Adesso CyberTablet 12000

Another maker of good and reasonably priced USB graphics tablets is Adesso. They currently make around 8 models which range from entry level products to professional tablets. They also provide an A4 style tablet for writing and recording notes which will be covered in a separate review.

We will be looking at the Adesso CyberTablet 12000 today. There is also a CyberTablet 12000A model too, which comes bundled with Adobe Photoshop Elements 7 but this model of graphics tablet does not offer anything new to the product genre. It boasts a 12x9 inch digital canvas, a cordless pen and mouse. The pen is sensitive to 512 levels and works great with the bundled software such as PhotoImpact 12 SE or Office Ink that will allow you to sign and annotate documents in almost any application.

The actual graphics tablet itself is great and features very good tracking and produced excellent results in our tests. The active area also supports 16 buttons for quick and easy access to different applications or functions within those applications. The buttons run along the top of the graphics tablet and can get in the way if your pen strays into this area whilst drawing and Microsoft Word pops up. The only manufacturer who seem to have noticed this and remedied it quite quickly was Wacom. All of their quick access keys are external to the active area where all of the drawing is done.

Overall, the Adesso CyberTablet 12000 is very adequate for general use and should not be discarded due to their relatively unknown name or brand identity. You will certainly save money compared to an equally sized Wacom Intuos graphics tablet and due to the aggressive pricing of the CyberTablet 12000, many will chose the cheaper option.

Item	Detail
Product Name	Adesso CyberTablet 12000
Size	18 x 3 x 16 inches
Weight	4.8 pounds
Pen Supplied	Yes (2 button cordless)
Mouse Supplied	Yes (cordless)
Software Supplied	Various
Operating Systems Supported	Windows XP, Vista, Mac OS X
Connectivity	USB

What is a graphics tablet used for

The main and primary reason why someone would want to use a graphics tablet is to aid their input to a computer. A graphics tablet is a device that allows the user to use a stylus or pen to make strokes and marks like a normal pencil on paper but the marks appear on the computer screen within the chosen application.

When combined with an application such as Microsoft Paint, GIMP or Adobe Photoshop the device allows the user to draw, paint and perform creative functions with the computer as if they were drawing or painting using traditional artists media. Some artists use the mouse as an input device for drawing on the computer and creating digital artwork, but a graphics tablet or digitizing pad device is much better suited to this task.

The pen that is supplied with the graphics tablet is a wireless or an untethered device that allows the user to place the point anywhere on the active area of the tablet and the computer will place the mouse cursor in the corresponding place on the screen. When the pen is raised from the active area on the tablet and moved to a new location, the mouse cursor follows the movement and therefore provides 1-to-1 mapping between the device and the screen.

This allows the user to experience no barriers between using the technology and their creativity. The stylus acts as their paintbrush or pencil and the computer software provides the brushes, colors, designs and creative elements they need. The stylus pen is also sensitive to 1024 levels of force, so the lighter you touch the tablet, the lighter the stroke will appear on the screen. If you think of watercolor painting, this would provide different levels of transparency and the ability to perform washes of color.

A graphics tablet can also be used as a text input tool. Software is available that can track, recognize and convert any written text that is entered via the tablet and change it to be normal words that can be edited in any word processing application. The tablet also allows you to annotate documents or files with written notes or highlights and also mark areas for reworking or importance.

What ever you can do with a mouse, you can do with a graphics tablet too. As it provides 1-to-1 tracking between the active area and the screen, you can use it to click on menu items, double click icons or any other mouse related gesture or function.

What size graphics tablet should I buy

The various makers and manufacturers of graphics tablets and interactive pen displays have realised that people want to use them for different things. Some people use them to produce high quality, commercial images used for advertising, print and film, where as others will be used by part time creative people or children.

The smaller and cheaper graphics tablets such as the Wacom Bamboo model have been produced with the younger market in mind. A small, colored tablet that allows even the smallest computer artist to unleash their creativity onto the screen. Wacom have identified that this market needs a smaller canvas to work on and therefore the smaller tablets come in sizes of around 6 x 4 inches active area. This is the area where you can use the pen to draw.

These smaller tablets are perfect for a first time user or someone who may only want to use them to annotate documents or create images now and then. For the person who wants to use the tablet more often, they are supplied in a series of larger sizes, from 6 x 4 inches up to 18 x 12 inches. These graphics tablets are designed with the professional in mind and offer a larger drawing area which in turn will provide a higher resolution output to the screen. The larger the graphics tablet, the more detailed your work will become. Although it may be tempting to start with a larger tablet, if you are a first time user, it might be prudent to start with something smaller.

The next sizes and levels up from these graphics tablets will be the interactive pen displays that allow you to draw directly onto a screen as if you were using the application through the tablet. These products do come at a price as they also incorporate the same technology as a TFT screen but the experience of using one means that you can be more tactile with the image and you will produce better results. The largest of these displays allows you to draw directly onto the same size area as a 21 inch monitor. The “active area” is 17 x 12.5 inches which will allow you to really get to grips with creating digital artwork and images.

To conclude this advice, I suggest that if you are younger, a less frequent user of graphics applications or you just want to try your hand at making digital artwork, a smaller graphics tablet is your best choice. However, if you are already a traditional artist looking to transfer to a digital medium, a larger digital pen display would suit you better as it will be easier to work with based on your current skills and experience.