The Graphire4 4 - by-5 - column inch tablet is Wacom ’s latest low - price , pressure - sensitive tablet . Priced at just $ 100 , it has a new design and even packs a few features culled from the most recent Intuos3 tablets (; January 2005 ) , Wacom ’s higher - conclusion line . If you ’re a photographer , illustrator , or World Wide Web designer looking for more flexibleness in the creative body of work you do on your Mac , the Graphire4 is a peachy product with which to start .
Fine new design
Measuring just about 8.2 - by-8 - by-0.7 inches , the 4 - by-5 tablet has no protrude controls , making it unconditional and highly portable . If you tend to hold your lozenge while work , the little size also take a leak it well-situated and comfortable to grip .
Most tablet these days hail with cordless pen , but only Wacom ’s are also battery - free , intend you do n’t have to care about running out of juice in the midriff of a Book of Job . The Graphire4 ship with a very easy penitentiary that furnish 512 levels of imperativeness sensitiveness , a two - release side - mounted switch , and a pressure - sensitive eraser at the top . you could well programme any of the playpen ’s push button to perform clicks , double - clicks , or key presses using Wacom ’s OS go system penchant .
The Graphire4 also ships with a shelling - free cordless mouse . It have two clit and a scroll steering wheel , but it go only on the tablet surface . It has no ball or sensor of any kind , so there are no incite or visual parts to get gum up .
New features
The Graphire4 has several raw and useful feature . A wheel in the center of the lozenge ’s top bound have you well scroll through a document . There are also two ExpressKeys , one on either side of the curlicue wheel , which you could program as any primal press or modifier key . Once you configure them , these controls can save you multiple trips to the keyboard when changing cock , or holding down qualifier key .
Though I welcome these novel controls , I ’d find them even more utile if they were locate on the unexpended side of the tablet . fortuitously , the 4 - by-5 - column inch tablet is small enough that you’re able to still reach these centered controls comparatively well . On the big 6 - by-8 - inch tablet , they ’re a little more ill-chosen to use .
The Graphire4 also occur pack with Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 (; February 2005 ) , nik Color Efex Pro 2.0 GE , and Corel Painter Essentials 2 . So not only do you get an splendid graphics pill , but also very utilitarian , albeit stripped - down versions of the mart - lead consumer picture - redaction and painting program . This is a not bad softwood for photographers or illustrators who are on a budget or just getting start out .
The pill features a new pellucid , removable frame that covers the tablet ’s full aerofoil , allowing you to place artwork underneath the soma . Wacom promote this feature as a way to decorate and personalize your tablet , but I ’d be surprised if there ’s enough demand to keep this lineament around in succeeding versions .
Macworld’s buying advice
Wacom ’s Graphire4 artwork tablet is well - design , well-to-do , and prosperous to utilise . Plus , it allows photographers and artists to produce event that are difficult or impossible to reach using a mouse or trackball . If you do n’t already have a tablet , it ’s silly not to corrupt a Graphire4 , especially at this sane price .
[ Ben Long is a independent writer , photographer , and videographer based in San Francisco . ]
