Tablets can be a cool addition to your input/output for your computer. It will allow you to hand-write into your computer (useful for signatures, etc) or draw into an image-editing program. Adesso and Wacom are two companies in this space. Adesso sent us their entry-level Cybertablet 6400 to check out.
Adesso’s CyberTablet comes provided with the tablet itself, a pen with replaceable tips, its own mouse and driver software. The tablet itself is connected via a built-in standard USB cable.
The first thing to note is that the provided mouse isn’t that great and you probably won’t be using it – but that’s fine since you didn’t buy it for the mouse anyway. Since it’s a USB device you can use it in combination with your existing mouse and use the tablet as the mouse pad when not drawing or writing with the pen.
The drivers and software it comes with are decidedly old, but do work in all versions of Windows including Windows 7. Upon first install you will be required to perform a system restart to gain full functionality.
The pen included does require you to change the AAA battery in it every so often, but not so much as it would prove to be inconvenient.
When I used the CyberTablet 6400, I found it’s much better suited for writing than drawing. It’s handwriting recognition is decent and the software allows you to “train” it if it makes mistakes when recognizing what you write.
In a few instances the tracking was slightly off, but then again I didn’t “train” it too much. With regular use the tracking issues would fix themselves.
Being this is an entry level tablet, it’s not the best for freehand drawing. This is not to say it can’t do it, because it can and does so easily, but it doesn’t have the super-sensitive tracking much more expensive tablets have. If you draw using point-to-point, you’ll get along fine with the CyberTablet, but for true freehand style you may need something larger with more sensitivity. This Adesso tablet has low sensitivity when it comes to writing or drawing.
If you use a Mac, you might have some difficulties with this tablet. When David (PCMech’s founder) tried this tablet on his Mac, the installation of drivers proved very difficult. The install routine got into an endless loop and David was forced to manually “force quit” the install program. Once the drivers were installed, it was hard to determine whether everything was working properly because no solid instructions were provided on how to actually go about USING the tablet.
Overall, the CyberTable 6400 gets the job done and works as advertised. However, as a tablet priced at $69.99 as of the time of this writing, don’t expect miracles in this price range.
Like what you read?
If so, please join over 28,000 people who receive our exclusive weekly newsletter and computer tips, and get FREE COPIES of 5 eBooks we created, as our gift to you for subscribing. Just enter your name and email below:
