Cintiq alternatives - Why aren't they marketing to us?

[Teej]

Over the past day or two, I've done some searching on the web, and I've found a few noteworthy Cintiq-type tablet LCD monitors for use with a pen. I'm curious as to why these companies aren't targeting our creative niche. Some of these have basically the same features, only half the price or less. The only difference is the software included. These are being marketed and manufactured towards the business and educational markets, and some don't even sell to individual home users. I've seen a handful of them pop up on ebay from time to time when searching for a used Cintiq, and as recently as yesterday I saw one for $300 ( Optoma PI500 )

Some of these might not be able to ship over to the US as the companies are based in Taiwan, UK, India... but I came across Hitachi's Canadian site. It seems many of these products aren't around in the US because they have no distribution, or buyers willing to wholesale. Many had a "are you interested in being a buyer for our company" section and an email address.

Try googling these...

Hitachi Starboard

Numonics PI-1500

Optoma PI500

Polyvision IP15

Usync 17'' LCD Tablet

Aiptek 15'' LCD

Also, products like the Navisis EZ-canvas are starting to pop up as well.

Here's some additional links...

usync.com.tw

interactivewhiteboards.com

pcupgrader.com

projectorpoint.co.uk

SO, anyone else care to shed some light on the subject? Instead of waiting for however long it takes for Wacom to produce something at a lower cost, lets start searching elsewhere. Maybe DepTap could carry something?? I know alot of artists on this board would jump at the chance.

Oh, and I'm aware of the successful attempts to build one's own Cintiq very cheaply, but most of us aren't that technologically inclined.

[HellboyOne]

Interesting. Please post more info if you learn more about these alternatives. Reviews would be great.

[AmishVader]

I think the important missing features on many of these are going to be:

* Screen Resolution
* Touch Resolution (aka, you get jumpy lines)
* Levels of Pressure (several of them don't do pressure at all: just on or off)
* No Tilt
* Less-than-stellar software support.

I've played with a couple, and they feel like the "Sharper Image" version of Wacom Tablets: good enough to look good in the catalog, but really dissappointing to use.

[drewid88]

Aiptek tablets have a poor rep for reliability and usability unfortunately. There must be user review sites around for these others.

I wonder if there would be a market for a kit? Like a monitor that you clip a Wacom sensor into?

[joshm]

I've never tried the other types before, but I have a Cintiq and it works great. I could have made my money back in six months if I had wanted to, but something else came up and I'm not using it that often right now. I'm sure I will soon enough.

No doubt, new technology will always get better and cheaper, so just keep waiting and you'll be able to pick up one for less than half of what I paid.

It served the purpose I needed it for, which was inking a comic book for one of the companies I was working for. If you're not making money doing this stuff, then you'd be paying a lot for something you're using for fun. So, I guess that?s why Wacom is selling to businesses rather than individuals. One person using it as a full time job can make the money invested in it back pretty quickly, but individuals generally aren?t going to be inclined to work strictly from one source. From a business perspective it seems less likely for a company to sell to individuals than to businesses.

I bought mine at the San Diego Comic Con and the company was selling them from their store also. Until they can manufacture them cheaper for mass production, I can?t see them making it easier for artists like us to get them. I?m sure it won?t be long, though.

[emceeONE]

Aiptek tablets have a poor rep for reliability and usability unfortunately.

I've got an Aiptek 9X12 that I paid $100 for.

The company SUCKS ASS because of poor tech support. And the pen that came with it started acting screwy after the first few months.

BUT, it worked great when it was working. And I did a simple quick and cheap (free) fix and it works great for me now. I sitll use it, I've not regretted buying it at all, and while I like some of the cool features of the Wacom tablet, I don't like them enough to shell out an addition $3-400.

The Cintiq and its alternatives do intrigue me though. I'd love to see more reviews for their products and try them out for myself.

[drewid88]

Can I eqnuire what the fix was? I know someone who may be interested.

[emceeONE]

It depends on the problem. For me, my pen was "leaking." It was dropping down lines and going all over the place without me even touching the tablet. And when I did draw with it, it would drop ink intermittently, so one stroke was really 99 little strokes and that means 99 undos which was very costly as PS stores a limited amount of undos.

I figured it was a bad nib or battery, but that wasn't it. Then I noticed that when I put the pen to the tablet, the nib holder/chip thing would slide into the pen casing slightly (very slightly at first then moreso over time. Apparently they used cheap glue to hold everything in place.

So I stuffed some paper behind that blue thing on the "eraser" end. Those 2 buttons on the side are useless, but I never used them anyway and the pen works perfect now.

[Teej]

Thanks everybody for the insight. I had a feeling these generic types wouldn't be as high quality as the Cintiq. If anyone else has experience with any of the above mentioned products, feel free to share.

Quick note... I saw somewhere online that Apple patented a "Tablet Mac" all in one type laptop, pretty close in design to the hp compaq tablet. This might be the way alot of us will be going if and when it ever happens. I'm guessing this too will use wacom penabled technology.


TJ Kirsch
www.tjkirsch.com

[orbital]

Teej,

I have a Wacom 21 UX and a Motion Computing m1400. I love both and both use the Wacom penable technology. I hate to be so definative by Wacom is the only way to go. I used to have an HP tablet and it used some generic technology that made it necessary for the pen to have batteries in it. It totally sucked and was non-pressure sensitive. Keep with the wacom stuff.

As for the MacTablet most analysts are predicting that it wont be like a tablet PC but more like a giant remote or mobile terminal. As far as i know it will be more of a touch screen than a true tablet PC. Stay away from touch screens.

[Teej]

Thanks! Where did you get your Motion Computing m1400? Are they still making them?

Are all hp tablets non-pressure sensitive?

[orbital]

Teej,

Thats actually the best part, no they are not made so you have to buy it used. Which makes it cheaper. I got a 1 Ghz Pentium ULV 2MB cache and 1 GB RAM w/ 40 GB hard drive for $1500 though you can find them for less. I suggest getting the Viewanywhere models, then you can use it outside. Also get the plastic screen protector from their site.
FROM CNET:
http://reviews.cnet.com/Motion_M1400_Tablet_PC/4505-3126_7-30826594.html

Although it lacks the performance of a laptop, the M1400 is the best tablet PC we've seen.

The newer ones are a bit faster, but i can run Alias Sketchbook, Photoshop and Flash all fine.

[drewid88]

I've had a chat with the polyvision people, they're going to supply me a demo 17" model when the new one comes out in April.

[Teej]

Great! It'd be great if you wrote a review when you get it. How much are you paying for it?

[Teej]

Just to let everyone know, there's a nice looking optoma-panoview 15" lcd tablet on ebay selling for $475...