<p>My son has expressed an interest in getting a drawing pad tablet for his laptop. This is out of my range of knowledge.
He has a mac.
Any CCer’s with knowledge in this area?</p>
<p>Intuos by Wacom is the way to go:</p>
<p>[Wacom</a> Intuos4 - Product Overview](<a href=“http://www.wacom.com/intuos/]Wacom”>http://www.wacom.com/intuos/)</p>
<p>Don’t get any Bamboos - they are baby toys, according to my D.</p>
<p>Yes, a Wacom tablet is definitely the way to go.
D uses it with Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, etc etc. Sometimes just uses it in place of a mouse.
You can get a student discount through some web sites. Can’t recall the names, but a search will bring them up.</p>
<p>Search for “Wacom” on Costco dot com. It is the best discount I’ve ever found.</p>
<p>^^They currently sell the slmall Intuos3 for $99 - that may be a good way to start if your son has never had any experience with tablets. However, if you can affors a medium or a large one, it will be better. Here is the reason DD does not recommend Bamboos: Intuos tablets are pressure sensitive (natural drawing), most Bamboos are not, and Intuos integrates with Photoshop very well. All of Wacom’s pads are Mac compatible; in fact, we bought our first tablet at a Mac store (we never owned a Mac).</p>
<p>I knew I would get some good advice here. He mentioned Wacom but said they were expensive. I would have considered the Bamboo line.
Bonnie the programs your D uses are some of the programs my son has mentioned he is using. I know he uses Photoshop and Illustrator.</p>
<p>Bunsenburner- went to the Costco website. I think the Intuos3 small is too small but the price is right at $99. Of course the extra large is 700+. They have the Bamboo Fun for 179 with a larger screen.
He is a getting a BFA in Graphic Design. His passion is freehand drawing.</p>
<p>The Intuos3 Medium was on sale at Amazon last week for $199. Perfect size and a great price. Got one for DS.</p>
<p>mom60, if your son is a future graphics designer, I recommend getting him the newest Intuos4 - he will get a lot of mileage out of it (its software and features are updated to work with the newest versions of Adobe). In addition to Costco, I’ve seen Wacom products at Fry’s Electronics. Currently, the medium sized Intuos4 is listed for $350 on their website.</p>
<p>I used to use Painter-my Calcomp tablet does not have an updated driver- asfar as I know( I think it was for system9)
the sensitivity is in the input and the software.
The Bamboos pen input remains an unbeatable option for graphical work such as drawing, painting, and photo retouching. The included pens now boast 1,024 levels of pressure sensitivity. Thats double the sensitivity of earlier models, and valuable for creating subtle effects in the bundled apps and other software that supports pressure sensitivity.
[Bamboo</a> Fun and Bamboo Pen & Touch Review | Input Devices | Macworld](<a href=“Bamboo Fun and Bamboo Pen & Touch | Macworld”>Bamboo Fun and Bamboo Pen & Touch | Macworld)
I have been thinking about updating
[Painter</a> 11 ? digital painting software and photo painting software](<a href=“Corel”>Digital Art & Painting Software - Corel Painter 2023)</p>
<p>I supervise a graphic design group. All use Wacom tablets, as do the industrial Designers on staff.</p>
<p>Are they any good for taking notes at lecture? I’m wondering if they’re a cheaper alternative to a tablet PC.</p>
<p>(I have to do lots of mechanism drawing for chemistry…)</p>
<p>They are not stand-alone computers, Wu Tang. They are input devices, so they need to be attached to your computer much as a mouse or a freestanding keyboard would.</p>
<p>Wu Tang, check out LifeScribe.</p>
<p>Both my college kids <em>love</em> their Wacoms.</p>
<p>Speaking of LifeScribes, and OT, anyone’s college kids using those?</p>
<p>mafool, I have not used it, but the reviews on Costco dot com are positive (if you don’t count a few people who had some battery problems):</p>
<p>[Costco</a> - LiveScribe Pulse 2GB Digital Smartpen](<a href=“http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11324910&search=lifescribe&topnav=&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=lifescribe&Ntt=lifescribe&No=0&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial]Costco”>http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?Prodid=11324910&search=lifescribe&topnav=&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&N=5000043&whse=BC&Dx=mode%20matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=4000000&D=lifescribe&Ntt=lifescribe&No=0&Nty=1&Ntx=mode%20matchallpartial)</p>
<p>It looks like it costs more than a Manhattan tablet though!</p>
<p>In my experience with tablets, WuTangForeva, they’re really not great for handwritten stuff. They’re a lot more precise than a computer mouse, and with practice they can be useful for drawing, but I don’t know that it would pick up notes legibly. This is because there is a disconnect between what you’re drawing on and where it is showing up, as you’re moving the pen on the tablet but it’s appearing on the computer screen. I’d say you could draw chemical structures on paper much faster and neater than on a tablet. </p>
<p>That’s just my opinion though. Somebody else might tell you something different.</p>
<p>Yeah but I’m really disorganised and taking notes electronically would be so much better. I could basically append comments on diagrams on PPT slides!</p>
<p>esp. neuroanatomy diagrams in biological clocks class. omg all those connections. all those transcript activity graphs. If I could write comments on diagrams it would be so cool!</p>
<p>hyperJulie is correct; tablets are made for graphics design applications and not for sketching structures of organic compounds or graphs. Trust me, that was the first thing my H and I tried with our D’s Wacom Intuos tablet. 
Nope, it is not that easy. If you want electronic notes, better start saving money for a LifeScribe. However, many generations of college students survived with pen and paper notes just fine.</p>