Do I really need a large one, or is a small one just fine?

[Gumstabber]

Now that the title's got your attention -

I want a graphics tablet, Wacom bamboo have a good reputation. They come in a lot of different sizes the questions I have is which one do I buy and do I really need the larger one or will the small basic one be just fine? It cuts the costs in half by buying the smaller one, so obviously if I don't need to spend the extra on a larger work area then I can spend the money on other stuff.

Sizes I'm considering:-

Bamboo fun pen and touch - medium - active area size 217x137mm. £155 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175429

bamboo fun pen and touch - small - active area size 147x92mm. £84.99 http://www.ebuyer.com/product/175426

Edited by Gumstabber on Monday 7th June 13:30

[Louisa911]

I bought an A4 sized Aiptek tablet for less than either of those, and it works just as well as any Wacom I've ever tried. HTH

[ian in lancs]

http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&amp...

[daver777]

i got the small bamboo, and its fine.
depends on your useage really, as a first tablet its great. stick to wacom though!

[14-7]

I may have a Wacom Bamboo Fun for sale as I never use mine.

[pphillpot]

I use a large A4 sized Wacom Intuos at work spread over two screens and it is great. However, I also use the most basic Bamboo at home on my laptop and it's also great! So much better than a mouse (and infinately better than a touch pad on a laptop), and essential for any photoshop work.

Unless you really want the touch element and the eraser (I always use shortcuts on PS, but it depends what package you're using) on the top of the pen, the basic £40-odd version does the job just fine. The only issue I had was trying to get it properly installed in Vista, which was a pain in the ar*e, but I got there in the end and it's worked fine scince.