Wacom Intuos4 review

[PixelPusher40]

I just had to give a heads up for any serous digital painters out there thinking of upgrading to an Intuos4.

Pros: looks cool, lefty setup, more elongated design friendly to dual-monitor setups. Typical Wacom Intuos reliability.

Cons: changed the 'Shift/Ctrl/Alt' buttons into a vertical format. If you're a "3d person", this set up is annoying. They changed zoom scroll to a 'dial' ???...whatever. But these are VERY small negatives that won't bother most users.

Here's the REAL problem I have with the new Intuos4; ...the drawing surface.. uhm, sucks. At first I LOVED it, it had more 'tooth' to the surface which made it feel like you're drawing on nice drawing paper. That's what sold me because I always hated the other tablet surfaces because they were too smooth. Very unnatural feeling. But, after about a couple months of continuous use... it's wearing off. I can't believe how they designed this, the center of my tablet is now smooth as silk while the surrounding areas are more rough. What's also annoying, is now my mouse doesn't work very well when it's in the center area of my tablet, it used to work perfectly.

It's cheap plastic that wears away with heavy use. Why not put down plexi, more durable polymer plastic or perhaps even a thin layer of textured glass?

Please note that I use this at work, so my tablet sees on average 5 hours of serious 'painting' 5 days a week. The average user will not have this problem. But, even so, at this price I would think they could build a better product. I miss the old Intuos' where you could at least change out the 'protective sheet' after heavy use.

Wacom Intuos4: "one HUGE step backwards"

Beware pro artists: if you plan on serious digital painting, be wary of the tablet surface wearing thin.

[dave 64]

i use cs2 and I'm thinking of adding a tablet. Does it work with cs2? I would call myself a moderate user for picture repair etc. not sure if the above post concerning a tablet fault would effect my use.Please help

[PixelPusher40]

No, the problems I addressed would have no bearing on your production. The Intuos line of tablets work great with Photoshop CS1, CS2, etc.

I would suggest the largest wacom you can afford but you also need the desk space for the 9x12's or higher.

[JLBerry]

I fully agree, the surface is way too smooth, almost like trying to control your pen on a piece of glass. Especially for people who like to draw and paint traditionally, a tablet will feel very unnatural because of this lack of friction and some, including me, never get used to it. Sure, you can tape paper on top of the surface, but that makes your tablet and workplace look like crap.

[fersick]

I have just got my intuos4. I can see the problem of the surface effecting me much as i do little in the way of painting. I do move vector art. I have been using the mouse lately for standard mouse functions and am finding that im getting alot of double clicks from the mouse button. Its rather annoying. I have updated the drivers to the latest which were released today 19th feb. 6.1.4-0 But still getting the same problem.


Windows XP 32bit

[Paulie1108]

I have a intuos4 wireless on the way, can't wait..

[myk2011]

Interesting read, thanks for the info

[Bennie]

I have the Intuous 4 and I couldn't live without it. I do a lot of digital light painting, and it's a godsend. I also like all the presets I can set. I rarely have to touch my keyboard anymore, and it has increased my time by 50 percent, easy.