Wacom Intuos - Graphics Tablet

Product: Intuos 6x8 pressure sensitive tablet (serial version tested)
From: Wacom (www.wacom.com)
For: Windows 95OSR2 (USB supplement required for USB version of the tablet), Win98, NT (serial tablet only) and Windows 2000; USB- or serial-capable Mac.
Price: US$199
Tested Drivers: as supplied on CD ROM and website. (Wacom has released an OS 9/iBook fix for Intuos tablets at ftp.wacom.com/pub/drivers/mac/Intuos/451/Intuos-Mac-451B2-En.sea.hqx)
Pros: USB and serial versions available. Includes cordless pressure-sensitive pen. Optional cordless "4D" mouse, airbrush, extra stylii. Includes Painter Classic. Serial tablet can be used on iMacs and other USB-equipped Macs with the aid of a USB-to-serial adapter from Keyspan, etc.
Cons: MS Office integration features not available on Macintosh. USB driver does not support Windows NT. Serial tablet may be tricky to install on some PCs.

Testing the serial version of the Intuos tablet reminded us of why we like USB so much -- the serial tablet wasn't recognized properly by two of our test systems without some fiddling with drivers and port settings (the manual recommended attaching serial tablets with the power off). We also experienced some usability glitches (spurious selection rectangles appeared occasionally while drawing, and so on) with the serial version that didn't occur with the USB tablet. Overall, though, the Intuos is a deluxe system, well suited for professional use.

The pens and other cordless input devices are all uniquely identified, allowing the use of multiple pens, each with its own characteristics. One could be an airbrush, while another could be a 2B pencil, and so on. (A special "Airbrush" model is available separately, as is a puck cursor with a crosshair-equipped lens ideal for precise coordinate clicking and optional "stroking" pen models.) Pens can be uniquely set to hard or soft tip responses, and the company supplies colour-coded stickers to wrap around the barrel of the pens to help you keep track of which is which. There's also a so-called "4D Mouse", that not only tracks X and Y coordinates, but can, like the pens, even detect pitch and yaw data, allowing specialized programs (such as Play's Amorphium) to work more effectively in 3-D than would ever be possible with a "plain old mouse."

There are other differences, too. The Graphire only senses 512 levels of pressure sensitivity; the Intuos detects a full 1024, making pressure-sensitive work more precise and responsive. As the specs on Wacom's website attest, the Intuos is slightly more accurate, tracking at an accuracy of +- .01" compared to the Graphire's .02. This is a side-effect of the Intuos tablet's 2540 lines per inch resolution. The Graphire resolves 1015 lines per inch. The Intuos pressure-sensitive pen, like the one for the Graphire, includes a unique "eraser" on top that works just like a pencil eraser. (Well, actually, it's a lot more customizable in its response than a pencil eraser, but you get the idea.)  It's also worth mentioning that the Intuos pens cannot be used on the Graphire, or vice versa.

The Intuos tablet includes a panel of touch-sensitive buttons along the top, which you can isolate from the working surface via an included adhesive rubber strip, if you wish. These buttons are preprogrammed to perform common functions such as File open, save, print, cut, copy, paste and so on. It looks to us as though the shipping version of the driver that controls these functions is a little buggy, though. On our test unit, the on-screen indicators showing which item had been selected tended to get stuck on the screen from time to time. This problem did not seem to affect the beta driver on the Wacom website, which also addresses a number of other issues.

Recommended for graphics pros. Also consider: the company's other sizes of Intuos tablets.

For Further Reading

• PC Buyer's Guide: Wacom Graphire review