4 or 5 star, both appropriate

after some time, this tablet can now review. The first impression was quite good. Although the Wacom generally very good packaging was somewhat thin, but that's probably because I had the super packaging from Intuos4 still in my head.

Tested on the following system:
- Macbook Pro 15 "(12/2010)
- OSX Snow Leopard
- 4 x 2.66GHz i7
- 500GB HDD
- 8 GB Corsair Mac RAM (4GB Series)
- Apple Magic Mouse
- Apple Keyboard
- Display extended to Samsung 2233BW

The tablet came so should rather plain packaged, and was immediately taken time out of the box. Stylus going cable here, connected and installed drivers. After the first tests I have certainly wondered if the 400 were necessary for the Intuos4, if it is such a thing as the Bamboo Pen & Touch is.
In the first few days I almost no difference fell Intuos4 on (had long since worked with the latter), but then came little by little the disillusionment and "Why are you 400 for a tablet from?".

But first to the positive part.
The Bamboo Pen & Touch here in the size "S" is easy to handle, can be easily taken and will fit into any notebook case and in every notebook bag into place. It is fast to connect, easy to use, allows the "Touch" function also the use of all Macbook gestures. The Stylus respond quickly and directly and it is originating mainly compatible with Photoshop and other Adobe products.

All in all, can be with the Bamboo Pen & Touch work very well. The additional keys are, like its big brother, freely assignable, even if you would have liked a little more than 4 buttons as a Photoshop User: D

One can draw the conclusion at this point that the Bamboo Pen & Touch is the first choice for new entrants in the tablet sector and especially for touch pad friends through the touch function has a lot to offer. Thus, the PC can be supported effectively simultaneously with graphic tablet and touch pad.

Now I come to the area for more experienced or more in the field Tablets / Photoshop moving users. Although it is unprofessional, I would like to make it clear at this point absolute incomprehension on various postings and YouTube users, who represent the following opinions:
- The difference between Bamboo and Intuos is only noticeable in the price and not / hardly in the workflow.
- The Bamboo is an unbeatable price-performance comparison.
- The Bamboo is fully compatible with Photoshop, among others programs combined.

It should be said: NO!

It should be said about it, that I bought the Bamboo as an additional tool and not as a substitute for Intuos4. I am next to my home station on the road quite a lot with my Macbook, which I wanted a smaller tablet and I were at this point the 200 for the Intuos4 Small simply too expensive because the mobile workstation should not be a replacement for my home-WS.

Who has long raged in the area of ​​Photoshop and know that this tablet for him to be the new medium of his choice, the Bamboo should be used only as a test or compare the Intuos. This part of the review no longer flows into the evaluation, since it is not to denigrate the Bamboo, but only users who are between Bamboo and Intuos is intended to serve as a decision-making tool!

Bamboo support (at least on Mac OSX Snow Leopard and Photoshop CS5 Extended / CS 6 Extended) no erweitereten brush, ie the angle of inclination effect of "real" brush (with bristles simulation, wet simulation, angle simulation, Pressure-and Borst number simulation, etc.) is not usable. For me, unfortunately, a big disappointment. In addition, you can tell if you've worked with both, that the pressure level difference of 1,024 to 2,048 levels of pressure is still considerable. You can tell that the fine-tuning the pressure simply missing, which means that (logically) the Brush can not so differentiated in Photoshop between first and last pressure stage differ, resulting in coarser grades. While this is hardly determine in normal use, but affects at 300 PPI / DPI and countertops of mind. FullHD 1920x1080px, mostly even of 2560x1440 and 4K but considerably from.
The precision of the Bamboo is not bad, but of course not, that can offer the Intuos. There are other subtle differences, but I would only bring the following expression:

The Bamboo Pen & Touch (small) is the TouchPad, the first attempt or as a hobby tablet quite suitable. If you want to make more, should here quietly take the M or L variant if it is not about mobility or little desktop space, since a larger working surface is still very enjoyable (especially for large files). May I suggest here the same time the Wacom SmudgeGuard, the "half-glove" the tablet before smearing become fat / and also protects the hands from dirt from scratches.

But those who want to work permanently with the tablet and wants to exploit all the possibilities of Photoshop and other programs, should opt for the high price but certainly for the Intuos. This is then also only for the "advanced" or "semi-professional". In the "professional" Wacom has of course its flagships of the Cintiq series. But that is now too much :)

(Intuos4 is used on the following system: AMD Phenom II X4 965BE, 12GB Corsair XMS3 1333 ASUS ENGTX280, Windows 7 Ultimate)

Conclusion: The Bamboo Pen & Touch S is a good complement to a larger tablet and super suitable by the touch function as a TouchPad and (just for example, the Intuos4) as an extension in order to rotate the workspace intuitively and can navigate to them, something which Intuos4 can only using the rotary control. Who wants to do more than to use it only as an extension, should grab here for size M or L, which are not overly expensive. However, those who want to move in more professional environment, is (as long as the budget allows) better off with the Intuos.

The price-performance ratio of course you can say that the Bamboo is the Intuos worlds preferable (many forums / youtube videos represent it so), but I think that both tablets alone by the functional limitations of the Bamboo are not directly comparable. Who, for example, in the course brush can not do without / want (I would never renounce again on the brush xDD), for the Bamboo is naturally no alternative.

Incidentally, of course, the choice of pens / styli for the Bamboo is very limited ... namely 1 ^^ while there are quite a lot for the Intuos complementarities (Airbrush, Classic Pen, Pen type, etc.), the one working in different area but facilitate very :)

PS: If someone has found a way to simulate the Bamboo inclination angle (if I have overlooked it), let him contact me :)

PPS: I want to reiterate clearly that it is the Intuos is the Intuos4 which has / had no touch function! Since Intuos5 there is an integrated touch function when Intuos itself. However, I continue to see the optimal solution in a small tablet than 2 tablet, which I use for navigation and greater, which I then take to work without touch :)