Which graphics tablet to buy
This page last updated: April 2025
A graphics tablet is almost compulsory for anyone who edits images, in my opinion. You might think you’re coping perfectly well with your mouse, but once you’ve experienced the beautiful ease and precision of a pen in your hand, a mouse feels so awkward by comparison!
If you don’t know what a graphics tablet is, or if you’ve never seen one in action, check out my little video about how I use mine. I bet you’ll find plenty more on YouTube, too.
I originally switched to a tablet on the advice of an Occupational Therapist, because of hand and arm pain I was suffering. I swear, it was like magic – the pain disappeared almost overnight.
For the first couple of weeks, I felt clumsy with the pen. It slowed my work down, and I was a bit frustrated. The same happens to most people – sometimes the clumsy feeling only lasts a couple of hours, sometimes a couple of days, and sometimes a couple of weeks for dullards like me. But I promise you, if you persevere through that brief frustrating period, you’ll come out the other side in mad passionate love with your tablet. Your Photoshop work will be faster and more accurate.
Choosing the right size
Before looking at products and prices, you need to decide on a tablet size. You don’t want to feel the sting of buyer’s remorse if you buy too small, or too big.
Based on my own experience, I recommend a one-third rule. That is, don’t buy a tablet that is smaller than approximately one-third of the size of your screen. (I’m referring to diagonal measurement, which is the common way of categorising screen size.)
So, if you have a screen which is around the 17/18/19 inch size, a 6 inch tablet is perfect. It might even be ok on a 20 or 21 inch screen. But if your screen is up there in the 22/23/24 inch category, I recommend going for an 8 inch tablet instead.
And if you have a whopping 27 or 30 inch screen, or if you have dual screens, then you should choose a tablet that’s 10 inches, or even larger.
Why avoid a tablet that’s too small? Well, it’s about the precision. I’ve found that if my tablet’s diagonal is smaller than one-third of my screen’s diagonal, I start to lose the pixel-by-pixel precision for my editing work.
However, I hasten to point out that many people are using tablets that are smaller than one-third. One person told me that they used a 6 inch tablet on their 27 inch iMac, and were perfectly satisfied with it. Admittedly, my retouching and restoration work requires very precise pixel manipulation, so it’s possible that my personal experience is not relevant to the broader photographic community. Or maybe I just have an unsteadier hand than most people!
If you’re a member of a photographic forum or club, I encourage you to ask other people about what tablet-to-screen size ratio they use, to help your decision.
The opposite problem
Finally, I must mention that it is possible to buy too big. Based on everything I just said above, you might assume that if big is good, then even bigger must be even better! However, it isn’t necessarily so. If your tablet is too big, your forearm swings around like a windscreen wiper trying to get from one side of the screen to the other, and it’s uncomfortable.
Mind you, any decent tablet will allow you to reduce its effective area in the Control Panel, so you can prevent discomfort easily.
But in my opinion, you don’t need your tablet to be any larger than half the size of your screen.
Features
As you browse for tablets and look further up the price scale, they'll have more and fancier features.
- The base models come with a pen, and that's about all.
- For a bit more money your tablet will have some customisable buttons on it. I have one of these, but I never use the buttons, so I feel like a mug. I should have bought a cheaper one.
- More expensive ones give you pens with greater pressure sensitivity levels. I can see how this would be very useful for artists, but for Photoshopping it's almost completely irrelevant.
- And of course the really high-end ones have screens built into them, so that you can draw directly onto the image. Again, excellent for keen artists, but overkill for photographers.
Some suggested models
Important disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate. Therefore, many links in this section are to Amazon pages. While I am immensely grateful to anyone who purchases via my links, I urge you not to abandon normal shopping prudence. If you find an item cheaper elsewhere, definitely go for it.
Without a doubt, Wacom rules the roost in the world of graphics tablets. They have a great range of high quality devices for all needs and budgets. You can browse their range here:
But when you look around, you can find plenty of other brands available too.
Before I got my first Wacom, I had a cheap obscure little tablet that didn’t cost me very much, and did a fine job for my editing. If my sister-in-law hadn’t given me the Wacom as a hand-me-down gift, I might still be using my no-name tablet very happily to this day.
This brand was recently recommended by a member of my group:
And when you look around you'll find plenty more. Do your research and choose one that suits your needs and price range.
Bought one?
Remember, you probably won’t love it right away. But stick with it, and you’ll adore it before too long, I promise. You’ll wonder why you persevered with a mouse for so many years!