Tablet recommendations?

[simpfan1]

I was thinking of purchasing a tablet over the summer and was wondering if any of you could give me recommendations?
Now I dont have much money to spare, but I can save up, the tablet isnt an urgent purchase.
And it has to be mac compatible, as that is what Im using

Suggest away!

[mearrin69]

Well, I'd have to recommend Wacom Intuos4. Got one a while back and it's pretty awesome. Get extra nibs, though, because they wear pretty quickly.
M

[tilt]

I just bought a Wacom Bamboo at about (600 DKK aprox $100) - works fine for me, although I'm just getting used to it... I didn't wanna spring for the intous since I've never used a tablet before

[simpfan1]

I have a cheap $100something tablet, but its a little funky
the battery dies so I have to always keep it charged, and I think people have stepped on it because its cracked and the flow is a little jittery @-@

[tilt]

the wacom is charged by USB and the pen doesn't use batteries

[simpfan1]

oh no mine was a wireless wacom, the tablet has a battery not the pen

I didnt even know they made pens with batteries

[tilt]

I'm not sure they do - I just know that mine haven't one and I was surprised that it was so being new to the tablet world

[waldronate]

None of the Wacom pens have batteries. Some brands of tablet have had batteries in their pens, however.

I've had a fair few Wacom tablets over the years and they've all worked well. Admittedly, I've never been able to use them for much because I lack anything resembling artistic ability. Mostly they sit on the shelf for a few years and I end up giving them away to someone who will get better use out of them. My Intuos3 sits on the shelf behind me, lonely and dusty.

You might be able to get a used tablet cheap if you look around. I'm pretty sure that all of the USB Wacom models have Mac drivers.

[Midgardsormr]

Wacom is the only brand to look at. There are other cheaper brands out there, and I am sure there are happy users of some of them, but all I have heard about them are complaints.

The best value on the market right now, in my opinion, is the Wacom Bamboo Fun. It's affordable and has all of the features a casual user is likely to need. Although the Intuos line is certainly superior, only a very skilled user is likely to notice the difference in pressure sensitivity. All Wacom USB tablets have drivers for Mac and Windows going back to Win98, but you may need to visit the Wacom website to download the ones you need, since apparently they've stopped shipping drivers for older operating systems in the box. There are even Linux drivers, although I understand that it's a bit of a chore to get them to work. But Linux users are quite used to that.

[Gidde]

The Bamboo has a couple different packages you can find; it's probably worth it to spend the extra $10 and get the one that comes with Photoshop Elements. Elements makes you eligible for the upgrade version of PS, which saves several hundred off the ticket price of PS if you ever intend to buy it.