like the A6.

OH NOES!
guess what im surfing polycount with....
Graphire 6x8 og yeah just got it,also I seem to have more control on the internet with the pen and less control with pen in photoshop.
By the way this tablet is awsome... but how do you tell what A# it is?

I started with a A6 graphire. The size was never a problem for me because my drawing style uses short strokes. I did have problems with getting perfectly straight lines in photoshop. Or when drawing curves, they would come out as some 10 sided shape instead of a smooth curve. This had more to do with the tablets resolution than the size. I was using a graphire2 which has a resolution of 1000 lines per inch. When I got my current intuos3 A5, there was a HUGE difference in the line quality. The intuos makes much smoother lines. I've never had it skip when drawing complex curves. There is a big difference is resolution between the graphire2 and and intuos3 (1000lpi vs 5000lpi) So I'm sure thats what affects the line quality.

For tablet size, it really comes down to whether you draw from your wrist or your elbow. People that draw from the wrist like the smaller tablets, while people that draw from the elbow can't tolerate anything smaller than a A4

Hmm startet with an Graphire 2 and its was good then
later i tryed an Intuos 2 A5 and A4 for my taste and
my working space an Intous 2 A5 is perfect so i buyed
this one maybe you should visit an store and test it
out by your self like i said i personal prefere the A5
an A4 is just to big.

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Or when drawing curves, they would come out as some 10 sided shape instead of a smooth curve. This had more to do with the tablets resolution than the size.

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that sounds more like photoshop was the problem. prior to their "brush-engine"-rewrite-thingie at release 7, ps always did this if you were doing quick broad strokes. heck, i'm still using 5.5 and have to work around that problem (on intuos A4 and A4 oversize). other applications create totally smooth curves.
but yes, in general strokes come out more nicely with the intuos - oh and gap's - had those with an artpad years ago, totally forgot about them since switching to intuos.

btw. i my experience, the drawing surface of lower end wacom models seem quite vulnerable to scratches. my own old artpad looked like a meteor landing area after half a year, i heard the same stuff about graphires, but at least you can replace the drawing surface there. on intuos, even after several years i didn't manage to get a single scratch into the surface, also my pen nibs seem to last forever.

got the a4

lovelly beast, suggest you all buy one.

I really cannot put into words how fucking good this tablet is. I've gone ahead and customised the tablet for every program I use, hard to see how I ever got on without it! I've made the area for navigation really small for windows and the internet, and left it so only photoshop and other art programs use the "full whack" of the tablet... save me the work out!

anyway, photos:

the usual setup:


old and new:


some ugly bastard who I needed to test the tablet with. 120mins.

err, what's with the letter designations?

I'm running a 6x8 transparent-slate Intuos1 at home, and a 9x12 Intuos2 at work. I really like the free-hand feeling of the 9x12, but it costs a bit much to get one for home.

Grr! I have a perfect A5 wacom Intuos sittin ghere doing nothing - it seial so it won't plug into my Mac.

In fact, I have 2 working Intuos A5 tablets, but one is missing a pen. Both useless to me as I only turn on the PC to burn a DVD. I really do need to get a USB one.

I'm surprised that you went with the A4 considering you're a laptop user. Unless you're not the type to do digital paintings on the go? I've even been thinking about taking my intuos3 to a tailor and have a custom case made, cause I have to watch out for my image [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

Again, what are the letter designations? Sizes? Why not just say 9x12, etc?

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Again, what are the letter designations? Sizes? Why not just say 9x12, etc?

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They go by the international paper sizes.

inches
A4: ~8.5" x 11"
A5: ~6" x 8"
A6: ~4" x 5"

millimeters
A4: 210 x 297mm
A5: 148 x 210mm
A6: 105 x 148mm

Wacom won't use inch measurements because they arn't exact. The A* paper sizes are in millimeters, so if they advertised inch measurements they would just be approximations.

Even A4 is inaccurate. The active area on an A4 model is actually 305 x 231 mm, which works because that's a 4:3 aspect ratio and it matches up nicely with computer screens. Regular A4 is more like a 10:7.

Anyway I call them A4/A3 because that's what it says on the box.

AHH, thanks. I've never seen anyone call them by the paper size before. Interesting.

Does anyone fancy swapping a USB graphire that will run on my Mac for a serial A5 Intuos?

shame that you do not have a serial intuos A4 (GD0912). might have bought that one since i'm still looking for one in good condition.