Well, as I tend to say with these matters, it depends on what you are going to use it for, and what you are going to use it with. What are your needs and preferences when drawing, how do you work on the computer, all that stuff. Most pros likes wacoms the best, perhaps because they are pretty big on the market and can be used for both PC and Mac, but if you are just looking to start up and have fun, it is better to consider size and usability over brands with this sort of stuff.
Ok, I kind of want one that comes bundled with photoshop elements, and I want to have fun with it... sooo... yeah. wacoms, you say? I will look 'em up.
So, you can go for pretty much any tablet on the market, big or small brands, in that case, though you might need a wacom to get a programme with it. I don't particularly like Elements myself, but there is nothing wrong with it, and for a beginner, especially if you can get it for free, it will be good enough.
One thing to decide is the size, however. Small tablets are usually easy to transport, and you can sit almost everywhere and use them (should you have a laptop), while the bigger tablets will give you a better foundation and will mimic paper better as you will have to move your hand more (and it might match up better to the screen size). I have an A6 sized tablet myself, it works well and didn't take much time to get used to. Depending on how you usually draw, it might limit your ability to sketch until you get used to it, but if you are just gonna have some fun with it, I don't think it would be a reason to not pick an A6-A5 sized tablet (as they are also cheaper).
Well... Mine was 60uds back in the day. It came with ArtRage, which is a rather good programme to me, but of course does not offer much, if you are not interested in painting. There's a A4 sized anybrand tablet being sold here for those 200usd you were looking for, which is fairly cheap for something that can be used for a mac, but I have seen some for less. 120usd, I think. I don't believe either of them came with any art programme, however.
Wacom has a lot of their stuff on their website, where you can see prizing, size and what programmes are included. So goes for any other brand, but wacom tends to always include a programme, so let's focus on that. If anything, there's always GIMP, which is free and easy enough to use, though not as nicely designed as Photoshop.
With your requirement of Photoshop, I would recommend Create, Capture or any of the other Bamboo products that might be useful for you. They are simply build and easy to use. Intuos is, for one, more expensive, and it comes with a bunch of bonus functions and buttons that are helpful to a professional, but will not be useful for someone drawing as a hobby, especially if you learn the usual shortcuts of the programme. Cintiq is outragous but awesome.
Either way, that would be my suggestions. Otherwise, get a cheap tablet somewhere (like amazon), and hope you can get a student discount on Elements. Otherwise there are plenty of other programmes that will work well for what you might be thinking about. Most of them have demos lying around, so you can get a taste of what you would be expecting.
also, i live in the u.s.a., so no products I can only get in anywhere else...
If only we had some magical international information highway where we could easily find anything from anywhere in the world and purchase it with a few pokes of a finger! Forsooth, that would be a perfect world.
Usd = US dollar, compared to, for example aud = Australian dollar or dkr which is Danish kroner which I am working with. As for how much they cost, you can see that on the pages I linked you along with the dimensions and what programme comes with it.
So, go click the links or look up the wacom site yourself, but the Bamboo tablets are the cheapest and easiest to use, so.
I have never really gotten the point of a drawing tab. Yes I know why people use them but doesn't it take a while to get used to? I guess I don't 100% understand how they work. Does your pen on the tablet move the mouse?
Plus I don't see why you cannot just scan in images that you drew and then use the mouse and your editing program to get them the way you want.
well, I have had a bad experience with internet shipping. basically, it took a month and three migranes until I got my glasses. but I will look into it, should not be long, because I have $42-3 saved up.
I use the intous 4, with Photoshop CS5/6 and sketchbook pro... amazing tablet, i've got the small, and while i thought it would be cramped, i've got plenty of room...
