Customer Reviews

Wacom Intuos4 Medium Pen Tablet (Academic Version)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been a self-employed graphic designer since 1996. I bought my first Wacom tablet in 1997. I used it until I replaced it with a larger Intuos2 in 2001 (although the first one still worked well).
My Intuos2 still works great but it has a serial port plug (that I had to adapt to USB) and is no longer compatible to one of my computers. I hated to stop using it since it has been tried and true for so many years but I made the leap and bought the Intuos4.

I am not disappointed. This is a sleek tablet with plenty of room for moving around. Wacom has changed the aspect ratio to accommodate a 16:9 screen - although my older Intuos didn't do this, it was not really an issue.
It installed on Windows very easily, no glitches anywhere.

The tablet is thinner than previous models, very sleek and easy to rest your hand on. The pen has a nice weight and feel and I use the pen buttons for double click and right click. It is just second nature to me.
There is great set-up software that allows you to control every aspect of your pen from click speed to pressure sensitivity, pen angle, button controls, etc. You can adapt how it responds to many programs.

It is adaptable to left or right handedness. My old tablet needed a power supply and this is USB powered.
The USB cord is long enough that if you like to sit back to use your tablet, there is plenty of give.
The express keys on the side are not a big thrill to me but so far I do like the touch ring, especially for scrolling or zooming in or out.
I'm sure, given a little more time, I'll find good shortcuts for the express keys, which can be customized, but for now, my keyboard shortcuts are the quickest.

I use my tablet and pen exclusively. I can't stand using a mouse and find it hard to understand (with no offense to anyone!)why any graphic designer would use a mouse when the pen and tablet give so much precision and control. For me, having a pen in my hand is much more comfortable and my hand cramps up if I have to use a mouse. It is easier to grab one pixel at a time with a pen than to try and position a mouse cursor.
The bundled software is a bonus (you get Wacom Brushes, Color Efex Pro 3.0 and your choice of two of the following: Sketchbook Express 2010, Corel Sketch Pad, Adobe Photoshop Elements for Windows or Elements for Mac.

If you have never used a pen/tablet, you really need to give it plenty of time to get used to it. I believe that once you can get past that learning curve, you will love it. It is like learning a new control pad for a video game, you have to train your brain to move your hand the right way while not looking at it.

The last thing I need to add is that Wacom is a wonderful company to deal with. For me, the quality of product is top notch, the customer support is great, not that I've needed it!

*********
UPDATE FOR WINDOWS 7

I purchased a new computer running Windows 7. The Intuos4 works great. I had no installation problems or difficulties.

AND when running it on Windows 7, it starts up a Windows based program utilizing PC tablet input. PC tablet is resident on Windows 7 and automatically runs when a pen is installed. It has handwriting recognition and will fill in forms as you write on the tablet - a very natural thing since you are holding a pen. In other words, if you are somewhere (online or not) where a field is waiting for text - letters or numbers - a little keyboard icon shows up. If you tap on it, a yellow field opens up and is waiting for you to hand write, in script or print, what you want in that field. It is very forgiving for sloppy writing and if it makes a mistake there are buttons to click to correct the mistakes. In other words, you don't have to drop the pen to type in a field and then pick the pen back up.

Personally, I found the pull-out menu annoying after awhile so it can be turned off by going to Control Panel and choosing PC Tablet. The options for turning it off are in there.

Okay Everyone,

I could ohhh and awww over this thing just like everybody else, but we all know it's an outstanding product. However, I was a little disappointed with Wacom's progress since the early versions of Intuos.

* It is still jumpy in Adobe Illustrator CS4 if you use quick motions. When you slow it down, it works well, but sometimes you want to be more expressive. I'm on a MacPro with 2x 3Ghz dual cores running 16 GB of memory, so it's probably not my machine that's lagging.

* Corel Painter 11 does some really funky stuff when you get a larger brush with a lot of effects on it. It doesn't jump, but it tries to catch up to your movements seconds after you're done painting. That's probably Corel. I've never been fully confident in their technology.

* Photoshop works like a charm. No complaints there.

* The size was a little misleading. They give you the dimensions of the whole thing or "48.5 square inches of working area." For the record, the medium is only 9.25" x 5.75" so if you have another hundred smackers, go for the large.

* I love the styling and removable USB cord. It works with a standard mini USB cable, so you can leave one at work and take it home and use the cord that came with that digital camera or old motorola phone or your child's outdated MP3 player that sits in the toybin collecting dust.

* Of course the scoll wheel is awesome. I've seen some complaints about it, but I don't think people are going in and programming it according to what they want to use it for. You can also adjust the speed/sensitivity if you have a heavy hand.

* The price is awesome. I don't know if I just wasn't paying attention before, but it seems as if they were more expensive in the past. The last time I bought one was in '99 and I could swear they were more pricey. I know I couldn't have bought the equivalent of a large tablet for $418 dollars, so GOOD JOB WACOM.

This is the subjective review and opinion of one person however, it's likely I'm not alone and therefore I hope others with similar needs will find it useful.

Before I chose the Intuos4 Medium I read just about every review there was at the time. From what I gathered the most significant differentiating features were the 2048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity, and the programmable OLED buttons.

For me, these became the two leading factors driving my decision. After that it was the size, the multiple pen tips, and the fact that being a brand new model means it should be some time before it becomes outdated.

However, now that I've had my tablet for about a month, I must admit, if I were to do it all over again, I'd likely chose differently.

Don't get me wrong. It's not that the tablet doesn't live up to the hype; I still feel the reviews I read singing it's praise were accurate. It's because this is my first tablet and as such the sensitivity doesn't seem to be as important as I initially expected. [At least not yet.]

Then there's the programmable OLED- Yes, the "OLED" is a nice feature however, it's a bit dim for my liking but more so, the actual buttons are rather disappointing. So much so that I don't even bother to use them; instead I find myself using the keyboard for shortcuts.

The problem is the keys are so small and so close together that I can only fit 3 fingers in the space of 4 buttons. Even with one finger, it's difficult to select the correct button without looking. They're also a bit too recessed and lack the tactile feel you'd expect from a component of this level. This makes using the tablet keys feel unnatural, or more importantly, no more convenient or faster than using the keyboard commands. In my opinion, you should be able to use the pen with one hand, and the shortcut keys with the other all while looking at the monitor. You shouldn't have to stop what you're doing, look down at the keys, choose which one you want, press it and then continue with your work. That's defeating the purpose. To me it should be a much more natural and fluid process, which the Intuos4 key design does not allow. I would almost prefer that Wacom went back to making the programmable functions an active area that respond to the tap of the pen; as was the case with past models.

So now my top-two reasons for choosing the Intuos4 M are moot. When you add to that the fact that additional tips are available as an accessory and suddenly the extra money becomes difficult to justify. I also feel at times that the size of the tablet is a bit awkward too. Perhaps it's because I'm so used to using a mouse that the smaller pad would be better for me. However, if you're someone who often draws freehand on paper, the larger pad may be more to your liking.

As for the other perks, I never even bothered to take the mouse out of the box and other than the additional Photoshop brushes, I found the free bundled software to be by and large of no use. They are bare-bones versions lacking the key features to make them useful. Lastly, the tablet's ability to sense tilt angle and twirl are lost on someone as new as I am to tablets.

In conclusion, the Intuos 4 M is an excellent tablet that lives up to the hype and positive reviews of others. However, for someone who is new to tablets, if I had to do it all over again I would likely save the $200+ and go with a Bamboo.

My only hope is that in time I will become more comfortable with the Intuos4 M and learn to appreciate it's unique features; if not, I suppose I can always put it up on Craigslist or eBay to recoup some of my hard earned dollars.

Regards!

Doc V.

I bought the Intuos 4 to replace my failing Graphire 4 from 3-4 years ago. The Bamboo probably would have been better for a closer replacement to my former Graphire, but I wanted to replace and upgrade at the same time. At the time of purchasing this, the Intuos 3's prices went falling into the dirt, but bad experiences and the weight of the Intuos 3 tablet led me moreso to purchase this.

And I'm a graphic design college student, so for me to purchase this tablet at Academic Pricing was something I was more than happy to shell out $313 of my hard earned money for this. The tablet I purchased was priced at $297 and about $15 was for two-day shipping.

What I like/love about it:
Photoshop compatibility is great, no problems with Illustrator, and InDesign works well. I use this tablet to also surf the web on Mozilla Firefox and enjoy having my most oft used buttons and commands at my fingertips in any program. I really enjoy the use of the scroll wheel in Firefox, makes things easier. You can actually assign four different commands to the wheel, making the tablet almost seem to have 12 buttons instead of 8.

The set-up to customize the express keys is a bit confusing at first, but as long as you follow the lines, you'll be fine.

The ability to remove the cord is my favorite feature of all, since it was actually a short in the cord that caused my Graphire 4 to fail. The length of the cord is great for those who don't have a USB port in the front of the computer to plug this into and is long enough to stretch behind the computer tower and still be comfortable. If you have a laptop or a working front-bus USB port, I would probably suggest getting a velcro strip to help manage extra cord.

The light and thinner aspect of this is also another pro because I can just simply slip this into my backpack and it won't weigh me down too much alongside my other books and assignments. The pen stand is wonderful, and the wide array of tips available for you to use right from opening the packaging is pretty extensive, and all of them have different uses. My personal favorite is the spring-loading stroke nib. (Wonderful for digital art in Adobe Photoshop)

What I am not really thrilled with entierely is the size of the buttons. They are a little on the small side, and I sometimes have to look down to see what I'm hitting before I hit it. Not much of a problem once my fingers adjust to differentiating between the buttons and their respective angles.

Now the scroll wheel is one of my biggest and probably my only major pet peeve for this tablet. The express keys for the buttons are labeled with the LED's, but the wheel is not. I have found myself going "WHOA!" in the middle of working on artwork when I zoom in to 900% size when I simply wanted to change the brush size. So I wish they were labeled, but the tablet design doesn't allow enough room for this. Maybe an oversight on Wacom's part, I don't know.

So to summarize my book here, I have very few pet peeves about this, and the positive aspects of this tablet outweigh my irritations with it overall. I have had no problems with drivers, no problems in programs, and the tablet has worked like it should and to the expectations that I have of it.

However, I am a Graphic Designer in training, so this tablet is perfect for someone like me. However, if you are looking for a tablet for casual computer drawing or scrap booking and need to find something more in your price range, I would either suggest Wacom's Bamboo. OR, if you really want alot of working space, try to find an Intuos 3 on sale. They are all over Amazon and Ebay with people trying to get rid of them. Buy for what you're going to use it for, not the shiny aspect and the new features. No use in buying it for $300 if you're not going to use it much, after all.

Price here is the best and most competitive academic pricing I've seen anywhere on the net. Wacom's website sells it for $349, so this is a deal. (And you can use the money you save to ship it faster, if you don't want to wait 5-7 days for it to get to your house on standard shipping.)

OVERALL: Wonderful tablet, best pricing, shipping was fast. Not really a good buy for casual artists or scrap book hobbyists.

NOTE: this is the same as Intuos4 Medium pen tablet, it is cheaper because it is for students or people i guess learning. I don't attend a school but I am being taught with it. I don't think they will really freak out if you are not a student.

I must state that this is my second tablet and I am familiar with digital tablets. I recommend if you are buying your first tablet or have never used one and you are not doing professional work on it, that you consider the bamboo tablets. My first was a bamboo which I loved and found learning to use a tablet was not a challenge or straining with the bamboo pen(also wacom) the bamboo don't have the same software(it has corel paint which is a great and fun tool not as confusing for beginners)
But if you are comfortable with tablets or are using it for professional reasons the Intuos4 is great!
I do art, drawing, illustration and such. I started teaching my self when I became disabled. It was something I could teach my self with the help of the internet and I felt much more productive.

So I have no idea how this tablet is for other uses, I have done some scan in drawings and cleaned lines and colored with it and that works very well.
The intous4 medium is a great size, also note that the small(and possible wireless?) are the 2 models of the intous4 that LOSE dpi and quality. So the medium and the xl have the same dpi. I can't imagine getting a bigger one though, this one is MUCH larger than the bamboo's. It could technicality be used portable(with notebook) but you would need a backpack or large bag and a big table to use it.

I have: an Emachine with vista home basic 32-bit with a 2.7 GHz processor. so if other nerds read this they can compare oranges to oranges.

It is a great deal, it comes with 2 programs of your choice(it asks you once you install the tablet) and I do believe even Wacom's site has the wrong list,
the ones to choose from for PC are:
- Adobe photo shop elements(with publish license) 8.0
-Autodesk Sketchbook express 2010
- corel Painter(most recent)
Though they may not keep the list updated on the buying sites, They DO UPDATE TO NEWEST VERSIONS WHENEVER POSSIBLE.

I choose Sketchbook and Photoshop. Photoshop is a must, the other two you should try the free trials from their publishers sites first and see which one suits you best. I like Sketchbook, it has a simple looking screen, works well with tablet and feels very natural for drawing. No problems with either program both work wonderfully with the tablet.

the tablet has a sidebar with 8 customizable buttons and a touch wheel. The buttons can be set up to be different for any program, and they have a lit display which is customizable as well. for example I made the keystroke action of {ctrl +z} (i think thats right) for Undo on PS. so one touch undo. nice. the wheel is customizable as well with its own button in the middle to change to your next setting(can set 4) you can set it to use as scroll or a zoom or a layer changer ect. very useful!!!
the active area itself is very accurate and using it with the pen feel very natural. It come with a mouse that works on the tablet. I don't use it.
The pen doesn't leave blisters like the bamboo, it has a rubber grip and two buttons which I only once pressed my accident. The eraser works well, and you can change the softness/firmness of it as well as the drawing tip. It comes with a nice stand for the pen, it opens up and has 10 more tips inside and a tip extractor. changing pen nibs(tips) is easy and they do not fall out on their own. you get 6 regular plastic tips basic and smooth. as well as one with a felt tip for more roughness and texture, a very different feel. 3 white rubber tips, which are not as smooth and mechanical feeling as the regular ones, but still excellent at producing a sharp clean image, but with a more flexible feel. and ONE white rubber tip that has a spring one it, I haven't used it, but I have heard it is for very loose sort of ink or painting like style digital work.
The pen tips should last quite a while! IF YOU FIND THE TIP RUBBING DOWN TOO QUICK: it forms a bit of a uneven and scratchy bit you can sand paper this smooth, BUT the best thing to do is CHANGE YOUR SOFTNESS, make it the softest, pressing hard is not good for the tablet. change your softness, you may not be used to it at first but it will extend the life of the tablet and tip, also less strain on your hand.

I adore this tablet.
also look up current prices of software from the bundle and you will see that this tablet is CHEAP! a friend of mine junior in SCAD for graphic used to have a different brand and had tons of problems and didn't like it. Wacom are the tablet masters and much more affordable.

you can look at all their products and compare them on Wacom's site. They list everything so you can see what would suit your tablet needs best

I am very happy that I chose to purchase this product, HOWEVER after 2 weeks of great results I had to put it away for a week while I went on vacation. When I returned home I was very excited to get back to work, unfortunately that was out of the question. I left the pen standing upright in the stand that was included. Now when I bring the stylus to the tablet, the curser bounces around, or doesn't move at all, and performs functions that I am not asking it to, rendering the pen completely useless. Very frustrating to say the least. I tried calling tech support, only to find that they are not available on weekends... understandable, but disheartening nonetheless (they are available M-Th 7:30 - 5:00, F 8:30 - 5:00 PACIFIC TIME) When I got ahold of them on monday, I ran a series of diagnostics test with little luck. The woman told me that I should try the tablet on a different computer to make sure it wasn't an internal issue on my side. Fortunately I had my old laptop in storage and was able to install the software on it only to discover the same problem. I called tech support again and this time I was told that sometimes when you leave the pen in the stand upright for a prolonged period of time the sensor behind the nib is depressed and fatigued, perhaps causing the problems that I am experiencing. The woman told me to remove the nib and wait 24 -48 hours to see if the sensor will rebound, I don't have high expectations. And that brings me here... waiting, with zero productivity... The product is great, and tech support is also very helpful. My advise is to purchase this product, but do yourself a favor and rest the pen on it's side in the cradle, not upright in the hole...
Wacom, you really need to do something about this, using the included stand as it is intended can cause your expensive product to break. I am still a big fan of your tablets, but this is completely ridiculous.

Wacom definitely stands alone in the tablet market. For the hobby user you may consider a cheaper substitute, however for those of you that are serious about getting a tablet, look no further than Wacom. The medium Intuos 4 is a great size for most. The active area is large enough to render and sketch from the elbow (for those of you who work from the shoulder, which I typically do, you might consider the large, but the medium is a great compromise between size and cost).

The only reason I gave the Intous 4 four stars is because of its modification of the textured work area. This, in combination with the soft tips on the pen make for a short life on the nibs. When I say short life I mean SHORT!! There is noticeable wear on these nibs after only hours of use!! I've adjusted the softness/hardness settings enough so that I don't have to press so hard, but still these things wear out FAST!! This is most definitely a design flaw built into the product by WACOM (a replacement nib runs for about $1, which multiplied over dozens over the life of the product begins to add up significantly). The old Intuos models did not have this flaw, and there is no reason for this problem to exist with the newer model, other than via intentionality. But I guess if we want the best we will need to cope with the backlash of corporate greed.

Conclusion: If you are serious about working with a digital tablet GET THIS PRODUCT!!! Someone eventually will start producing and selling cheaper nibs that don't wear out so fast!

This is my first tablet, so I wasn't really sure what size to get. I went with the largest one I thought was affordable. As it turns out, this was more than enough for my 22" wide screen monitor(1680x1050 res). It could easily handle two of my monitors(unless, you're a fan of using really large brush strokes). When you consider the ability to zoom in and out on your work, it becomes obvious that you can get away with having a much smaller tablet. Personally, I consider my brush strokes to be about average(though a bit heavy handed, apparently) and I probably only use about roughly 1/4th of my tablet surface at a time when drawing/painting due to zooming in and dragging the image around. Anyone who's used a laptop touch pad can easily see how little space is needed to mouse around. In other words, if you don't plan to do any real drawing or painting, you can get away with the smallest tablet you can find. People who simply want to ditch their mouse can go with a Bamboo but anyone planning to do any type of photo editing or graphic work should stick to the Intuos(for the accuracy). With all that said, I can easily shrink my tablet in the settings if I wanted to just use part of it instead of the whole thing. However, I am getting used to taking advantage of the extra space.

It did take me a while to adjust to using the tablet. I've been using a mouse and keyboard for over a decade. I didn't really think about the fact I hadn't written or drawn much of anything with a real pen or pencil for so long would cause such a learning curve but it did. However, I did adjust after about a week of use(I expected it to only take one or two afternoons since I normally adapt quickly). I have to say, for drawing or working on photos, this is a lot easier. I still prefer my mouse for everything else though. This is partially because I can't fit both the tablet and my keyboard on the desk at the same time(I usually hold the tablet in my lap when I use it).

I don't use the Express Keys that much but after a little customizing and getting used to it, I'm finding them to be faster than relying on my keyboard. I figure that with time I'll use my keyboard less and less. I also spend less time clicking tool buttons and more efficiently spend my time just using express keys. Being able to switch tools by simply pressing an Express Key really saves a lot of time. Though, I wish I could find a way to resize the eraser without selecting it first. From what I've seen of the previous generation Express Keys, I don't see all that much of an advantage to the new ones. The improvement is nice but seemingly unnecessary.

My actual drawing skill is not that great, yet, so I don't get much use out of the pressure sensitivity. Instead, I manually control the opacity. I figure that as my skills develop, I will probably learn to take advantage of the pressure sensitivity. I'm just not there yet. That said, even if I'm not using the pressure sensitivity, it's still a lot easier to draw with the tablet than a mouse. Since I've never tried the Intuos 3, I can't really compare the sensitivity.

I've noticed that the nibs seem to wear down fairly fast. Also, I hear the surface sheets don't last very long either compared to the previous generation. I don't know if this was intentional to increase sales of replacement parts or a sacrifice to gain something else. It does make the Intuos 3 seem more desirable in that sense.

Probably my biggest complaint with the whole thing is the pen itself. It's just too fat for me. It makes me feel like I'm using one of those fat pencils from Kindergarten. I've more or less adjusted to it but I'll probably end up buying that slimmer version that doesn't have the rubber grip.

Ultimately, if I had it to do all over again, I'm not sure whether I'd get a smaller tablet. I could very easily be happier with a smaller tablet, if for no other reason than being able to fit it on my desk. However, the extra tablet space makes a dual monitor setup more comfortable. I normally find the extra screen space unnecessary but when drawing/painting, there's a certain amount of advantage to being able to focus one monitor on just the painting and put everything else aside to the other monitor. I could have saved money by getting an Intuos 3 but Wacom doesn't really seem to be supporting them anymore. The advantages of the Intuos 4 over the Intuos 3 just don't seem necessary, this is especially true in the case of someone, like me, who doesn't take full advantage of the pressure sensitivity.

It's the Intuos 4 tablet! The best bang for your buck if you're a graphics person. This is the educational tablet, but don't let that fool you it's the same product in the same packaging, only for less money! Buy it! Buy it now!

Simply put, this tablet is amazing. I went from using the Intuos2 to this tablet and I was blown away. Wacom has completely amazed me by creating such a phenomenal product for digital artists to use. I would suggest this to any artist in a heartbeat.

*Please beware, this product is not for the occasional photo retouch artist or you're just intrigued by the power and have no practical use for it. You'll end up spending $300+ for a product you don't need. Instead buy the Bamboo Tablet and save yourself the financial grief. Wacom has spectacular products, just make sure to buy the RIGHT one for YOU. All the negative reviews I've read were conceived from the person buying a product that was far beyond what they needed.