Any graphics tablet users out there?

[David]

I keep toying with the idea of a small graphics tablet to let me doodle on a computer, or make notes on a photo (like a circle around an object of interest and a bit of a caption).

I have a very old, cheap tablet which I haven't used for (I think) decades. Thinking back, I probably got it as part of an add on offer with my Windows 2000 Gateway PC.

I remember using it once to design a logo for headed note paper and quite liked the result, but haven't touched it since. It has a serial interface and I assume that it is well out of date for any driver although tinkering under Linux might enable it to be recognised.

Anyway, cost/benefit analysis suggests that something more modern might be a sensible option.

I started researching and stumbled on this:

Apart from an interesting view on what constitutes a cheap price it was a bit of an eye opener.

Firstly I had no idea that modern graphics tablets had touch sensitive displays built in. Logical when you consider it, but I was still thinking of the traditional style which was basically a touch pad (as found on laptops) where you moved the stylus on the pad and watched to lines appear on your main monitor.

Secondly the site was listing standard tablets (Apple, Microsoft, Android) as serious options. I had previously thought that phones and tablets (and touch screens on laptops or desktops) didn't have the sensitivity to allow fine graphics work.

So I am now trying to understand my options.

(1) I have a couple of (fairly old) Android tablets so could I buy a stylus and turn these into graphics tablets?

(2) Should I go with a dumb no display tablet? The price of an entry level one is remarkably similar to a graphics pen for use with an Android tablet.

(3) Should I go with an entry level graphics tablet with built in display?

I'm looking for experience of any of these three options.

My budget might stretch to £100 is absolutely necessary but certainly not to some of the recommendations. I note that the Wacom Cintiq 22 is reported as at a "fantastic price" of only £1,299.

Cheers

Dave R

[newshound]

I bought one a little while ago thinking it might be handy for doing ad-lib sketches during presentations, as we used to do on overhead projectors (and, long long ago, on flip charts). But a bit of trial and error showed that my artistic and coordination skills are letting me down. I'm sure you get better with practice, but my results were sufficiently disappointing to discourage me from carrying on.

So my advice would be not to spend much. Mine has a 7 inch working diagonal, I suspect something larger might be better.

Of course if you are David Hockney the results will be fine.

[T i m]

I think graphics tablets are one of those things where you seem to need to spend 'enough' to get something that's 'nice / easy to use', (as I understand is the case with musical instruments etc).

Daughter has a Wacom Intuos3 'Wide' tablet and compared with the more basic (serial / mouse emulating) tablet she had before it's very smooth / accurate in use.

I think much of that is down to the features in the pen, as the tablet itself.

Cheers, T i m

[David]

Thanks.

I suspect the playing field may have changed, though, with mass produced touch screens for budget phones and tablets.

If you can buy a 10" Full HD Android tablet for not much over £100 then the underlying technology cost of a touch sensitive screen must be way lower than in 2005.

Which hopefully explains why I am now asking the question.

Cheers

Dave r

[nothanks]

It's hard to beat a white board or flip chart for ease of use and keeping the audience interested

[Theo]

Yes (styluses available from Poundland and upwards). However it'll be rubbish because the stylus has to look like a finger to the tablet so it's hard to use accurately - it's like writing with crayon.

To do it properly, you need a tablet which has pen support. There are a number of technologies - Wacom EMR is the classic one which has a passive pen as probably used in your old tablet PC, and newer versions in the Galaxy Note phones and Galaxy Tab tablets. Others: Ntrig (Microsoft Surface), Wacom AES (variety of laptops), USI (Chromebooks), Apple Pencil (some iPads) are active styluses that have a small battery inside.

If your budget is £100 I don't think you can get a stylus-enabled tablet computer for that. That'll barely cover an active stylus itself.

If you really want to go down this route look for an old Samsung Galaxy Tab with an S-Pen (not all do). They have been shipping them for long enough that the old ones might be within your budget by now. But of course they will be slower and running an old OS.

the Stylus column.

There are also apps you can run on a tablet to mirror pen actions to your computer, so you can get the best of both worlds.

Another option that might be within budget is a used Surface Pro 1 or Pro 2, which support a Wacom EMR stylus and will run Windows 10. The ones from my Galaxy Note 2 and Note 4 work fine on my Pro 2, and clones can be picked up for a few ebay pounds. You might also find some other old touch laptops:

(unfold the 'List of devices with Windows 8 and 8.1' which are the older ones - they can probably be upgraded to Windows 10)

Theo

[John Rumm]

There is touch sensitive and touch sensitive though. A typical screen digitiser can detect where its being touched but not necessarily much more. A wacom tablet it sensitive to where, and how hard, and at what pen angle (in two axis), plus the state of several pen buttons.

[Philip Herlihy]

A graphics tablet is a really lovely toy, and I'm amazed they aren't more popular. The only downside (particularly restrictive for me with my current setup) is the desktop (that's wood, not pixels) that they take up. Ideally, you'd have it permanently connected so you can just reach for it when needed.

I have a Wacom tablet I've had for years, and W10 just recognises it. You can use it to annotate documents, which can be useful in Zoom/Teams meetings, and anything where you're actually drawing becomes less pre-school instantly. But they come into their own with decent drawing or painting software, and you can lose yourself for hours in that. Top of the tree, in my view, is Corel Painter

- sophisticated and fairly expensive software that has myriad options and operations, all relying on something like a pen/brush (etc, etc, etc). There's a readily affordable version, Painter Essentials, which you won't grow out of for a while. All painting software has been 64-bit for years, by the way.

You'll want some level of pressure sensitivity in the pen - using an airbrush with a sensitive pen is a delight.

The separation of tablet and screen isn't a problem - you learn very rapidly the control and coordination, and it soon (first minutes) feels entirely natural.

You *don't* need a large one. In fact, a large one is probably much harder to use for a beginning artist. I have an A6 (that's the paper size) tablet, and it's easily big enough, and doesn't feel at all cramped - generous, even. Your movements on the tablet are simply scaled up to the drawing on the screen, and unless you need intricate precision in your drawing/painting you'll be very happy with something of that size. My tablet is a Wacom, and it's well-made and dependable. I do wish I had more spare time to fool around with it.

[Philip Herlihy]

Fun software to look at:

are very spammy, but do offer good Black Friday deals.)

from longstanding producer Serif, is astonishingly good for the price, and they also have a deep BF discount currently. The price here is for the full version. There are two other Affinity products, a Photoshop replacement and a Publisher/InDesign replacement - all are very good, regardless of price.

There are countless others out there... (too damn many!).

[Martin Brown]

Yes but you wouldn't get the pressure sensitivity without extra hardware smart pen and driver. You could try a soft 2B pencil as a conductive proto finger on the display.

I have one of the entry level Wacom ones. Predecessor of this one I think:

How well it works for you depends on how well you can draw. More often than not I sketch something on conventional paper by pencil and scan it. Using the tablet to touch up the sketch in PSPro.

Likely to be expensive and/or small.

Give the Android tablet a go to see if it will do what you want first.

For small jobs I tend to use the mouse rather than set up the graphics tablet - that requires clearing a flat space on my office desk. The scanner is permanently connected which makes it easier for me that way.

[T i m]

<snip>

Thanks for the links.

Daughter has, loves and used Serif products for *years* and their PagePlus (that now includes the functions of WebPlus, a package that allowed her to put up her own website with no prior experience in a day) is still regularly highly productive for her.

+100

I have her Wacom tablet here so might get that up to her soon with a copy of 'Designer' for her to play with. ;-)

Cheers, T i m

[David]

Thanks for all that people - very useful information.

Cheers

Dave R

[charles]

I used to buy Serif products until one day I had sales call which after quite some time offered me their latest product for a "bargain price". Trouble was that I'd had an email the day before offering it for less.

[Andrew]

Also, in the case my maths teacher (Nickname Biffo) in the 1960's, he kept the 'audience interested' by throwing the board duster at anyone who dozed off, fidgetted or didn't pay attention.

Biffo also played cricket, so he had a good aim.

[nothanks]

They must have taught that in teacher training college because mine did the same; one of the teachers occasionally also launched a small milk bottle at an unfortunate miscreant (but it may only have happened once, memory is fading). In retaliation some wags put match heads between the folds on the rubber or, when newfangled roller boards appeared, drew willies on the back. Eeeh, 'ow we larfed.

[Chris Ridd]

Mine used to throw sticks of chalk - not at the kids at the back, but at the back wall instead. Result - a shower of chalk bits covering the kids. He was not daft.

[Dave Liquorice]

Board rubber to the back wall with serious force and resultant loud BANG and plume of dust. Bits of chalk would be pinged off the back of the heads of those not looking the right way.

[T i m]

<snip>

Yup.

But they will be salespersons, phoning round existing customers and with the chance of overlapping other offers.

I would often listen to them go on ... £99 RRP, normally sell it for £79, to you today, £59.

T: No, I'm ok thanks.

Ok, I'll throw in some extra stuff.

T: No, still ok thanks, can't see when I'd ever use it.

Ok, as you have been a customer for a long time (I had, not bought much though ...) I can do it for £39.

T: Thanks but I really can't see when I'd use it.

Hang on, let me have a word with my supervisor .... ok, today only, best price, £29.

T: Hmmm, well it's getting closer to what I might be willing to spend on something I might never use ... is that including all the manuals etc?

Yes sir, complete package, inc the extras.

Ok, well I wouldn't use the manuals, don't really want the free thing and wouldn't really want to pay more than 20 quid for something like that.

Ok, let me check ... right, we can do you just the software for £20, plus £5 p&p ...

Ah, no, I thought that would be thrown in, it won't cost you £5 to post a CD? 20 pound all in and we have a deal ... ? Yes, may card number is ... ;-)

Cheers, T i m