News

Wacom Ships Intuos4 Tablets

• By David Nagel
• 03/26/09

Wacom has rolled out a completely revamped line of high-end graphics tablets. The new Intuos4 lineup, introduced Wednesday, includes four models that sport increased sensitivity, new pen performance features, and new workflow/productivity features, including OLED displays for tablet settings.

For the Intuos4 rollout, Wacom consolidated the line into four sizes: small, with a 6.2" x 3.9" active area; medium, with an 8.8" x 5.5" active area; large, with a 12.8" x 8" active area; and extra large, with an 18.2" x 12" active area.

The medium, large, and extra large tablets each include OLED displays that indicate the settings for the customizable shortcut and modifier keys on an application by application basis. These models include eight customizable keys, all located on one side of the tablet. By default, they're on the left. However, the Intuos4 allows users to rotate the tablet so that the buttons and displays appear on the opposite side. The USB/power cord can also be moved to the opposite side to accommodate alternate setups. (The small model does not include OLED displays and only includes six customizable keys.)

All of the new models also include a customizable Touch Ring that can control four functions in applications. They also offer double the pressure sensitivity of previous models (now 2,048 levels) and new pen technology that's designed to smooth initial pen input, with support for pressure as low as 1 gram.

Other new features include:

• A newly designed pen stand with storage for nibs;
• Standard, felt, stroke and flex nibs included; and
• A newly designed cordless, battery-free mouse with support for both direction and orientation and five customizable buttons and scroll wheel.

The four Intuos4 models are available now: small ($229), medium ($369), large ($499), and extra large ($789). Further information can be found here.