Essentials Cafe

I am thinking of buying a wacom tablet, besides the fun tablets there is a bamboo pen tablet which is a little less expensive. Does anyone have experience with it.

Hello Paul, and welcome. I have been using the "Bamboo Fun" tablet for the last little while. I like the tablet, in particular the feel of the pen on the tablet, which is slightly rough like working on paper. The "Bamboo" and "Bamboo Fun" both have the same feel. Aside from the appearance, the main differences are that the "Bamboo Fun" tablet comes with a both a mouse and pen while "Bamboo" comes with pen only. The other difference is that the "Bamboo Fun" is available in two sizes, while the "Bamboo" is available only in the smaller size.

Hi Brian, thank you for you input, I'm concern also with compatibility. I'm running windows XP, have you seen any type of problems or errors when installed to this operating system. You see I had a issue when I installed Painter Essentials 4, but was able to work though it. I guess it was because it was the upgrade version, not the full program. That's why I also ask about the different tablets. If you know of any concerns that I should be aware of please let me know. Thank again.

Paul 

Hi Paul, I'm not aware of any compatibility problems with either Painter Essentials or Wacom tablets with Windows XP. Here at Corel we use a wide variety of Wacom tablets with Painter Essentials and Windows XP.

Paul

I am running a Bamboo Fun (small) on XP. I have had no compatibility problems at all. It is a fun tablet to use and adds a great deal of control when using Painter. I have never used the included mouse because I just use my regular mouse.

The only drawback to the Bamboo for me, is the lack of tilt and direction tracking. It would be nice to be able to follow a curve and have the pen stroke turn as my hand turns. 

Since I have now switched to a widescreen monitor, I think my next tablet will be an Intuos3 6x11. I also have an Aiptek large format but I find the sensitvity far too low.

I hope this helps.

Neil