A fantastic graphics tablet at a bargain price! (Wacom Bamboo One)

Member Name: lula71

Product:	Wacom Bamboo One
Date:	09/04/09 (283 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Accurate, pressure sensitive, portable, just perfect!

Disadvantages: I haven't found any.

I bought the Wacom Bamboo One purely because I wanted a graphics tablet for use with photoshop, and being a typical student I wanted the cheapest one I could get, so to be honest I wasn't expecting it to be as amzing as it is! At £23.90 from Pixmania this graphics tablet is a little gem at a bargain price!

The active area of the tablet seems small, at 128 x 93mm but for me this is a perfect size, you really dont need it much larger as it corresponds with the screen and you can zoom in etc on the programme in order to draw extra detail. Also, it means its nice and small and light so is easily portable - i just carry it in my laptop case with my laptop. The tablet is also easy to connect and install - it connects with a usb cable and installation software is included on a cd.

The stylus pen is accurate and ergonomic, it feels just like a real pen, and doesn't require batteries which is a definite plus. It has 2 customisable buttons on the side of the pen but to be honest I haven't ever used them. It also works well with pressure sensitive brush tools in programmes such as Photoshop.

The bamboo tablet comes with necessary software to install the tablet and also includes a great programme called 'ArtRange 2' which is a painting programme far superior to paint. However, I rarely use this programme as I tend to do all my work in photoshop.

Once connected the pen works just like a mouse, but the mouse also works as well so you can swap and change as suits you. Personally I find the pen far easier and quicker to use than a mouse, and it is especially good for laptops as it means u can sit further away from the laptop and still control what's happening on the screen by simply having the graphics tablet on your lap.

*** So what's the verdict?***
Well at first a graphics tablet takes some getting used to, as unlike a mouse the four corners of the tablet correspond with the four corners of the screen, so if u want to draw at the bottom right of the screen you must draw in the bottom right hand corner of the tablet. Once you get used to this though, which doesn't take long, there's no going back to a mouse. The Wacom Bamboo One is a PERFECT first graphics tablet, and to be honest you can produce really professional looking pieces using this product. Personally I would rather buy this cheap graphics tablet and an expensive programme such as photoshop, rather than fork out hundreds on an expensive tablet which I can't imagine has all that much more to offer. This is a great buy!

Summary: a great buy, a must for every user of painting or photo editing programmes!

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