I noticed an Aipek 12x9 inch drawing pad/tablet for $149.99 at CompUSA. Also a Graphire 2 4x5 pad for $99.99. Are these reasonable pads to purchase and are the prices good? Any sage advice would be welcome!! I bought a Hyperpen 6000u 4.5x6 inch pad some time ago and it was only problems. My computer froze, etc. I never did get it to work. Also because I have never gotten one of these tablets to work, I don't understand what difference size makes. The small pad looks handy, but there must be some reason that people buy big pads. Why? Tracing? Does the "picture stay stable" on the pad itself? so that the size of the pad matters in the sense that it represents the actual art production? Or is it like a mouse pad where the cursor on the screen just takes off from wherever you make contact between the mouse and the pad? If it is like a mousepad then the small tablet would do me okay, I THINK. But if the size of the tablet is what you get on the screen, then I am not sure how I would proceed drawing. So I am willing to try again to use a tablet. But I want to avoid the problems of the past. Any suggestions from 2D artists and retouchers out there?

I recently bought a Wacom Graphire2 (5x4) and I love it. I never used a tablet before, so this is the only experience I can talk about. It comes with a pen and a mouse, and both don't use cables nor batteries (unlike Hyperpen, which for what I know uses impossible to find batteries and has a cable attached at the end of the pen). The wacom has two different modes you can configure for each tool (pen and mouse): mouse mode and pen mode. The pen mode is absolute (meaning that a point in the tablet corresponds to a point in your screen) and the mouse mode is like when you use your mouse; if you lift it and place it somewhere else it will go from the point you left it. You can configure each tool anyway you want, and can have different configurations for different applications. I really love it. Installation was a breeze, not a single problem. Hope this helps.

Buy the Wacom. I've got a 4 X 5 that I've had for 8 or 9 years now, and I've never had a problem with it. They're quick to come out with drivers for every new operating system. I've never regretted getting the 4 X 5 size, and never felt that anything larger was necessary. If you're doing a lot of digital painting a biger pad may be nice, but the additional cost and desk area aren't worth it to me.

I got both of my Wacom Graphire 4 x 5 (or 5 x 4) in Jan '97 and never had a single problem. One is a serial and other is a usb. I've run just about every OS with them on my PCs. Only problem with them is that I hate to use a mouse now. The stylus spoiled me.

the size is only a matter of your preference. Do you like drawing on humongous skdtchpads, or do you prefer to work smaller? The only real difference when it comes to the Wacom brand is that the Intuous 2 9x12 and above come with a "4D" mouse, of which serves no purpoise to me cuz i dont work in 3D and I dont like using the wacom mice (just because you can only use the pen or the mouse one at a time. If i use my normal optical mouse, I can work with both very quickly and interchangably). I dunno much about Aiptek, but my graphire 2 kicks booty. Wacom customer service is fantastic too, I had to get the wire on my graphire replaced, and they did it free, and paid the shipping back here. Got my tablet back in less than 2 weeks after sending it off.

Another vote for the Graphire2, and customer service. They upgraded the demo software that came with it so I could try out Painter on OS X, they just asked that I send my original CD's back to them, they even returned them express mail. I'd like to try a larger tablet, but fear that a larger work surface wouldn't benefit me for the price, because I'd definately go Wacom agin.

I own a Wacom 4x5 for 2 yrs now and it has been excellent. I use it along with my optical mouse and use the tablet as the mouse pad and it is very scratch resistant. The mouse that it comes with does not do it for me although wireless it needs to sit right on the pad in order to work and thus needs to exchange when using the stylus (PEN)so I put it away in a drawer and use my optical... I like using my optical mouse's wheel to scroll on screen when working with the pen. just sit your mouse next to the pad on your desk and use the scroll wheel when you need it. The size of the pad hardy has anything todo with your image on screen, except if you have to retouch huge concept drawings such as for movies. or like to use long hand stroks. I usually just look at the screen while I am drawing with it as if am looking at a canvas. the erase tip is awesom also. the bigger modles have some shourt-cuts built into the pad where you can re-program them such as save image or open new document with out having to stop what your doing and click on file and the open etc etc etc.... also has a tracing cover that you lift to add a picture for tracing. The only really issue you should be looking for is the amount of pressure the more pressure you can apply the better. It feels very realistic especially in painter 1-7. paint actually runs more when you squeeze it more on the pad. I bought mines for $50 new on ebay.com the graphir series are more expensive since you can buy extra pens with finer tips and fucntions. but why when you can change the pen size in photoshop or any other program. I guess that model is for those who want to spend more and are lazy. :O)

This is all EXTREMELY informative. I am inspired to give it another try without dreading that I am just asking for trouble. Thank you all very much. I think this discussion may help others, because I could not find much information elsewhere, including the computer stores, books, or the internet.

your welcome from me and I know from the others as well.