Wacom Graphire4 6x8 USB Tablet (Blue)

by Wacom

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 11 x 0.7 inches ; 1.9 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000BBCTIE
• Item model number: CTE640B
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: July 7, 2004

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description Whether you're an artist, graphic designer, or business person, the Wacom Graphire4 6x8 USB Tablet can make your life a lot easier and more productive. Using the Graphire4's unique pressure-sensitive wireless pen and tablet, you can mark up Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF documents with your handwritten comments, edit and enhance your digital photos, quickly create original digital art work, add handwritten notes to your PowerPoint presentations, write your e-mail messages by hand, and much more. Not only will the Graphire4 help your productivity soar, it will also reduce the problems associated with repetitive stress problems and bring a level of performance to your work that is not possible with a typical keyboard and mouse.

Wacom Graphire4 6x8 USB Tablet features a unique, pressure-sensitive wireless pen and tablet. View larger.

An Artist's Tool That's Not Just for Artists
The Graphire digital pen and tablet have long been essential for graphic designers and artists. With the help of Corel Painter Essential 2, which is included with the Graphire4, the Wacom pen can give you the control you need to create just about any type of graphics you want. You simply draw your design against the tablet just as you would with a canvas or piece of blank paper. And if photography is your art of choice, the included Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, along with the included nik Color Efex Pro2 GE filter collection, will let you quickly edit and enhance your digital photos for stunning professional results. And Macintosh users can use the Graphire pen to enjoy all the digital-inking capabilities of Apple Inkwell.

Wacom's cordless, battery-free pen is loaded with functionality.

Because all of Wacom's tablets are pressure sensitive--they literally feel the full range of pressure from the pen on the tablet--you get unparalleled control with your creations. Press hard, and you get a more opaque clone, a fatter paintbrush, or a darker stroke. Press lightly, and you have a transparent clone, a thin brush, or a gentle stroke of color. The tablet can even sense the tilt of your pen, giving you the ability to tilt your brush for cool effects.

Microsoft Office OneNote is specially designed for note taking. With the Graphire4, OneNote lets you capture information in several ways. For instance, you can move the cursor to any place on the screen and start writing. You can also add handwritten diagrams and pictures. If you're working with the English language version of Microsoft XP, you can also write directly in a Word document, Explorer search bar, or e-mail, and with the help of Microsoft's handwriting-recognition capabilities, your writing will be converted to text just as if you were using the keyboard.

If you've ever been in the position of reviewing documents, you know how inefficient it can be to print out your document, mark it up, and then forward your comments. With Graphire4, you can convert any of your documents to Adobe PDF, digitally sign it, and mark up the documents using your pen and tablet just as you would with pen. You simply select the pen tool from your PDF toolbar and add your comments and revisions. When you're done, you can just forward the document via e-mail, saving several time-consuming steps.

Altering documents and photos is a breeze with the Wacom Graphire4 tablet. View larger.

If you are a teacher or need to make presentations to a business audience, you can even use Graphire4 to turn your PowerPoint presentation into a "whiteboard." With PowerPoint's pen tool, you can add your handwritten marks onto a blank slide or straight onto your slides. This gives you all the flexibility of the old-fashioned overhead projector, but without the mess to clean up.

Advanced Tools That Know Few Boundaries
At the heart of the Graphire4 is a wireless, battery-free digital pen that offers 512 levels of pressure sensitivity for maximum control, two programmable side buttons for convenience, and a pressure-sensitive eraser for easy fixes. Pressure sensitivity makes it possible to control the amount of a software tool's effect simply by varying how firmly the pen tip is pressed to the tablet, just as you would with a mechanical pen or pencil. Using a Graphire4 pen is easy because every point on the tablet has a matching point on the screen. When the pen is moved over the tablet, the cursor moves in precisely the same way on the screen.

The Graphire4 tablet uses a USB connection for quick installation on both PCs and Macs. At a compact 6 by 8 inches, it offers a large enough area to do your work but is portable enough to be carried wherever you need to go. A transparent photo frame surrounding the work area makes the tablet easy to personalize with photos and artwork. The photo frame also contains a clever pen compartment that, along with the pen stand, provides two convenient ways to keep the pen handy and secure. The Graphire4 also features a scroll wheel right on the tablet and two programmable ExpressKeys for navigation, mouse clicks, and keyboard shortcuts. With a sleek metallic blue design, the Graphire 4 will nicely complement your work station. (Note: the Graphire4 6x8 USB Tablet is also available in white and silver.)

The cordless, battery-free mouse offers smooth and highly accurate tracking with up to four times the resolution of an optical mouse. It features a rubberized grip for comfort, and the scrolling finger wheel also serves as a third programmable button for convenience. By alternately using the pen and mouse, you can significantly reduce the repetitive motion that contributes to stress injuries.

A rechargeable lithium polymer tablet battery provides up to 25 hours between charges, and a universal power adapter permits simultaneous tablet charging and comfortable use ExpressKeys. The Graphire4 also profits from years of research into how people use pens and tablets. Everything from the elegant shape and feel of the pen--with its tapered waist and finger flare--to the exact texture of the drawing surface is designed to minimize strain and maximize comfort.

The Wacom Graphire4 6x8 USB Tablet is loaded with great features, such as the ExpressKeys, Tablet Wheel, clear tablet cover, and the patented, cordless, pressure-sensitive pen. View larger.

What's in the Box
Graphire4 6x8 pen tablet, pen, pen stand, mouse, 2 CD-ROMs, Wacom tablet driver software, user manual, and bundled software (Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Corel Painter Essentials 2, and nik Color Efex Pro 2 GE)

Product Description

Wacom Graphire 6x8 Graphics Tablet - A graphics tablet gives you the ability to be more creative on your computer, and with much more precision than a mouse. Using a pressure sensitive pen, you can more easily and more naturally enhance photos, draw, paint, jot notes, write your signature, and more. It works with any program your mouse does, but Wacom will start you off on the right foot by giving you a free copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Color Efex Pro 2 GE, and Corel Painter Essentials 2. Graphire Pen with Eraser 512 levels of pressure sensitivity for natural brush control Patented cordless, battery-free technology for a natural feel and superior performance 2 programmable side buttons for efficiency right at your fingertips Pressure-sensitive eraser for easy fixes Graphire Cordless Mouse Cordless, battery-free technology Scrolling finger wheel - also functions as a 3rd programmable button Optical Technology Connects to a PC or Mac via USB Color - Blue

See all Product Description

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mean, green(blue), fighting machine, January 9, 2007

By 

Walter R. Putrycz (NorthEast, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Wacom Graphire4 6x8 USB Tablet (Blue) (Personal Computers)

Wow. Graphire makes an exellent tablet. Pen is very smooth on the cover for the tablet(which can be removed so you can place a picture under it for handy-dandy tracing) and the transition between the computer and tablet is very fast. As soon as you get a grip on the pen and put it on the tablet the mouse imediatley adjusts to your screen size. You can of course fix these options to your liking, but I didn't need to do so and I animate (so you'd think I would probably be the most picky). One thing that you might want to adjust though, is the buttons on the pen so it has similar buttons to a mouse or whatever you like, and you can even set new buttons that aren't on the list to your liking. Another feature you might have to adjust to is the pen-to-tablet transition. For example, if you are using MSpaint, or Macromedia Flash, or other graphic arts products, as soon as the tablet picks up the pen (although the pen isn't touching)the tablet will immediately start drawing. What I mean is; if you're using MSpaint with a mouse (for example) you would have to click for the paint brush to start actually making lines, but as soon as the pen touches the tablet, it would have the same effect I just described with a mouse. One more thing I wanted to mention was that the 6x8 tablet is probably the best "bang for your buck". To sum up this tablet, if you like graphic arts then you're in luck for a great deal.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tablets are cool., February 14, 2007

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Wacom Graphire4 6x8 USB Tablet (Blue) (Personal Computers)

This is great for anyone interested in digital visual art of any form, whether it be photography or comic making. Tablet styluses are easier to control compared to a regular comoputer mouse. It has more abilities than a DS touchpen since this tablet computer can do what an average mouse can do, including moving, clicking, double clicking, scrolling, and so on and so forth, AND it can easily make thick lines, thin lines, line that gradually change shape and size, and erase those complicated lines too. You can draw with it like you would with a charcoal pencil or a watercolor brush. I recommend this to all people who art, professionally or just for fun.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Art and Teaching Tool and Linux Friendly, July 10, 2007

By 

Jason M. Waskiewiczx (Bowman, ND USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Wacom Graphire4 6x8 USB Tablet (Blue) (Personal Computers)

I bought this originally to work with photographs. It seems to do that quite well, but I have to admit that I'm finding a lot of other uses instead. It's a great tool for teaching: I can have a "smartboard" in my room without trying to talk my administrators into buying an expensive piece of equipment. I can keep a copy of my own notes for students who are absent, and I can include diagrams and anything else I would do on a chalkboard or smartboard.

For teaching, I do wish I'd bought the bluetooth version, but I still get some flexibility to move around. The mouse is nice for certain work, but I can still use my regular wireless mouse when I want to roam the room. They interfere with each other when used at the same time, but I can't see why I would want to do that.

For art and photographic work, it's ideal, even without bluetooth. If I needed the range of bluetooth, I wouldn't be able to see that I was doing! I'm using it mostly with the GIMP. I haven't figured out how to use pressure yet, but I'm having great success picking out details and tracing objects.

I want to try doing some actual art with it. I used to do a lot of pencil sketching and I'm looking at doing that again. The GIMP may not be the best platform for that, but this tablet is. The surface area is the perfect size. I don't feel cramped at all. I think a larger area would actually be a handicap.

As a final note, I have used this with OS-X and with Linux. Others have commented well on what is available with Windows and OS-X. I want to discuss Linux.

I'm using it with the Edubuntu flavor of Linux. Compatibility varies in the other flavors. It works great as a mouse and with the GIMP. There is also a great piece of software called Xournal that lets me write notes as though it were a smartboard.

What I'd like to see is more tablet software in Linux. For example, I love Window's Evernote software. Nothing equivalent exists in Linux. Handwriting recognition software exists for Linux, but it's basic and not easily installed. The situation is changing and I expect that, in a year or two, this last paragraph of my review may be obsolete.

Update 8-24-07: I've just completed one week of teaching with this product. What a great alternative to the far more expensive smartboard! I have also solved the pressure problem (I'm not observant was the whole problem).

I've also successfully installed it on the Fedora flavor of Linux. It was a minor battle, but won in about 15 minutes.