Aiptek HyperPen 8000U PC Tablet ( HYPERPEN8000U )

by Aiptek

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Shipping: This item can only be shipped to the 48 contiguous states. We regret it cannot be shipped to APO/FPO, Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico.
• ASIN: B00007FRZ8
• Item model number: HYPERPEN8000U
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 9, 2002

Product Description

The HyperPen 8000U offers you the most natural input method available. With 512 gradations of pressure sensitivity for peerless accuracy and clarity, the HyperPen 8000U is your ideal tool for document annotation, desktop publishing, internet communications, electronic presentations, photo retouching, and much more. Includes tablet, cordless stylus, and mouse. Also includes Ulead Photo Express, Art Dabbler, Office Ink, Free Notes and Microsoft Net Meeting software. Requires Microsoft Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP, 32MB of ram, and a 4x cd-rom. Use Office Ink to sign and annotate documents directly on Microsoft Word! Draw on top of any desktop layout and even save or email your drawings. With HyperPen 8000U Pro you get MetaCreations Art Dabbler- the extraordinary natural media drawing, painting and animation program for both aspiring and accomplished artists of all ages. Art Dabbler's highly intuitive interface makes creating art easy and fun, using familiar metaphors like drawers, sketch pads and tracing paper. Open the Free Notes program to jot down notes, sketch drawings and make helpful reminders

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

31 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The pen works okay, but the software and mouse are a joke., September 19, 2003

By 

Chuck70 (Cleveland, OH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aiptek HyperPen 8000U PC Tablet ( HYPERPEN8000U ) (Personal Computers)

When I opened the box and took out the pad, it seemed really durable and heavy. "Nice," I thought all happy and excited to try this gadget out. Then I took out the mouse and the darn thing rattled like a box of rocks. I thought it was broke but closer inspection into an aperture under the battery compartment revealed some kind of electromagnet suspended by a thin wire, which clanked around. "Cheesy," I thought, starting to get worried. Maybe the mouse isn't supposed to be that way, maybe it actually was broke, but it worked in its own crummy fashion. Compared to my optical mouse, using this cheesy thing felt like doing surgery with a pickaxe. Then the real problems started. They have bundled a drawing program, "Art Dabbler," that is supposed to complement the basic functions of this hardware -- the ability to utilize variable line thickness by varying the pen pressure, etc. The software application wouldn't even launch on my XP system: I was given an error message, "not enough available memory to run art dabbler." Well, I have 1 GB of DDR RAM installed on my Pentium 4, 2.66 GHz machine. I did a little snooping online and found that this software is three or four years old, and pretty much incampatible with XP. There were some suggestions on a public forum (where others were having the same problem) about changing virtual memory settings or disabling the paging file completely, and even if one were inclined to tamper with such settings for the sake of one outdated program, none of these things worked for me when I tried them. Even with a tweaked or disabled paging file setting, still the same message about insufficient memory. I also tried re-installing and running the program in compatibility mode, with the same result: "not enough memory." Corel, who supposedly took over this "Art Dabbler" property from Meta Creations, doesn't even acknowledge it on their website. That's how behind-the-times it is. And Aiptek's site has no postings addressing this issue. They have chosen to bundle their hardware with garbage software. So guess what? The whole kit and kaboodle gets returned.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fine for amatuers, insufficient for pros, March 29, 2004

By 

Dave (Denton, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aiptek HyperPen 8000U PC Tablet ( HYPERPEN8000U ) (Personal Computers)

I've used this particular tablet for several years now and have recently upgraded to the Wacom Intuos. The tablet itself is sturdy and very durable with a metal backing. The cursor accelleration does not quite match the stylus, but the position is accurate, and the sensitivity is adequate. The setup options for the tablet are vastly inferior to Wacom's control panel, however, and the mouse (as on most tablets) is a joke. It's actually a good buy if you're just going to play around with it (as you get a larger tablet for your money than the graphire or Intuos), but if you're serious about your art, you will probably want to spend the extra money for the features and software the Wacom tablets provide.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sufficient., July 8, 2004

By 

Kate (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aiptek HyperPen 8000U PC Tablet ( HYPERPEN8000U ) (Personal Computers)

The tablet itself is good. It's not a Wacom. It's nothing expensive, but for the money you pay for the size of the tablet and the basic functions that go with it it's well worth it. Don't like the software that goes with it? Download GIMP. It's free, legal, and works much like the always-expensive, always-pirated Adobe Photoshop. The mouse is basically useless. It was the first thing to go.

A replacement pen is $10 off of the Aiptek site, which I find a little absurd as far as the price goes. The tablet itself is $50 as a refurbished item off of the Aiptek website, which is around a $40 average savings off of the sellers here. Replacement drivers are downloadable, replacement software + drivers are purchased for $5 off of the Aiptek site, which is kind of stupid because the software is a joke, as others have said, and the drivers are downloadable.

The support on the Aiptek site is decent. You can download the drivers for most operating systems (I believe all 98+ operating systems are supported) and if you run Linux, you can download Linux-based drivers if you Google search them or if you look on Aiptek's FAQ. (Why Aiptek does not just host the bloody drivers themselves is beyond me, but, whatever.)

Overall... I'd say it's well worth it, especially if you're looking to just play around and doodle, and possibly upgrade to a more professional tablet later on.