Genius G-Pen 450 review

A graphics tablet provides you with a work surface and a digital pen that allows you to 'draw' on your PC.

The two things to look out for when buying a graphics tablet are the level of sensitivity and the resolution. The higher the levels of sensitivity the more accurate the pen will be at varying the weight of a line on-screen, according to the pressure you apply with the pen. And the higher the resolution, the more accurately the tablet will be able to plot the position of the pen as you move it around the tablet.

For such an inexpensive device, the G-Pen is exceptionally well-specified - it has both high resolution and sensitivity, and a drawing area of 102 x 140mm. Setup and installation is a breeze, with all the driver software and applications installed from one interface. The tablet comes with some fun and useful programs that allow you to do things such as attach annotated notes to files on your PC or send handwritten emails. One problem we found was that the pen needs a AAA battery and this makes it a bit top-heavy. Other manufacturers use pens without batteries.

At first we were very pleased with this product. We found the accuracy of the pen was more than a match for our expectations of such a cheap tablet, and we were able to do basic retouching work and drawing with ease. However, the G-Pen isn't as sensitive as its specifications imply. If as you draw a line, you apply steadily more pressure as you move along, then you'd expect the line to start off thin, and gradually and smoothly become thicker. In our test, however, lines drawn like this became thicker in relatively abrupt jumps. We found this frustrating. Because of the small surface area, the tablet isn't suitable for projects much larger than A4 in size.

Good as its specifications are, the G-Pen's sensitivity problems will be frustrating for students and experienced artists alike. We recommend spending a few pounds more on Wacom's Volito 2 - its working area is slightly smaller, but it's greater sensitivity more than makes up for this.

Author: Chris Brennan