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What is the best gadget for artists: a graphic tablet or touch tablet PC?
What is a touchscreen any way? The best way to define it considering older technology as base is a larger touchad (like the one that we use in laptops) but moved over the screen so that you interact with it naturally. Graphic tablets are the touchpad equivalent for touchpads for designers, and are more advanced because they feature larger surfaces, more buttons, customizable areas that act like toolbars in applications like Photoshop and AutoCAD.
As I see it, graphic tablets have one big disadvantage over touch screen tablets: you have to look down on them when doing something else than drawing (eg: hitting special areas to select a tool in Photoshop), plus they’re not mobile, so using one in conjunction with a laptop is pretty much out of the question as I don’t think a designer used to a 20 inch tablet will switch easily to a 5-6 inch one that’s more portable.
This is when touch screen tablet PCs come into play as they offer a 1:1 aspect ratio virtual touchpad that’s more intuitive to use as you click/drag/select as you interact with the object on screen, unlike on a graphic tablet.
Graphic tablet
Touch tablet are the future for graphic designer as they allow also you to work on the road, while standing up or laying on a sofa. Once Touch tablets will master well pressure sensitivity so that brushes in Photoshop act like they supposed to I see graphic tablet era at its ending. Do you agree?
John (Ionut Popa in Romanian) is the Editor in Chief at AllTouchTablet.com. He studied Computer Science and worked in IT press since 2002. He’s now involved in his own projects. My Google+ Profile, Twitter
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Pressure sensitive tablets with a stylus are the “holy grail” of digital sketchbooks or digital painting. Currently, I’ve been eyeing the IBM X series Thinkpads which were one of the first to work with Wacom incorporating Wacom Penabled technology (along with a few other companies). However, so far the exact mix of Wacom Cintiq (they Wacom monitor with the same levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt, and pen rotation as the Intuos series tablets) haven’t hit the market yet… No rumors about R&D either….
While Tablet PC’s are losing popularity in the light of new Tablet devices, I still think they have great potential given the right hardware (say a pressure sensitive screen…) and pricing. After all, a lot of tablets lack some of the extra capabilities needed for professional use (or at least integrated parts that allow the user to carry one piece of equipment without worrying about forgetting a keyboard).