That is, until I saw the Intuos4 at the store. I sat there staring at it, pondering whether it would really be worth the $350 price tag. A sales lady approached me and we had a nice long chat about the features and previous issues I’ve had with tablets. I was sold. I then turned to the lady and said “Hey, that man over there in cameras is my husband. He’s looking for a new SLR. Do what you do best and get him excited about his camera purchase, then he’ll happily agree to buying me this cool new tablet.” Yes, wives are evil sometimes. Hey, it worked and us girls have got to work together. He did get a chuckle out of the scheming.

So I get the tablet home and giddily rip it out of the box. First, I have to comment on the size. I purchased the medium one and the drawing space is perfect! I was afraid that it would be too small to get a good feel for it or to feel natural, but its definitely adequate. By the way, the Wacom Intuos4 comes in several sizes ranging from small to extra large, so there is a size (and price) for everyone. Next I notice the pen holder, when you open it up it has 11 extra tips for the pen. I haven’t had a chance to play with those but I presume they give a different feel when drawing. The tablet itself has programmable hot keys that you can set in accordance with your drawing program. I use Photoshop and Pixelmator and found that these come in handy. Not only are there buttons but also a LED display right next to them to tell you what they do! You can also set your hot key buttons based on program, so if you use specific shortcuts in one program and not another it will recognize that.

Actual use of the tablet is awesome! It feels like you are writing on paper, just the right amount of feedback and grip along with a smooth (static-free) surface. The sensitivity is nice as well and allows you to press harder for a thicker line as if you were really painting or drawing. I have to say, that after only 2 months of use I really am enjoying this tablet and it has made my drawing time significantly shorter.

All in all, this is a quality tablet and if, like me, you were afraid to try them again (or for the first time) I think this would be a good no-regrets digital tablet.