Wacom Intuos4 Medium Pen Tablet

Product Description

Size: Medium|Style: Wired
From the Manufacturer
The medium Intuos4 tablet is the most popular and versatile choice among creative professionals. With 48.5 square inches of working area, this tablet provides ample workspace for most tablet users. The medium size is built with eight ExpressKeys and illuminated ExpressKey displays that provide easy reference to your assigned functions.
What's New with Intuos4
With a new design and features inspired by members of the professional creative community, Intuos4 redefines the pen tablet experience. Featuring Wacom's new pen tip sensor technology and 2,048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity, the Intuos4 pen captures the most subtle nuances of pressure, allowing you to dynamically adjust exposure, brush size, opacity and more. User-defined ExpressKeys activate frequently used shortcuts and modifiers, while the accompanying, illuminated ExpressKey displays on the medium, large and extra large models, provide a constant reminder of each key¿s function. The finger-sensitive Touch Ring quickly controls up to 4 different functions such as canvas rotation, zoom, scroll, brush size and more

Product Details

• Product Dimensions: 10 x 14.6 x 0.5 inches ; 2.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 4.7 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B001TUYTZW
• Item model number: PTK640
  

Technical Details

• Quickly and professionally edit photos and create digital artwork with natural pen control
• New pen tip sensor technology lowers activation force and captures every nuance of pen pressure
• 2048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity for precise pressure control
• User-defined ExpressKeys and multi function Touch Ring put time saving shortcuts, modifiers, scrolling, zooming, and more at your fingertips

 

Wacom Intuos4 Medium Pen Tablet

 

Customer Reviews

Originally I gave Intuos4 Large a bad review because of the nib wear. But after 2 years of heavy use, my surface is completely smooth and no longer wears out my nibs at an alarming rate. Now I'm very satisfied with this model.
PROS
- More sensitivity, doubling from 1024 to a whopping 2048 levels. It's a nice improvement when sketching very light construction lines, ie "ghosting". Not a huge help for painting in Photoshop, since I use opacity and flow to adjust my paint layer applications.
-Scroll wheel is a nice addition and offers good control when zooming.
-OLED screen for shortcuts is also a nice addition in case you forget the express key assignments.
-Like it's intuos3 predecessor, the pen is ergonomic and comfortable.
-Pen holder has good functionality because it now holds your spare nibs. Convenient, since you will need to replace nibs like crazy.
-Widescreen formats now for all sizes.
CONS
- The nibs wear out to an annoying chiseled point within hours, and completely gone in days! If you continue to paint with a worn out nib, you will scratch the surface so don't be cheap. This has been the most common problem since most forums have very disgruntled artists spending extra money stocking up on overpriced nibs. $1-2 per plastic nib that costs them 1 penny to make. Just type "intuos4 nib wear" and you can read for yourself. This is due to the new paper-like friction surface, which is nice but not necessary. I've never worn out my intuos2 or intuos3 nibs in 6 years!
- As a result, the surface sheet will eventually become completely smooth. Depending which area you use the most, you'll soon get uneven surfacing throughout. So while one side has the friction feel, another area is worn out smooth. So you'll have to replace the sheet within a year. I've yet to replace my intuos2 or intuos3 sheets.
-The express keys on one side is a great idea, but they are TOO FIRM. They also are placed awkwardly, are too small, and sizes are too similar. I find them uncomfortable and useless since I rarely look down while working since it's about speed and productivity in the motion picture/gaming industry. Plus having wrist issues in the past, these buttons are not ergonomic at all.
-Express key area is a fingerprint magnet. If you continually clean off that area, you will slowly produce little scratches.
-Bad customer support for intuos4 from Wacom. The design flaws i mentioned above have been reviewed by Wacom forum reps on their Wacom Europe forums. It seems they are in total denial of any design flaws. They have offered cheap ploys that blame the customer for the nib wear and bad advice such as taping paper onto a $400-700 piece of hardware to cover up their mistakes. SAD but true.
FINAL THOUGHTS
-If you are thinking about upgrading from intuos2, an intuos3 or intuos4 is a must. The ergonomic intuos3 or intuos4 pen alone makes it a necessary upgrade.
-The only size that I would not recommend is the Extra Large version. It's way too thick: 1.1 inches thick vs the thin .6 inches of the Large model. I have no idea why Wacom couldn't keep the same thickness, go figure.

Length:: 9:02 Mins
The New Intuos4 is better in almost every way! In this video I'll show you my favorite new features.