Product Review: Page (2) of 2 - 11/29/05

Wacom Intuos3 6x11

Wide-format pressure-sensitive graphics tablet

Software features
For software, the Intuos3 6x11 uses a driver common to all Intuos3 tablets. On the Mac, it's accessed through System Preferences and includes software for fully customizing all of the buttons and other clickable items on the mouse, pen and tablet, as well as altering the behavior of the various tools. (For example, you can adjust the pen's pressure and tilt sensitivity and adjust the speed and acceleration of the mouse and the pen, if you're using the pen in mouse mode.)

The screen shot above shows you the basic setup for buttons on the tablet. You'll also notice that there are multiple pens and mice showing up for this tablet. The driver software automatically recognizes any devices that come into contact with the surface of the Intuos, so you can program the settings for multiple pens and mice separately. You can also create function sets for specific applications.

The two screen shots below show just some of the options available for the pen and mouse. You don't actually need to do anything with these, but I like to customize the pressure and tilt sensitivity of my devices and assign non-default functions to the buttons on my pen.

In addition to the driver software, the Intuos3 6x11 includes several bundled third-party applications, including Adobe Photoshop Elements 3, Corel Painter Essentials 2, nik Color Efex Pro 2 IE and Wacom Brushes 2.0.

The bottom line
The Intuos3 6x11 has everything my usual Intuos3 6x8 has, but with the very handy addition of more usable tablet surface. And for just $40 more than the 6" x 8" model, I think it's worth it. In fact, the only reason I could see not going for it would be limited desk space, as the 6x11 model takes up 16.5 inches horizontally, as compared with the 6x8's 13.6 inches. (On my keyboard tray, the 6x11 model fits, along with a Matias Tactile Pro keyboard, with about an inch to spare. The Tactile Pro is the same size as an Apple Pro Keyboard. My tray is 36 inches wide.) Even if you don't use multiple monitors or have a wide-format monitor, the additional working surface will be welcome. I give the Intuos3 6x11 a Strong Buy recommendation.

The Intuos3 6x11 is available now for Mac OS X and Windows systems for $389.95 (suggested) and can be found for about $370. Linux drivers are supplied by third-party developers. For more information, visit http://www.wacom.com.

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