Wacom Tablet: Buy Graphite or Intuos?

Wacom Tablet: Buy Graphite or Intuos?

by Altercator - 06/13/2005 - 16:22

Which should I get?

On the one hand, the Intuos promises better pressure sensitivity, and better performance but at a higher price

On the other hand, the Graphire seems reasonable with a almost half a price of the Intuos.

Lots of retailer out there swear there aren't any difference in performance between the Graphire & Intuos. Should I take their word for that?

Meanwhile, I'm sure there are artists out there who made a better job using a Graphire and a Painter software or any of it's equivalents.

So what will it be?

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by Tim Demeter - 06/13/2005 - 16:44

I've been using the same Graphire Tablet for like 5 years now and I love it. Granted I don't do anything too painterly, so I don't need too many bells and whistles, but for the money, it's a great toy.

I actually got a one of Wacom's Cintiq monitors on demo for a few weeks once. If you want soil your drawers over a widget, this is the one. It's a monitor you can draw right on using a light pen. The accuracy isn't quite there yet and the prices are still pretty high, but they're real close tot he digital drafting table I dream about and they are SILLY cool to play with.

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by Uncle Ghastly - 06/13/2005 - 17:42

I've been using a graphire for about three and a half years now without any complaints. Mine's a serial graphire too.

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by Townie - 06/13/2005 - 18:19

I got an Intuos 3 after having a Graphire 2 for about a year and a half. It's a lot more direct than the Graphire, meaning I spend less time re-drawing things and getting them on the first stroke. The 2 extra buttons on the mouse took awhile to get used to but they help with browsing pretty nicely. I'd recommend it if you want to cut down on strain and move up to a bigger size. (I wouldn't bother with a 4x5 Intuos. I'm on a 6x9 and it's very nice.) Plus Graphires come bundled with Painter Classic, which sucks even compared to the version bundled with the Intuos. (I prefer 8 and I'd like to try 9. But I'm a Photoshop guy mostly)

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by KrazyKrow - 06/13/2005 - 18:27

I haven't done real shading in a long time, but I have a Graphire. If I were buying today, I'd get the Intuous.

I don't need the fancy features of the Intuous for the anime-style cell shading I do, but I much prefer the texture of the tablet. It feels more like paper versus the slick plastic of a Graphire.

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by UrsulaV - 06/14/2005 - 01:06

If this your first tablet, definitely get a Graphire. I illustrate for a living, I use the tablet for a good chunk of the day, every day, and after years and thousands of hours with the Graphire, I could still barely tell the difference in sensitivity when I upgraded to the Intuos. So I wouldn't spend the extra money, unless you're getting a tax write off or something.

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by Anonymous - 06/14/2005 - 05:16

Me, I'm gonna get that Cintiq thing if I ever have the spare cash.

-Will G @ work

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by Gendo - 06/14/2005 - 09:02

Ive been using a no name brand tablet that cost me 60 bucks for ages now, and Im looking forward to getting my new Intuos next month.....mmm mmm thats good tablet....

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by Anonymous - 06/14/2005 - 09:22

I'd for for the Graphire. I've owned 2 intuos tablets and 1 graphire one. I've had to buy so many of them since I switched platform at one point (PC to MAC) and when MAC switched to USB only, I had to buy another one (Graphire) when I bought a new Mac 3 years ago.

I haven't owned any recent Intuos, but the Graphire compares nicely to the old models. I also prefer the smaller size tablets (4x5). The 6x9 one is too clunky for me -- that was $500 down the drain :/

So, my vote is the graphire... plus, it's so cheap, if you really don't like it, it won't be a big loss. I'm sure someone would buy it off you if you really wanted an Intuos afterwards.

Gisele
http://www.pennyandaggie.com

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by Townie - 06/14/2005 - 10:30

$500? I'm sorry, man, but you got ripped. I got mine on eBay new for about $190.
Graphires are nice if you're just getting in to using a tablet, and I know folks who swear by them, but I personally got tired of the smaller drawing area and having to correct my lines. My 6x9 feels comfortable and it's just more direct to me. Now, ya wanna talk about a guy with a big tablet, take a look at the thing Gabe from Penny Arcade uses...

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by Jamie Robertson - 06/14/2005 - 12:02

I have an Intuos2 which I got off of Amazon for about $170.00 for a 4 x 5. That's not much off the regular price, but it's better than nothing. I had an Art Pad 2 which did fine, but the Intuos is much better. My Dad has a Graphire 2 which I bought him for Christmas at $75.00 from Amazon, also for a 4 x 5. I’ve used my Dad’s a couple of times and there is a slight edge to the Intuos.

The Intuos has some fancy buttons which I never use and the mouse that comes with either the Intuous or the Graphire is not much better than a track ball mouse.

If this is your first tablet, I would take Ursula's advice and go for the Graphire. Generally, it takes about two weeks to get the feel for a pen, but a friend of mine bought one and never uses it. He could never get the feel for it. His is a rare case, but still. Another thing to consider is what you will use it for. If you’re just going to do some flat color w/ a few gradients and maybe some shadow than there’s not much use in getting a tablet in the first place. Then again, if you want to do your whole comic in the computer a tablet is almost a necessity.

2 cents.

Jamie

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by Rick - 06/14/2005 - 12:06

I just recently bought a 9x12 Intuos... It's big. I think Gabe has a 12x24 one -- if you put legs on it, you could call it a desk.

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by Anonymous - 06/14/2005 - 19:11

$500 was back in 1996... and in Canadian dollars. This was also the 6x9... which I never liked. It's just too big on a desk... I can't explain it. I just use my tablet to fix my inking mistakes and for basic toning/coloring in Photoshop. I think the 6x9 would be great for painting... but for my style; it just didn't work. I LOVE my 4x5's (intuos and graphire).

Gisele
http://www.pennyandaggie.com

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by AaronTaylor - 06/16/2005 - 02:28

I use two different tablets. I have the Intuos 9x12 at home and the Intuos 6x9 at my day job. I bought the 9x12 because I generally like to draw in large formats, but I've found, using the smaller tablet, that I could just as easily use it on a consistant basis.
The one problem I've come across (and it's a minor one) is that I use the 6x9 tablet on a 23 inch landscape monitor at work. I've used the larger tablet with this monitor and it seems to work better. There's so much ground to cover on such a small tablet that it can be a little bit of a chore to do something very concise and tight.
And I've never used a Graphire. I like the sensitivity that Intuos offers.

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by lcachola - 06/16/2005 - 09:06

[quote:867f0e8477="Townie"]$500? I'm sorry, man, but you got ripped. I got mine on eBay new for about $190.
Graphires are nice if you're just getting in to using a tablet, and I know folks who swear by them, but I personally got tired of the smaller drawing area and having to correct my lines. My 6x9 feels comfortable and it's just more direct to me. Now, ya wanna talk about a guy with a big tablet, take a look at the thing Gabe from Penny Arcade uses...

I think Gabe uses a Tablet PC, which has a Wacom digitizer built in. I've been looking into these myself and find it tough to justify $1,500+ for what is basically a digital sketchbook... on the other hand, that thing is just too cool!

Stupid gadget addiction... :)

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