Need some help selecting the right Wacom Drawing tablet

EliasWick

Greetings! I am looking into buying a new drawing tablet for my PC.
The old one I used was from Trust and recently stopped working.

I am looking into buying a drawing tablet from Wacom. I have been looking at the Wacom Intuos Pro series and is a bit thorn between buying the medium or large one.

I've done some calculations myself to figure out the drawing area of the tablets and the medium sized one seems to be extremely small when compared to the large one. I mean, it seems to be really really small.

I want the drawing area of the tablet to be close to an A4 Paper. (Normal Copy paper in Sweden.)
It is essentially:
Height 21 cm / 210 mm
Length 30 cm / 300 mm.

So to clearify:
I want the DRAWING area to be close to an A4 paper.
I don't want the tablet size or the Touch size to be close to an A4 piece of paper.

Which one should I go for?
What does the active AreaPen mean? Does it mean that I can draw within that area?
Does the touch area mean where it recognize the hand-motions?

Here are the specs for the "Intuos Pro Large Digital Tablet"

• Product TypePen Tablet
• Size487 x 318 x 12 mm 
  19.2 x 12.5 x 0.5 in
• Weight1,800 g (4 lbs.)
• Active AreaPen: 325 x 203 mm / 12.8 x 8.0 in
  Touch: 299 x 190 mm / 11.8 x 7.5 in
• Color

JedTheKrampus

What's your desk space situation?

EliasWick

My desk is quite large, so there are no problems there.

ExcessiveZero

Right this is may be controversial but hear me out if you would, last month I had my Intous 5 M pen break as it pretty much just fell apart when I accidentally opened the middle, buttons fell off, coil wire which looked messily glued on came off tiny ereaser spring flew off who knows where. 

I was annoyed but you do what you do, put the tablet away and get out your older one to finish your project, now my prior one was the wacom bamboo touch........Oh my god was this a good tablet, the feel of the surface against the pen, instead of the glossy intuos 5, I also noticed despite I used it about the same length of time there was no scratches on it from general use, unlike my intuos 5.

I quickly came to realize the build quality was night and day, this is what wacom built their name upon, it was quality and had no competitors thus became the industry standard, but somewhere along the way, it seems to me that has changed, from the contrast of the pen falling apart the tablet being scratched and the overall feel of use, I think they became the industry standard then began cutting manufacturing costs going towards a cheaper made product .

So I began investigating alternatives for around the price of a replacement intuos 5 (I know I could just get a new pen for around 80 but with the bamboo making me happier than the intuos 5 now I see no reason to go back to it).

http://www.amazon.com/Ugee-Graphics-Drawing-Monitor-Protector/dp/B00NL4P3Y0/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8

Around that price point I have come to this, either I will get the 19" UGEE or the 21, draw on screen is obviously ideal but the cintiq costs so damn much,  but with all the research I have done seeing video reviews and all those customer reviews from amazon, its left me with no doubt as soon as I have the spare cash it will be my next graphics tablet purchase.

so I would sincerely consider alternatives to get value for your money.

pior

@EliasWick : I understand what you are getting at by wanting a tablet with an active area  similar to the paper you are used to. However, handling a tablet is completely different from working traditionally - for most users, A4 tablets tend to "feel too big", and do not emulate the feeling of drawing on a sheet of paper at all.

I would strongly recommend you to pick up a Medium at first. But make sure to get it from a place with a good return policy, as finding the right tablet for your needs will probably take quite a bit of trial and error. At the end of the day you might very well decide to  settle for an A4, who knows !

To put things in perspective : I like to draw big , as in, sharpie sketches on big A2 layout sheets ; but my main tablet is a tiny A6. The reason why I like it is because I can travel a big distance on screen with just a small flick of the stylus.

I hope this makes sense ! And good luck .

EliasWick

Wow! I never expected to get so much information form you all!
Thank you a thousands! This sort of helped me a bit more! People have been telling me to get the medium one from Wacom since it is a good starting point. So I assume that it will be something along those lines.

@pior , @ExcessiveZero : Thank you so much for the honest words... I may have to reconsider my choice. The Tablet is for my sister as a Christmas present. She's a lot into drawing and want to start working in Zbrush and 3D coat. I wanted her to get something compared to her old one which is now damaged and can't be used. There are so many good tablets, and it is so confusing to what you really should get. Wacom is the first thing I think about when I hear drawing tablet. But I assume you are right. They were probably very well made at first, then they realized that more people wanted to buy them, and they started to mass produce them in a different. The outcome was a less durable tablet. Well well, I'll have to see what I'll do! My sister didn't want a tablet with a display screen. She wanted too look at her computer screen whilst drawing on her tablet.
I'll guess I'll have to do some more reading! Yet again, many thanks to you both!

Shiniku

I just want to throw my hat in and also say that bigger is not necessarily better. When I first got a tablet, I went out of my way and spent a lot more to get a huge one. That desire just comes from a lack of understanding of the differences between drawing traditionally and digitally... nowadays I would probably pay more for something smaller. Something that doesn't take too much desk space, and doesn't require as much exertion to move my arm across. 

I think the intuos pro is a fine tablet, and the largest size is probably unnecessary. Among artists I know who have tried both large and small/mid-size tablets, I don't know any that actually prefer the largest ones.

Panupat

I agree with Prior. After using Intuos Pro for many years, I switched to the smallest Wacom. Needing less movement was the best thing especially when you need to go to the opposite  edge of the screen to change tools/layers/brush settings/pick color. It was quite a pain on bigger tablet.

thomasp

The only tablets I perceived as too large to use comfortably were the A4 'oversize' and larger models back in the Intuos 1 and 2 days. Some shops had these probably because the thinking was bigger = better but these were too much to handle and an awkward fit on the desk and also their cases were pretty thick.

I'm currently on size medium but it's a bit too small for my taste. I had to fit two of these on my desk though, one for each machine, hence the choice.

PolyHertz

@shanyang If you want to talk about tablets there's really no need to necro bump a thread from over 4 years ago.

Eric Chadwick

shanyang banned for spam

kanga

I use a wacom bamboo series (it was called a comic when I bought it), and draw over 2 screens. Im pretty sure it is A5, or close.  I have used a super big tablet when pcs first came out, and I agree with pior, due to zooming size isnt a factor. Im one of those that find drawing on a screen weird. You get used to being able to work without your hand in the way. Also as has been said, I have to travel for my work, so a small size is ideal.

gnoop

I bought intuos pro M  few years ago and regret  about it.    All that ring + buttons + touch  only annoy you mostly .    And it 's too big, too heavy with lots of useless margins around.

For decades  I used first usb version of Intous   and loved it .   Small while still 6x8, grey colored, light weighted pen.

If I ever kill my current pro with a next cap of tee again my next tablet will be their cheap small bamboo like one.