Product Description

Wacom Graphire 4x5 Graphics Tablet - A graphics tablet gives you the ability to be more creative on your computer, and with much more precision than a mouse. Using a pressure sensitive pen, you can more easily and more naturally enhance photos, draw, paint, jot notes, write your signature, and more. It works with any program your mouse does, but Wacom will start you off on the right foot by giving you a free copy of Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Color Efex Pro 2 GE, and Corel Painter Essentials 2. Graphire Pen with Eraser 512 levels of pressure sensitivity for natural brush control. Patented cordless, battery-free technology for a natural feel and superior performance. Two programmable side buttons for efficiency right at your fingertips. Pressure-sensitive eraser for easy fixes. Graphire Cordless Mouse. Cordless, battery-free technology. Scrolling finger wheel also functions as a 3rd programmable button. Optical Technology. Connects to a PC or Mac via USB. Color--Silver

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #12770 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Wacom
• Model: CTE440S
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .70" h x 8.20" w x 8.03" l, 1.10 pounds

Features

• Pressure sensitive pen and tablet ideal for creative and business applications
• Battery-free digital pen offers 512 levels of pressure sensitivity for maximum control, two programmable side-buttons, and a pressure-sensitive eraser for easy fixes
• Connects to Macs and PCs easily via USB connection
• Includes Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Corel Painter Essentials 2, nik Color Efex Pro 2 GE

Amazon.com Product Description
Amazon.com Product Description Whether you're an artist, graphic designer, or business person, the Wacom Graphire4 4x5 USB Tablet can make your life a lot easier and more productive. Using the Graphire4's unique pressure-sensitive wireless pen and tablet, you can mark up Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF documents with your handwritten comments, edit and enhance your digital photos, quickly create original digital art work, add handwritten notes to your PowerPoint presentations, write your e-mail messages by hand, and much more. Not only will the Graphire4 help your productivity soar, it will also reduce the problems associated with repetitive stress problems and bring a level of performance to your work that is not possible with a typical keyboard and mouse.

Wacom Graphire4 4x5 USB Tablet features a unique, pressure-sensitive wireless pen and tablet. View larger.

An Artist's Tool That's Not Just for Artists
The Graphire digital pen and tablet have long been essential for graphic designers and artists. With the help of Corel Painter Essential 2, which is included with the Graphire4, the Wacom pen can give you the control you need to create just about any type of graphics you want. You simply draw your design against the tablet just as you would with a canvas or piece of blank paper. And if photography is your art of choice, the included Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, along with the included nik Color Efex Pro2 GE filter collection, will let you quickly edit and enhance your digital photos for stunning professional results. And Macintosh users can use the Graphire pen to enjoy all the digital-inking capabilities of Apple Inkwell.

Wacom's cordless, battery-free pen is loaded with functionality.

Because all of Wacom's tablets are pressure sensitive--they literally feel the full range of pressure from the pen on the tablet--you get unparalleled control with your creations. Press hard, and you get a more opaque clone, a fatter paintbrush, or a darker stroke. Press lightly, and you have a transparent clone, a thin brush, or a gentle stroke of color. The tablet can even sense the tilt of your pen, giving you the ability to tilt your brush for cool effects.

Microsoft Office OneNote is specially designed for note taking. With the Graphire4, OneNote lets you capture information in several ways. For instance, you can move the cursor to any place on the screen and start writing. You can also add handwritten diagrams and pictures. If you're working with the English language version of Microsoft XP, you can also write directly in a Word document, Explorer search bar, or e-mail, and with the help of Microsoft's handwriting-recognition capabilities, your writing will be converted to text just as if you were using the keyboard.

If you've ever been in the position of reviewing documents, you know how inefficient it can be to print out your document, mark it up, and then forward your comments. With Graphire4, you can convert any of your documents to Adobe PDF, digitally sign it, and mark up the documents using your pen and tablet just as you would with pen. You simply select the pen tool from your PDF toolbar and add your comments and revisions. When you're done, you can just forward the document via e-mail, saving several time-consuming steps.

Altering documents and photos is a breeze with the Wacom Graphire4 tablet. View larger.

If you are a teacher or need to make presentations to a business audience, you can even use Graphire4 to turn your PowerPoint presentation into a "whiteboard." With PowerPoint's pen tool, you can add your handwritten marks onto a blank slide or straight onto your slides. This gives you all the flexibility of the old-fashioned overhead projector, but without the mess to clean up.

Advanced Tools That Know Few Boundaries
At the heart of the Graphire4 is a wireless, battery-free digital pen that offers 512 levels of pressure sensitivity for maximum control, two programmable side buttons for convenience, and a pressure-sensitive eraser for easy fixes. Pressure sensitivity makes it possible to control the amount of a software tool's effect simply by varying how firmly the pen tip is pressed to the tablet, just as you would with a mechanical pen or pencil. Using a Graphire4 pen is easy because every point on the tablet has a matching point on the screen. When the pen is moved over the tablet, the cursor moves in precisely the same way on the screen.

The Graphire4 tablet uses a USB connection for quick installation on both PCs and Macs. At a compact 4 by 5 inches, it offers a large enough area to do your work but is portable enough to be carried wherever you need to go. A transparent photo frame surrounding the work area makes the tablet easy to personalize with photos and artwork. The photo frame also contains a clever pen compartment that, along with the pen stand, provides two convenient ways to keep the pen handy and secure. The Graphire4 also features a scroll wheel right on the tablet and two programmable ExpressKeys for navigation, mouse clicks, and keyboard shortcuts. With a sleek silver design, the Graphire 4 will nicely complement your work station. (Note: the Graphire4 4x5 USB Tablet is also available in white and metallic blue.)

The cordless, battery-free mouse offers smooth and highly accurate tracking with up to four times the resolution of an optical mouse. It features a rubberized grip for comfort, and the scrolling finger wheel also serves as a third programmable button for convenience. By alternately using the pen and mouse, you can significantly reduce the repetitive motion that contributes to stress injuries.

The Graphire4 also profits from years of research into how people use pens and tablets. Everything from the elegant shape and feel of the pen--with its tapered waist and finger flare--to the exact texture of the drawing surface is designed to minimize strain and maximize comfort.

The Wacom Graphire4 4x5 USB Tablet is loaded with great features, such as the ExpressKeys, Tablet Wheel, clear tablet cover, and the patented, cordless, pressure-sensitive pen. View larger.

What's in the Box
Graphire4 4x5 pen tablet, pen, pen stand, mouse, 2 CD-ROMs, Wacom tablet driver software, user manual, and bundled software (Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Corel Painter Essentials 2,and nik Color Efex Pro 2 GE)

From the Manufacturer
Graphire gives you the control you need to quickly and easily edit your digital photos. It works great with any software your mouse does and runs on both PCs and Macs. Draw, paint, and create fun artwork for scrapbooks, craft projects, and slide shows. Comfortably jot notes, annotate documents, sign your name, sketch quick diagrams, and communicate more personally. With both a Wacom pen and mouse you'll have the right tool for any task. Using them alternately reduces repetitive motion. Get the control of Graphire and join millions of satisfied Wacom tablet users.

You will be thrilled with Graphire’s creative uses. Quickly and easily edit your digital photos using the control of the Graphire pen and your included copy of Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 3. Selectively apply high-quality photographic enhancements using the included nik Color Efex Pro™ 2 GE filter collection. Create great looking artwork with the natural feel of your Graphire pen and the amazing capabilities of Corel Painter™ Essentials 2 (included). When used with a Wacom pen, Painter Essentials 2 looks and feels like just about any natural art tool your heart desires. The Graphire pen is pressure sensitive so you can control the amount of a software tool's effect by varying how firmly you press the pen tip to the tablet. The pen is easy to use because every point on the tablet has a matching point on the screen. When you move your pen over the tablet the cursor moves in precisely the same way on the screen. Where you touch your pen tip to the tablet is where you click.

The 4x5 USB tablet is silver and includes pen tablet, pen, pen stand, mouse, 2 CDs with Wacom tablet driver software, user manual, and bundled software.

Customer Reviews

Excellent upgrade!
Just a note to correct RE Geiger's review below. In WinXP's Start > Programs > Tablet you can set the Graphire4 to "mouse mode" when you're using the pen, i.e. it uses relative positioning instead of absolute positioning.

I personally have used a Graphire2 to do color correction and graphics work at a daily newspaper for over a year. I also had one at home for personal projects. It's been all the tablet I ever needed. Recently, I bought a white Graphire4 for myself from CompUSA because the pen on my home unit broke--it was stuck at 14-16% pressure all the time.

(I should have checked Amazon, it's about $8 cheaper here with free shipping. I did consider just buying a replacement pen, but wasn't sure at the time whether the newer pens would work with my old tablet.)

After I bought the Graphire4, I found its pen works fine with the Graphire2 tablet and drivers, so there really wasn't any reason to buy an all new tablet. I don't regret it though!

The build quality of version 4 has been well worth the upgrade. Instead of a thin translucent flap to slide images under for tracing, there is a thick, clear "case" on the tablet that you unsnap. The case also includes a pen holder that holds the pen flat instead of upright like before. Both the pen and mouse work flawlessly of course, and are comfortable to use for extended periods of time. The included software seems also a nice bonus, but I won't talk about that because I have the regular versions of Photoshop etc. available. There are also programmable buttons on the tablet that weren't there before...convenient.

The only thing that I worry about is scuffing the tablet "case." I don't like to use the pen holder because it holds the pen too tightly for my liking, even though it's a DEFINITE improvement over version 2. I've opted to keep the original plastic packaging on the tablet for as long as possible. I also keep two rubber bands around the tablet to hold the pen when the tablet isn't in use. The rubber bands interfere with the mouse, but I am always using the pen so it doesn't matter.

Wacom Tablets Rock!
I am an owner of several Wacom Tablets including sizes. I bought this one to use with my laptop as I am so used to using a tablet on my main pc and for that one I have an Intuos 6x8.. that I wanted the smaller real estate size. I do graphics and need a stylus to work with it. I hate the touchpad. OK... that said.. a consideration in buying a tablet is your need for size. Keep in mind that the tablet is about 3 inches larger all over than the tablet size. I have owned an 8 x 12 (not sure if correct size.. but major large). It fits anything you would do graphically real size time; however, it takes up lots of room. The 6 x 8 is not small, but it is manageable on a desk. I love the levels of graphic ability, pen controls etc from the Intuos... but I already have that on my desktop. The graphire will afford portability for my laptop and the cover keeps it intact and moveable. It does most things very well, but for extreme detail (if needed) I go to my desktop and use my larger tablet. 4x5 is a good size. It works well for average applications. You need to adjust your setings prior to use to go along with your screen size and it will be quite fine. On a larger tablet, you find yourself going all over the place to get from one end of the screen to the other. So, you need to adjust your screen area to be smaller anyway. And, how many times do you really need a really large area? In my case it is not that often. I do quite well on the 6 x 8 on my desk. This 4 x 5 is quite versatile and very useable. They are the best tablets on the market and for the average user, you cannot go wrong. There simply is no other way better to play games (much faster), edit photos, draw, airbrush, do art, than a tablet. But make your adjustments in the software provided and you should be quite happy. The graphire does not have tilt control, but it will work quite well for a small space, and a laptop computer ... Do yourself and your wrist a favor.. buy and enjoy your tablet. The intuos is almost 3 times the price... but, if you do graphic design I would go there first.

P.S. Been using this graphire almost one month now with my laptop. I just cannot seem to get along without a graphics tablet. This tablet is really nice. I am doing digital painting ..oils, watercolor, etc., using Corel's Painter 9.5, Adobe Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, to name some, and I do quite a bit on this laptop. My Intuos is on my desktop computer, but I am very happy and comfortable with the graphire performance. I prefer the additional settings on an Intuous, but you simply cannot beat this graphire 4. I love the cover, it keeps my pen in place, fits nicely in my case with the laptop, and performs very well for this price. My Intuos does not have this feature and I was a bit concerned about it, but, I never take it off. Using a stylus is very fast, and more natural than using a mouse. Plus the back and forward buttons as well as scroll on the tablet face is a plus. In my opinion, the bad reviews are unjustified. Wacom tablets are the very best and cannot be outperformed.

recommended for stress relief...
At first I was concerned about the lower resolution compared to the Intuos... but after trying the both of them, i can't really tell the difference.
It's much more sensitive than a mouse, and takes a couple of weeks to get used to. I bought it mainly cuz my fingers started to hurt after my 8 hours of mouse clicking everyday at work. And the Graphire reduced the stress on my index and middle fingers (sometimes my index finger hurts so bad, i had to switch fingers...) greatly.
It's still kinda tricky to catch the notches in Illustrator sometimes, cuz it's so sensitive to movements, but I am getting a hang of it.