Product: WACOM Intuos3 6x8 Tablet Company: WACOM at www.wacom.com Price: $329.95 System Requirements: PC running Windows 98SE, 2000, Me, XP; or Macintosh running MacOS 10.2.6 & higher. Powered USB port CD-ROM drive and color monitor nik Color Efex Pro 2 IE requires Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 (included) or Photoshop 7 & higher Photoshop Elements 3 and Corel Painter Essentials 2 require Windows 2000, XP or Mac OS 10.2.8 & higher. Test System: Macintosh Dual 2.5-GHz G5, 2 GB RAM, OS 10.4.1 Rating: Five out of five apples

You know the old song, "Love and marriage go together like a horse and carriage?" Well I feel that's exactly what should be said about the Wacom tablet and your computer; they go together like love and marriage. It's just too much fun not to have. Any model Wacom tablet will enhance any graphic artist's work. The Wacom tablet Intuos3 6x8 is a fantastic tablet and it's recommended for the "serious photographer, designer, and artist" by Wacom. But if you are artistically inclined, are a photographer, or just enjoy creating art on your PC or Mac, this peripheral is just too good to pass up. If you use Photoshop and Corel Paint or any graphic software you unleash the power of those programs with a Wacom tablet.

A pen tablet allows you to transfer information from a pen stylus directly onto your Mac. In other words you draw on your computer using a pen. The best feature of the Wacom tablet is that it's pressure sensitive. The more pressure you apply to the tip of the pen, the wider the line becomes, as well as the stroke of the paintbrush or whatever tool you are using. Manipulating points, curves and lines with a mouse is challenging and not very intuitive. The pen tablet makes it easier to transfer the image to the monitor in real time.

The Intuos3 also has programmable ExpressKeys and Touch Strips strategically placed for convenience. The ExpressKeys can be used for mouse clicks, modifier keys, and keyboard shortcuts. The user could program the shortcut for the tools and save a lot of time when working in Photoshop. The finger-sensitive Touch Strips enable quick scrolling, zooming, brush size control and much more.

The new Grip Pen has 1,024 levels of tip and eraser pressure sensitivity, as well as tilt sensitivity for control. A cushioned, contoured grip with programmable DuoSwitch feels intuitive and comfortable and allows for greater productivity. It is cordless and feels natural when drawing with your favorite graphics program. The pen stand permits you to keep your pen handy.

The Wacom tablet also comes with a ball-free and optics-free mouse for accurate tracking. I do not use the mouse as it is not as intuitive for me for drawing as the pen, but the features are sure to please a mouse user. It is ambidextrous, cordless, and has five programmable buttons with fingerwheel for better flexibility and control.

Installation and use of the Wacom Intuos3 were flawless. During the course of my review, I upgraded from OS 10.3.9 to OS 10.4. I had to reinstall my tablet software because the old drivers were not transferred to the new OS and probably remained in the Previous System folder. But once I did that, it worked fine. I also updated to OS 10.4.1 without any problems.

Inkwell in Macs becomes activated so you can also write notes.

Wacom is very generous with the software bundle. Included are Adobe Photoshop Elements 3.0, Corel Painter Essentials 2.0, nik Color Efex Pro, and Wacom Brushes 2.

I took a course at Macworld San Francisco 05 on Photoshop CS and the teacher couldn't say enough about the importance of using a Wacom tablet with Photoshop as a time-saving device. He advised that it takes a few days to master it but once you do, the payback is worth it. He had avoided it for a long time and had regretted not having gotten into it sooner. I concur with his observation. It took me several days to get used to it. But now I can't work with Photoshop without using my Wacom tablet. The time I save and the fun I have are priceless.

This tablet looks cool, attractive, and very hi tech. It has all the bells and whistles for image editing. Definitely a must have for graphic artists and for hobbyists who do basic photo editing and image creations in the digital world. It is not a replacement for a fine art studio but it is a close second for those who have one foot in the technology world. I may sound very impressed and enthusiastic about the Wacom Intuos3 6 x 8 tablet; that's because I am. This is a peripheral that is too much fun not to have.