Wacom celebrates 25 years with Intuos3 Special Edition pen tablet

Hard to believe that Wacom has been around for a quarter century, but this month marks its 25th year in business. To celebrate, the firm is introducing a trio of Intuos3 Special Edition pen tablets in a variety of sizes including 6- x 8-, 6- x 11-, and 9- x 12-inches. Each tablet touts "a refined and sophisticated black and gun metal gray color scheme," Wacom's Classic Pen to compliment the Intuos3 Grip Pen, an accessory kit, and a transparent overlay "to substitute with the traditional gray overlay." All three units play nice with both Macs and PCs and can be snapped up for $369, $409 and $489 from smallest to largest.

[Via PC World]

[MasterCKO @ Sep 18th 2007 8:54PM]

wow, looks cool. I was just thinking of upgrading my tablet. This is perfect. Why does it include a Graphire pen, tho? I always figured that the Intuos one was superior in every way. Why would I want to go _down_ in functionality? Any insight?

[John @ Sep 18th 2007 9:23PM]

The article at PC World says that an Airbrush is included, which makes more sense. The article does not provide a source, and Wacom's website does not mention this special edition on the breaking news page, or the pages with products for America or Europe.

So, without any additional information this is all nothing more than a rumor.

[ExcavatE @ Sep 18th 2007 10:02PM]

Nope, looks like the real thing: http://www.wacom.com/intuos/SE.cfm

[bjorn_ahlm @ Sep 19th 2007 3:34AM]

They are sold in Europe with the airbrush.

http://www.wacom-europe.com/int/products/intuos/intuos3se.asp?lang=en

[KSB @ Sep 19th 2007 4:01AM]

The Danish Apple store "Humac" is selling the new wacom's with Airbrush instead of classic pen

http://www.humac.dk/produkter/wacom-special-edition/

[Rusty @ Sep 18th 2007 10:33PM]

I'd love to have one of their tablets, but they want too much.

[soot @ Sep 18th 2007 10:56PM]

Blehhh, too bad I just bought an Intuos 6x8 last week.

These look pretty awesome. I'm digging the gunmetal finish, but I wish Wacom would hurry up and stick some Bluetooth functionality in the Intuos line. The Graphire4 is the only wireless model they've got so far, unless I'm mistaken.

[Will @ Sep 19th 2007 11:46AM]

Actually, there's no bluetooth Graphire4. Their only bluetooth tablet is more akin to the 3, though it has no official number. I'd check my memory here, but the Graphire4 isn't on their website anymore, unless that's just a temporary problem like the error messages I'm getting on the bottom of the graphire page. Pretty sure though, I think the 4 had a scroll wheel or something in addition to the two buttons.

[VayVay @ Sep 19th 2007 12:12AM]

nuphantom & Rusty:

If you're a serious artist and you've ever used one, you would understand why they charge so much. I've used several other tablets and they were all total crap compared to the real deal. You get what you pay for.

Do I wish they were less expensive? Of course.
Am I willing to pay what is necessary for a real tool? You betcha.

[Keith @ Sep 19th 2007 12:18AM]

Holy Crap Batman, Engagdet reports on something over a week old!!

[huh @ Sep 19th 2007 12:39AM]

>> All three units play nice with both Macs and PCs

they also work out of the box (as do many things USB) on Linux, including pen direction, pressure, etc.

[broken_reel @ Sep 19th 2007 1:48AM]

For a random amatuer playing around (looking at getting into webcomics) how does the graphire fare? I'm not yet ready to make the commitment to an intuos at this moment.

[Firebird @ Sep 19th 2007 3:00AM]

I used a graphire 2 for just that when I was at that stage. I still have it, a good 5 years later, and it still works like a champ, and it is more than enough for webcomic work and even a bit of more serious stuff if you go that way. I've got an Intuos 3 6x11 now, and I'm in love with the thing, but the graphire was a good tablet.

[nuphanton @ Sep 19th 2007 2:09AM]

why is wacom charging $300 for a tablet, while other companies are charging like $150

[chakko @ Sep 19th 2007 12:53AM]

Hey nuphantom,

I totally agree with what VayVay has to say. I've been through a couple tablets prior to my Intuos3 (A4) and they were crap. Well - one worked intermittently and maybe it was my bad luck. But both had nowhere near the refinement and control of the Intuos3. Also, they didn't have the levels of pressure - I think from memory Intuos is 1024 levels or something. It makes a huge difference. Other points - the touch strips a GREAT. You can zoom your view most programs, scroll in any app like your web browser or change brush sizes in photoshop for example - all in an analogue fashion. The tablet mounted buttons are fully customisable, the software interface is no fuss and in my experience Intuos3 works perfectly on Mac and PC. It adds another dimension of control to Photoshop, Painter and even web browsers. If you can - get into a store where they have one on display and use it.

I have only one gripe and that's that I wish there was a nib with more resistance than the felt one. How petty!

As you can tell - I'm a completely biased convert.

[nuphanton @ Sep 19th 2007 2:11AM]

thanks for the info...as you can probably tell, I was thinking of buying a tablet, but couldn't possibly afford to buy them and try them all. So I guess the price difference does have a reason behind it after all.

[Cassini @ Sep 19th 2007 4:10AM]

I'm still waiting for their Cintiq 21UX tablet to drop to around $1000. They've had that thing priced at $2500 forever and it's just too much.

[HineyWipe @ Sep 19th 2007 8:12AM]

And remember, it's pronounced "WHACK UM"...not "way come".

(go ahead, call their customer service up...tee hee)

[IraJames @ Dec 6th 2007 2:41PM]

I have a question for those of you who have been using a tablets regularly. I'm definitely getting one but does anyone have any ideas about the functionality of the different sizes. I'm looking at the wide screens (4x6 and 6x11) as I use two monitors and I am also considering the 6x8 for cost reasons. Does anyone have any advise on what direction to go?
Thanks IraJames