Tablet PC vs LCD Tablet

[jister]

hey y'all,

a while back i was stupid enough to buy something from trust! namely a A4 tablet... i was going for size instead of quality, which i will never ever do again... anyway

as this asstablet can't keep up in Zbrush (once over a million poly's) I'm looking to invest in some quality.

i got 3 option:

1) buy a A5 bamboo orso (fast solution)= 199€
2) start saving for a wacom LCD tablet = 1.700€
3) start saving for a PC tablet = 1.200€

are Tablet PC up to the job? and of course an LCD tablet i can hook up to ever new pc i will buy in the future... just 1.700€ just seems so much for not buying a whole pc... for only a screen/tablet

ah well thanks for any suggestions and/or enlightenments

[Surfa]

Buy a wacom intuos4.

[jister]

Intuos4 Large = 382€ workspace = 325 x 203 mm.
Intuos4 Medium = 295€ workspace = 223 x 140 mm
Intuos4 Small = 184€ workspace = 158 x 98 mm

Bamboo Fun Medium Pen & Touch = 160€ workspace = 217 x 137 mm.
Bamboo Fun Small Pen & Touch = 82€ workspace = 147 x 92 mm

(all excluding taxes)

comparing the 2 mediums, the Intuos4 has a few cm more workspace and double the resolution: 5080 dpi (2000 lijnen/cm) instead of 2540 dpi (1000 lijnen/cm) for the Bamboo. also the samplerate is 200 point/sec to 133 points/sec.

are these things worth an extra 135€?

@ Surfa, why would you go with the Ituos4

[Surfa]

Personally I have no tablet (broke mine) but from the recommendations I have heard people normally recommend the intuos4 over the bamboo. Although if you decided you want the screen painting features the cintiq is the obviously choice, I have had the chance to try tablet pcs admittedly it was a while ago but they were too slow to use with zbrush/photoshop.

[korge]

I bought two bamboos originally fixated on getting an intuos4 because "it was better" but to be honest, after fiddling around with them, I doubt most people worrying about buying one cant and wont even notice the difference between the two... let alone take advantage of the intuos4 capabilities anyways.

[Major Banter]

I took a look at a tablet PC.

They seem a bit...pointless, and above all they'll become obsolete.

At least with a good tablet you can link it up to any rig on the planet and get going instantly for up to a decade until it wears out.

[korge]

I took a look at a tablet PC.

They seem a bit...pointless, and above all they'll become obsolete.

Once you get past looking at them, you realize it is difficult (read:impossible) to properly mesh sculpt or poly paint in zBrush. Same goes for Photoshop's brush painting.

[jister]

hey korge so you actually have bought or did i misunderstand?
"let alone take advantage of the intuos4 capabilities anyways." -> what capabilities are you referring to?

i borrowed a very old (+6 years) and small wacom from a friend and it still works very fluent with Zbrush, only the size sucks big time (someting A6 like)

to bad there isn't a Large Bamboo one, that would fit my budget and quality demand i guess

[Nauz]

First i bought a Wacom bamboo with 512 Pressure levels, the size was A6 (small)... Way too small and not pressure sensitive enough..
Now I own a wacom intuos 4 a5 (medium, 2048 pressure leves) since a few months and i'm very happy with it (using it for Mudbox for example).

It has everything i need and the size is pretty much perfect (for me)

[jister]

the bamboo medium has 1024 levels while the intuos4 has 2048.
so does the intuos4 also have the touch abilities of the bamboo? like scrolling or dragging things with your fingers? or is it pen only?

[korge]

the bamboo medium has 1024 levels while the intuos4 has 2048.
so does the intuos4 also have the touch abilities of the bamboo? like scrolling or dragging things with your fingers? or is it pen only?

I currently own a medium bamboo for my desktop and a small bamboo for my laptop.

Most people wont notice the difference in the 1024 levels to the 2048 levels unless they do super detail work in zbrush or photoshop (where at this point, all you need to do is zoom in anyways)

I was very skeptical of the bamboo as I was very set on the intuos4 because I thought I would need it but turns out I didnt as the medium is more than applicable for everything a intuos4 does. One thing I think it cant do though is pressure sensitive eraser end on the pen and pen tilt (which is important for palette knife in photoshop) but like I said, most people never use these anyways.

the intuos4 is NOT touch. Only the Bamboo touch is touch lol.

[RawMeat3000]

The intuos 4 doesnt support input from anything other than the pen as far as I know. And I'm not sure that it's price is justified, after having bought one. It's great, don't get me wrong and the scroll wheel and buttons are wonderful to have, it just feels Apple-esqe, where you pay extra for a brand that "just works". It's not necessarily a bad thing, but conisder other options first.

I'm still really suprised that a tablet would lag in zbrush, those must have been some really crappy drivers.

[korge]

I'm not sure that it's price is justified, after having bought one. It's great, don't get me wrong and the scroll wheel and buttons are wonderful to have, it just feels Apple-esqe, where you pay extra for a brand that "just works". It's not necessarily a bad thing, but conisder other options first.

This is exactly how I felt after buying my tablets. For the price of one medium, I got two bamboos that work just as well, and have same awesome drivers and still have a hundred bucks left over.

[jister]

yeah but what about that extra nifty detail in Zbrush, hmm come to think of it... it's like you said, just zoom in...
anyway the old one i'm using now even does a better job than the crap trust one, so think i'll go for a bamboo medium... and then save up for a Cintiq 12WX