I know there are a lot of you out there- you need a tablet but can't afford the cost of a wacom. I hear you, I was extremely fortunate to get my 12 x 12 artz II wacom tablet as a gift. On the plus side- it's lasted me 12 years! on the downside, replacing it with something comparable today would cost me $450 ([link]). So it was with much disgust and dismay when i found out that my "upgrade" to vista meant i no longer had a tablet that wacom would support with drivers. Part because of the prohibitive cost- and part out of anger that wacom refuses to support the tablet- i started scouting out the competition.

Tried getting one of these for my GF ([link]) . (aiptek 12.1") . It sucked- even with the new drivers it didn't have the ability to adjust mapping to screen, or pen speed if you choose to work in mouse mode. This was very dissappointing to me because i liked aiptek since i used this [link]ROD&roduct_Code=R-HP12U&Category_Code=T1&Store_Code=AS (hyperpen 1200u) for over 2 years at one of my jobs. If you have the means to try this one and you know you will be with XP for awhile- i do recommend it (but you might have trouble with pressure support for programs like flash) and it doesn't do tilt.

really- the aiptek 12.1 is a modified version of this [link] vistablet . I haven't actually held one in my hands- but i say don't get it.

which brings me to this [link] ( the hanvon graphicpal ) . I'm in a pinch- i need to finish a project- and my older computer can't keep up with the complexity of my drawing. I can save up the cash for a wacom later, but i have to be very thrifty with my money now. so i figured i'd take a chance on this little piece- and if i don't like it- i'll return it for the bamboo.

well- turns out I might not return it. It has the mapping features i need- you can adjust the pressure sensitivity and double click speed.
BUT- looking back over the controls- you can't set it up to track like a mouse! this is a major negative for those of you who like to retrack your pen tip in the center of the tablet to get the cursor to the edge of the screen.

Fortunately i've always been a 1to1 tablet mapper- so this doesn't affect me.

Of course it doesn't support tilt functions (which are nifty) and it only has 512 levels of pressure sensitivity. These specs are the same as the bamboo- but the cost of this tablet is $40 cheaper. One added bonus, this tablet has a smooth surface- the bamboo has "synthetic paper" - which for me, after all those years with a smooth surface artzII- is kind of annoying.

anyway- real reviews of tablets out there for artists seem few and far between, so i wanted to get my contribution out there and wish you guys luck if you are trying to do this on the cheap

PS- i did just get this thing tonight- i hope it lasts- that's one thing i'll say about wacom- the products are solid.

PPS- i might try to return it anyway and get the next size up- i can really use the space for my dual monitor setup