After months of going....."hmm I think my old Wacom Graphire 3 is on it's last legs after 7 years+ years of service. Maybe it is time to get a new graphics tablet. I don't want to be left without a graphics tablet since how will I carry on regularly updating my yaoi manga and being able to do commissions for people?" Hence I started to research what graphics tablets were available to upgrade to.
Since my previous Wacom tablet had been so reliable (never needing once to have a part replaced or mended) I was instantly drawn to getting another Wacom graphics tablet. The two options which Wacom offers (which would fulfil my artistic needs) are:
- Wacom Intuos 4
- Wacom Cintiq 12WX
When I first found out about the Wacom Cintiq model about 5 years ago, I instantly wanted one, simply because it was so revolutionary. Here was a graphics tablet where you could draw straight onto the screen! It was just like how you would draw onto a piece of paper. Gone would be the age old problem of never being too sure where your cursor was or the unnatural drawing experience of drawing something while looking somewhere else. The only problem was the price. It was and still is SO EXPENSIVE! Hence because at that time my Wacom Graphire 3 was still working perfectly fine, I put off getting a new graphics tablet. I hoped that one day (years later) the price of the Wacom Cintiq would have dropped significantly. 5 years later, and yes, the price of the Wacom Cintiq had dropped but it still is very expensive when you compare it to the other graphics tablets which are available. Currently it is about 3 times the price of a similar sized Wacom Intuos 4 :S.
No matter how much I wanted the Wacom Cintiq, I was realistic and went that "it is just a dream". I cannot justify spending that much money on one when there are other graphics tablets from Wacom which are more reasonably priced.
I then started to look seriously into getting the Wacom Intuos 4. I had found out about all its product features which my old Wacom Graphire 3 did not have. I had see the promo videos showing you around the tablet. I had even done some shopping around to find the best price for the Intuos 4. Cheapest I found was on Amazon.
Everything was going well until I started to read the reviews from people who had bought the Wacom Intuos 4. Yes there were several reviews which gave the Wacom Intuos 4 excellent reviews, but there was one review which really stood out. The reviewer had given the graphics tablet 1 star out of 5. This person had commented on how their graphics tablet the nibs wore out quickly (in a matter of HOURS!) causing damage to the surface of the tablet. This automatically made me think OMG this does not sound good! The reviewer also commented on how there was a thread of the Wacom support forum which had 64 pages of people complaining about this one issue (the thread is now on 71 pages) See http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1438. Not being a person who will just take one person's word for something, I read pages upon pages of that thread and all the bad experiences people had had with the Wacom Intuos 4 in relation to nib wear rate.
After reading that forum thread and seeing Wacom's responses of how to "modify" your graphics tablet by sticking a sheet of paper onto of it to help reduce wear (as opposed to Wacom actually doing something to fix the problem), it made me go right off purchasing a Wacom Intuos 4. If I was going to be spending a large portion of money on a new graphics tablet I wanted something reliable, not something where I have to replace bits every couple of hours. Nor did I want something where the official solution to fixing the problem is to do a Blue Peter jobbie of sticky back plastic and paper!
I was therefore back to the drawing board (lol at pun). Out of the two options available to me the Cintiq 12WX was too expensive and the Intuos 4 was unreliable. When I looked into reviews for the Cintiq 12WX the only major downside which kept cropping up was the price. All other problems I did not consider to be a big issue or were not applicable to me. i.e. one issue is that the right hand side heats up more than the left. Hence if you are right handed this can be a problem if you are using it for several hours in one go. But, since I am left handed this isn't a problem for me ^_^.
Hence I came to the conclusion, the only option was to get the Wacom Cintiq (irrespective to the price). Due to this I spoke nicely to my parents and as a joint Birthday and Christmas present (plus with me also putting money towards it as well), I could get a Wacom Cintiq!!!!!!! My dream come true. 5 years of waiting was finally at an end.
Today was a momentous day since the new graphics tablet was delivered. Tomorrow I am planning to install it and test it out. Tonight will be spent reading the weighty user manual. :S at the first couple of pages being don't do this or that with the tablet. But eeeee I am so excited at finally getting a new tablet after so long, and at it being the Wacom Cintiq!
I hope the next update of Noctivagus: Wandering by Night will be on schedule (i.e. Monday 20th December). If it is a bit late though, it is because I am still trying to figure out how to use my new graphics tablet. >_<
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