I've been wanting to get a USB tablet. Haven't had one since my old ADB wacom! Got some personal projects coming up, and a tablet would be handy.

I noticed this Genius model, which Newegg currently has on sale almost half price at $69.

linky to product website

I've read a review or two and they were mostly positive. I really don't feel like spending an outrageous amount of money on a Wacom. This one is bigger and has more resolution that the old one I had anyway, and that one was just fine.

Are you doing work where you need a great deal of pressure sensitivity? That might be an issue with a less expensive/lower end tablet.

It has 1024 levels of pressure, which is twice as much as the Wacom bamboo tablets that are similarly priced, plus it's twice as big. That's what my old tablet had, I never really had any issues with sensitivity so this would be like an upgrade.

The Intuos tablets have 2048 levels, but they also cost 4x as much.

My only real concern is durability. My daughter will probably love using it, so it's likely to get a lot of use.

Another thing you have to be concerned about is bug-free compatibility with the 800-lb gorilla apps (read: PS, AI, Painter) that you'd most likely use your tablet with. Brands other than Wacom often get mentioned as not being as feature-friendly as they should be.

Start out with the smallest Wacom Graphire if you can find one from a well-reviewed Amazon reseller; they work well, it'll be under $85 and will help you decide whether you want something bigger or with more features later. If you can't get a Graphire, get one of their Bamboo tablets.

Start small. If you want a bigger, better one later, get it, and give the smaller one to your daughter for her full-time use.

From what I've read it works fine. As I said, most of the reviews of it are fairly positive, then you get the one or two completely trashing it. But then that's how online reviews go, you have to take glowing ones and trashing ones with a grain of salt.

Yeah, Wacom tablets are good but frankly I think they're overpriced. Esp. considering they're probably manufactured by the same factory that produces this one. In doing a bit more research these Genius tablets have won a bunch of gold awards, so I don't think they're garbage.

Wacoms are a rip-off, no question. It's a thin wedge of plastic with some circuitry inside. Might as well have a license to print money. If however drivers for the competition are sadly lacking, I'd rather pony up and get a Wacom.

I got a mid-sized Intuos for my birthday maybe five or six years ago. Hella expensive little prezzy. Still ticking, though. The things are dang near indestructible, provided you're careful. But the initial cost is bloody painful. On the other hand, I can't imagine retouching photos without one. It'd be a horrendous step backward. Still, it galls me that the price hasn't changed in all this time, whereas the improvements in that time have been incremental and quite modest.

Off to check out this cheapie you mentioned. Might be worth a look... we want another tablet for home use. I'd rather not line Wacom's silk pockets with yet more bags of dosh.

Bit of a red flag there with the Genius product... aside from the Engrish explanatory text, it looks geared to being a windoze product. I'd be wary of shelling out for the thing. Probably a cheap Wacom knock-off but, as Spark has aready said, I'd be wondering about how well the drivers work on the Mac side.

I mean, if it doesn't play nicely in Photoshop or Illustrator, I'd have to think it's a junk product. Be nice to know for sure, though.

I would think that if they were any good I would be able to dig up positive reviews in the web... but I could only find neutral to negative reviews.
Here's a couple...

http://macosx.com/forums/switchers-windows-mac-converts/297397-genius-tablet-drivers.html

http://www.macworld.co.uk/digitallifestyle/reviews/index.cfm?reviewid=2784&pagtype=allchandate


Also... Mods should have moved this to the "Peripherals" forum by now...!


Sorry Baxter... couldn't resist.

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I got my first Wacom (ADB) tablet at a MacWorld Expo in Boston quite a few years ago.
When I first used it I said to myself, "Are these people all nuts? This thing is useless."
Now I can't live without it.
I even use it as a joystick for a flight sim.

Then I had to give it up for a USB Wacom Intuos tablet.
Being retired, when this tablet goes, I'm not sure I can afford another Wacom tablet.
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Sometimes at work I'll go a whole month without needing it. Then I'll do two weeks of using it every day. They are indeed phenomenal tools and I love the idea of painting, dodging and burning digitally. Efficient and ultra-cool. But yeah, it's not a cheap tool. It ought to be. It's a wonder no one has gone up against Wacom and given them some serious competition. I can't understand why they have to be so expensive otherwise - so I'm guessing it's all down to it being a case of a paucity of real players in the niche, so the king of the hill gets to tally up big-@ssed profit margins.