Excellent and portable performer
Written: Jan 23 '09
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Paper like surface, sturdy construction, responsive, size and portability.
Cons: None so far (don't like writing that on reviews, but it's true)
The Bottom Line: Excellent basic tablet for whiteboarding.
|
|
|
| djsepinions's Full Review: Wacom Bamboo Small Pen Tablet |
Bottom Line For Me
The Bamboo is an awesome tablet for the price. I like not paying for bundled software in the price. The "Bamboo FUN" is an unnecesssary upsell.
Vendor and Product Information Links
http://www.wacom.com/bambootablet/index.cfm
My Usage
I was looking for an inexpensive, but high quality, tablet for using with computer whiteboarding applications (online and local PC). This meant that a bunch of bundled software was extra cost. Also, I had the Graphire 4 with a mouse and found it of little use because the limited surface area of a 4 x 6 tablet makes it frustrating. The mouse also didn't seem to make sense - my regular mouse can stay connected all the time and I don't have to physically swap it onto a working surface to use it.
My Relevant Product Background
I owned the Wacom Graphire 4 - same size as the Bamboo - and will make comparisons where merited.
What I Like
The new "paper like" writing surface - lives up to it's claims as feeling like paper. Much, much improved over the glossy feel of the Graphire! The black color looks very nice and matches my IBM Laptop very well. The tablet is extremely responsive and natural when using it.
The form factor is fantastic - it is much slimer than the graphire. It's other dimensions make it small enough to travel - which is important to me. Another positive along that line is that the USB cable is detach able at the tablet. It takes a standard mini-usb interface so you can unplug it for travel without a worry that the cable will get stressed and broken where it enters the device. You can also pack a more compact cable than the one that ships with the device. It feels very sturdy - like it's made out of a solid piece of hard plastic that would be difficult to bend enough to break - makes me feel even more comfortable packing it in a computer bag.
What I don't Like
Don't Upgrade the Drivers - I downloaded the lastest drivers (5.05-7) and then the tablet would periodically (during active use) unload it's driver and load the standard mouse driver. The tablet continues to operate, but now the screen area is not represented by the tablet surface - you must move it like a mouse. I went back to the drivers from the CD and now everything works fine.
I also wish it had some additional buttons - I don't think I should have to buy a tablet the size of my desk to get more than 5 buttons.
Dual Monitors on a Laptop with Vista - Vista drivers allow many settings for primary and secondary monitors in both landscape and portrait modes. I have a laptop with an external monitor that I run mostly in portrait mode. The Wacom drivers really only configure the primary very well they get confused if you rotate your screen after they startup or switch which monitor is your primary. This confusion relates primarily to how your tablet maps to the monitor. It can think the top of the monitor is in the incorrect spot due to rotation or primary display changes. I've found if I make the laptop monitor primary (landscape mode of course) - I can set the wacom drivers to it and everything works reasonably well.
Hidden Gems and Tips
Unless you need the larger size or the bundled software, I would not pay the extra for the "FUN" edition. The mouse will go unused (as it did with my Graphire). The Graphire had the same software bundle which also went unused in my case. I also prefer the styling.
Using it with Vista - Vista has tablet features built in. One of them is extremely annoying and made my whiteboarding experience a pain - it seemed like the pen delayed in "releasing" and it would generate ink after I lifted the pen. There are two ways to fix it - if you aren't using Vista tablet features and find the Wacom drivers to be sufficient, you can disable the service called "Tablet PC Input Service". To fix it while leaving Vista's tablet service operational, open "Tablet PC Settings" in control panel. Click "Other" (tab) >>>> Click "Go to Pen and Input Devices" under "Pen and input" >>>> Click "Pen Options" (tab) >>>> Click "Press and hold" under Pen action >>>> Click "Settings" (button) >>>> Unselect "Enable press and hold for right-clicking" >>>> Click "OK" as many times as necessary to exit all dialogs.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
djsepinions
|
|
Reviews written: 36
Trusted by: 3 members
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.