Wacom Intuos Drawing Tablet (Small)

Boink · January 22, 2015

Hello members of the LTT forums. This is my first review of a product anywhere so, here goes. This review will be from my perspective, a person who has never used a drawing tablet before making the purchase of their first unit.

Part 1: Physical Overview

Product Overview:

Manufacturer: Wacom

Family: Intuos

Model: CTH 480

Price (at the time of purchase, January 2015): $100 new, $60 refurbished (Amazon)

Packaging and Marketing:

The tablet packaging (at least on my model) is quite subdued. Unlike many companies that package their products in flashy boxes, Wacom went for a simple brown box with Intuos branding on top.

Inside the box we find a driver disk (which you can throw away in favor of the drivers on Wacom's website), the usual marketing papers and user manual, a spare ribbon and stylus accent ring, a rather thin USB cable with a right angle micro B connector (more on this later), and of course the tablet and stylus.

Inside the marketing box we find the usual stuff: offers for free stuff and discounts that you'll likely never use, and the manual which actually contains some useful information like how to change the pen nibs, touch gestures, and some getting started tips.

Physical Overview:

The tablet has a simple yet beautiful light grey, semi-glossy finish with black accents. Four small dots on the surface indicate the edges of the active area, which directly correspond to the edges of your screen. The top has four buttons which can be used for shortcuts both in Windows/OSX and the art programs which are included in the purchase of the device. Flipping it over, there is a sticker containing the model, serial number, and legal information. Also on the bottom there are four non-slip rubber feet, and a pop off cover which, when removed, reveals a small hole used to change the pen nibs and the bottom of the ribbon used to hold the stylus which can either be removed or replaced with the other color.

On the back of the device, there is the micro B port, doors that cover up the battery and wireless bays which cost an additional $40 to use, and on the far side, a small switch used to enable or disable touch on supported models. As mentioned, Wacom sells a wireless kit for Intuos tablets for $40 containing a wireless card, battery, and USB dongle.

While in use, the tablet has two lights on the top located between sets of buttons. A white light on the left indicated that the device is receiving power, and a blue one on the left lights up when the tablet is receiving input from either touch or the stylus.

USB Gripes:

The included USB cable is very thin and flimsy, making is likely to be the first thing to break, especially if the user frequently packs the tablet for use on a laptop away from home. This normally wouldn't be a problem if it weren't for the deep, thin socket used to attach the cable to the tablet itself. However, due to the very narrow socket, few third party cables will fit into the hole surrounding the socket. This severely limits the potential for replacing the cable with a sturdier one when it inevitably breaks, or one which doesn't have a right angle connector. The connector itself also suffers due to the design choice of using a right angle connector. This makes cable management slightly more difficult than if the cable simply extended straight back, but I digress.