New tablet issue, bah.

[Bojingle]

So I got my first Mac yesterday; a 17" MBP. Very exciting, love it. Hoowever, I hooked up my ancient Wacom CTE-430 and it works fine as far as clicking and moving around goes (though it's pretty annoying since it's rather small...). I installed the cd but when I go to adjust the preferences it tells me 'You cannot open Pen Tablet preferences because it does not work on an Intel-based Mac.'

Soo... Does this mean I won't be able to get any pen pressure? (Still waiting for PS trial to download to discover this for myself... A little antsy, haha). Or did I do something wrong?

I mean, if it's not going to work on here I'm not going to cry or anything. It would just make me feel better upgrading to a new Intuos4 for a reason other than this thing being almost 5-6 years old.

Edit:

So I've been using my tablet just fine. Working beautifully. However, I started noticing that when I'm drawing in CS4, the line being drawn (brush and eraser) will sometimes lag ever so slightly behind the cursor. The cursor itself doesn't lag at all, just the line. It's not a constant thing either, but it lasts long enough for it to be an annoyance. It's fairly aggravating since I like to sketch and paint with fast strokes.

I'm not even sure what to check for this. Would it be hardware, software? Could it possibly even be Photoshop? I restarted PS and it seems fixed momentarily...

Has anyone else had this problem?

 

[SilentPanda]

You might see if there is new software to download from Wacoms site. I have the Bamboo tablet and the preferences work fine on my Intel Mac Pro.

 

[Macky-Mac]

....ancient Wacom CTE-430...

.

did you check Wacom's site to see if there's a download available for an updated driver for your ancient thing?

edit; opps, beaten to it!

 

[Bojingle]

I looked about for it earlier but could only find updates for newer models. I found it though and now I can see the preferences. I don't know why I couldn't find it before..

C: Much better, though.

P: Now I suppose I'll have to see if I want to see how many more years this thing'll last or not...

 

[steve123]

Hi SilentPanda,

I've been thinking of a Bamboo or Intuos4. I'm primarily interested in touching up digital photos. Do you have any thoughts on which I should get?

 

[SilentPanda]

Hi SilentPanda,

I've been thinking of a Bamboo or Intuos4. I'm primarily interested in touching up digital photos. Do you have any thoughts on which I should get?

I just got the bamboo 'cause I wanted something cheap. I think if you're just using it casually it's fine. If you're a professional using it daily for your job you'd probably want a larger one. But I use the Bamboo on my 30" monitor just fine with images larger than my screen.

I don't have any experience with another tablet so I can't compare...

 

[chaosbunny]

Hi SilentPanda,

I've been thinking of a Bamboo or Intuos4. I'm primarily interested in touching up digital photos. Do you have any thoughts on which I should get?

I have an A4 sized Intuos 3 connected to my iMac and a Bamboo for on the go stuff. Of course the Intuos wins hands down - not only because of the size but also because of the doubled pressure levels. I'd say for occasional photo manipulation the Bamboo is just fine, I'd just get the Intuos if you will really be using it every day. Apart from that you risk less in case you don't like the tablet experience. You'll surely need some testing to get comfortable with it.

 

[Bojingle]

Hi SilentPanda,

I've been thinking of a Bamboo or Intuos4. I'm primarily interested in touching up digital photos. Do you have any thoughts on which I should get?

I've never used an Intuos before, but I'd say that a Bamboo would probably suite your needs. As far as I know there's no crazy drop in ability to do things if you go cheaper. I have quite a few artist friends (and while they don't really touch up digital photos, they paint digitally) they create awesome works with the Bamboo or cheaper wacom tablets that are not the Intuos.

 

[steve123]

Thanks to all for the feedback. I think I'll give the Bamboo a try. I think I am just a "casual" home user but I do have quite a few digital photos to touch up. Using a mouse with Photoshop has been a bit of a pain.

I did stop by a computer retailer yesterday to test drive the Bamboo. I do note and confirm that using a tablet is going to get some getting used to. I had quite a bit of difficulty positioning the pointer on the screen reliably.

Thank you,
Steve

 

[Bojingle]

Any tablet, I think, takes quite a bit of getting used to. I know it took me a while.


On another note, I'm having more issues. c: Oh booy...Ugh. See edit in original post.