PC Tablets

[Demon In Me]

Okay, I'm considering purchasing a tablet for varying reasons, and I know very little about them.

Mostly I'll be using it for gaming files, in Word or PDF files, and Photoshop/picture files. However, I want to know if it can also work like a Wacom graphics tablet, because right now I sketch out dungeon maps and such, and would like to be able to put them right onto the PC to integrate everything. Any suggestions or warnings?

- The Demon

[factotum]

I think you might mean "Tablet PCs"--a "PC Tablet" would be the Wacom pads you mentioned! :smallsmile:

Anyway, I may be wrong, but I don't think the touchscreen on a tablet has the same range of pressure sensitivity as a full-blown graphics tablet. That may not be a problem for you if you're only using it for sketching out maps--just don't necessarily expect to use one to draw your next artistic masterpiece!

[Flickerdart]

Anyway, I may be wrong, but I don't think the touchscreen on a tablet has the same range of pressure sensitivity as a full-blown graphics tablet. That may not be a problem for you if you're only using it for sketching out maps--just don't necessarily expect to use one to draw your next artistic masterpiece!
Modern tablet PCs have 512 levels of pressure, older models will have 128 or 256. The Bamboo Wacom tablets have 1024 levels. The difference between all these numbers is negligible - you're not going to see it outside, perhaps, tightly controlled tests with some kind of microscope.

A tablet PC is very expensive, however. If you don't mind the bulk, a regular laptop and a wacom tablet are going to run you much cheaper. You could buy used, too. A Fujitsu Lifebook t2010 has an absurd battery life (4-5 hours while using photoshop) even with the stock battery, and more with the expanded. It's not a new tablet, so it doesn't have touch sensitivity, only Wacom input. You should be able to find one of these on eBay well south of $1000.

If you want touch as well as pen sensitivity, you'll need to buy a recent one, and that price suddenly goes way up. Sit tight and wait for a deal, they usually pop up around September (back to school specials) or Christmas (holiday/boxing day sales). You always want something that's 12 inches or larger, because smaller displays don't have Wacom hardware.

If you're not going to be hardcore painting, or running anything serious, I don't recommend this purchase. Buy an iPad or whatever, buy a drawing app and it should tide you over.