As a graphic artist, I am familiar with digital graphics tablets. Most digital artists are familiar with Wacom products, but they tend to be very pricey. The price point of a tablet has a bit of “snob” factor to it, as professional tablets start around $350 and “lesser” entry-level tablets can be had for under $100. When I saw the Adesso CyberTablet 6400, I really didn’t have a lot of high hopes, given its $70 price point.
I was soon flogging myself for having such negative thoughts, because the tablet ended up having the same smooth operation and functionality as one of my entry-level Wacom tablets.
Specifications
Ergonomically designed tablet with a wireless scroll mouse for easy drawing, handwriting, sketching, coloring and picture editing. Design, write, draw, sketch, all with the sleek and affordable CyberTablet 6400. This ergonomically designed graphics tablet includes a scroll mouse and a 6″ x 4″ work space, that lets you naturally draw and write freehand graphics and text as comfortably as you would on real paper.
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Enhance Photos Quickly and easily edit your digital photos using the control of the CyberTablet pen and your free copy of PhotoImpact XL. Take your skills to the next level with this advanced photography software. |
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Draw and Paint Create great looking artwork with the natural feel of your CyberTablet pen and the amazing capabilities of 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. |
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Mark up, Sign, and More The included CyberTablet pen makes it easy to sketch and write notes in Microsoft Office XP and Apple word processors. Mark up documents in Microsoft Word, annotate presentations in Microsoft PowerPoint, and even jot a note to friends and family. |
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Professional Graphics Tablet
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Wireless Drawing Pen
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Cordless Mouse
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Specification:
- 6″ x 4″ writing area, making it the ideal choice for professional computer artists.
- Wireless 2 button pen with 512 levels of pressure sensitive to provide all the comforts of a normal pencil.
- High accuracy and sensitivity for a highly reactive cursor.
- 512 gradations of pressure sensitivity for highly accurate rendering in painting and writing.
- No need for separate power adapter, completely USB powered.
- 3-button ergonomic wireless mouse with for right and left handed users.
- High resolution, supports up to 3048 lines per inch.
- Easy connection to USB port.
- Dimensions: 9″ x 9″ x 0.25″
- Tablets Drawing Area Dimensions: 6.25″ x 4.75″
The whole kit is comprised of three parts: the wireless pen, the cordless mouse, and the tablet itself, which is what the USB cable is attached to.
The tablet is grey and has a recessed area to lay the pen when not in use. The drawing area has a lift-up flap that you can place drawings under for easy tracing. Above the drawing area are twelve programmable Function keys, numbered F1 to F12, much like a standard PC keyboard. By default these function keys have the same default functions as your keyboard, so clicking F1 brings up Help for the active window.
The mouse is small and rather light, even with the AAA battery installed. The mouse has three buttons: a left, middle and right click, and sadly no scroll wheel or Back/Forward buttons are present. This mouse is basically featureless and is practically useless since it can only be used on the very small drawing area of the tablet. Most users will just toss this mouse aside in lieu of a much better mouse. Personally, I use a gaming-grade mouse with variable DPI for all my graphics work.
The pen looks very much like a typical Wacom pen, but does not have the Eraser feature of some of their models. With a Wacom tablet you could flip the pen around and your graphics program would automatically switch to the Eraser tool. The pen has a rocking switch which is mapped to the single click and right-click function. The tip of the pen is replacable, which can be pulled out with a set of small grips. The pen screws apart above the rocker switch to allow access to the battery compartment. The pen takes a single AAA battery and is held in place with a spring. Even though there is a battery it is only slightly heavier than my Wacom Intuos pen and has a good weight balance. There are no lights or any other indicator on the pen.
The tablet sits quite nice on my desk, and is about the side of a modest mousepad. The four rubber grips on the bottom keep it in place rather well. The pad is very responsive to the pen and works just like a Wacom tablet… basically you hover your mouse over the drawing area to move the mouse, and press down to start drawing.
The pressure sensitivity didn’t register in Photoshop CS4 at first, but that was a fault with Photoshop (I had to reset my preferences by holding down Ctrl + Alt + Shift while starting Photoshop). Once my preferences were reset then I could assign various Brush properties to the tablet. The tablet supports 512 levels of pressure and does not support pen tilt, which is only introduced at Pro-level tablets.
All tablets can work in two modes: absolute and relative mode. Absolute mode means that the place you put your pen is the same spot on the screen. Lift your pen and place it in another corner and your cursor immediately jumps to that location. Relative mode works like a mouse…. lift your pen and the cursor stays in place and only moves when it senses movement. Wacom tablets automatically sense when a mouse and pen is used and automatically switch between relative and absolute mode, but the Adesso model did not. You have to go into the tablet’s control panel applet to change its behavior. It really doesn’t matter much as I doubt anyone will use the included mouse.
The tablet performed just as well as the much more expensive Wacom tablet in just about every application I tested it in, from Adobe CS4 to Microsoft Office, Tablet PC handwriting tools, and even web browsers. There was absolutely no skipping or stuttering and was very fluid and smooth. The tablet kept up with very quick circular motions very fluidly (quick motions in a crappy tablet translates into a bunch of straight lines).
The tablet comes with some free software, but I would imaging anyone that needs a digital tablet already has Photoshop. All of the software comes on one CD and are listed as follows:
- PhotoImpact 12 SE
Unleash a powerful set of creative tools including hundreds of effects and tools for montages, creative design, Web graphics and more.
Take your skills to the next level with this advanced photography tools. - Free Notes
Show off your real handwriting and drawing skills in your e-mails.
This program allows you to create reminder notes for display on your desktop. You can customize and personalize the size and colors of notes. - Power Presenter RE II
Turn your screen into a Whiteboard/Blackboard with Microsoft PowerPoint. Its just like working with a natural pen on paper.
Save all handwriting, annotation and notes whenever necessary within a presentation. The Power Presenter Kit provides the best functionality to record your notes and replay your presentation. - Pen Soft Pro
Write a letter or take a note. It converts your handwriting into text. Any handwriting is recognized accurately. Write in cursive or print, or a combination of the two.
Supports English, Chinese & Japanese Handwriting recognition - Office Ink
This is special software that creates digital signatures in almost any software application. Allowing you to secure documents faster in the digital age simply by signing your name with this special Office Ink software.
The Adesso CyberTablet 6400 is an entry-level graphics tablet, and has the similar features as other consumer-grade tablets like the Wacom Graphire or Bamboo. The CyberTablet does have programmable function keys, which my Graphire does not have. If you want the pro-level features (1024+ levels of sensitivity, pen tilt, airbrush tools, etc.) then you’ll have to spend the cash necessary to step up to that level.
One of the caveats you must contend with is that the pen and mouse require a battery to function. Wacom patented the whole batteryless peripheral thing, so other vendors have to make do. Regardless of this, the Adesso CyberTablet has about the same performance as the same level of Wacom tablet for a little less money.
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