In the earlier part of 2006, I purchased the 4″x6″ Wacom Intuos3 Pen Tablet, which retails for around $230. I really wanted to get the next size up, the 6″x8″, but at the price of $330 I was not ready to spend that much. So I settled on the smaller one.

I recently was sent an 8″x6″ Manhattan Graphics Tablet to try out by the folks over at Technical Cable Applications. Right off, I loved the larger size of this tablet. This larger size makes it much easier to get things done, and is easier to handle. Another feature that I liked about the tablet itself are the hot keys around the border of the drawing surface; those can really come in handy.

Then drawing pen that comes with this tablet I prefer over the one that comes with the Intuos3. Manhattan’s pen feels more like an actual pen, and has a similiar weight to a real pen, so to me it felt more natural. The Intuos3 pen is lighter and a bit longer than a normal pen. One thing the Intuos3 pen featured that the Manhattan one did not was an “eraser”, but this didn’t really bother me as I mainly use the “step backwards” feature in Photoshop anyways.

The pressure-sensitivity of the pen and tablet worked out great for me, although it did seem to be very slightly less sensitive than the Wacom. I also liked the mouse that came with the Manhattan tablet. The Intuos3 mouse has a felt-like surface that attracts dust, particles, and cat hair like a magnet. The Manhattan mouse did not have such side effects.

I’ll admit that I was somewhat skeptical of this tablet as all I’ve heard anyone talk about is the Wacom tablets, but after trying it out for myself, I think I prefer the Manhattan tablet over the Wacom one I have. It is also much more affordable at just $79.95 and free UPS shipping!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Gadgets. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.