Product Reviews

We've waited a long time for a graphics tablet that connects wirelessly, but Wacom has finally produced this, the A5 Graphire Bluetooth. Your Mac will, predictably, have to be Bluetooth-enabled to be able to link to the tablet, but it doesn't make a difference whether the Bluetooth is built-in or added using a USB dongle (around £35).

Setup is simple: you just have to make the tablet discoverable by pressing the Connect button on the underside then begin the Mac OS X 'Set up a Bluetooth device' assistant. This was all detailed in the manual, although Wacom forgot to mention that you have to restart after installation, which you need to do to avoid an appalling lag between moving the pen across the tablet's surface and the cursor moving on the screen.

The wireless connection is indeed liberating. We love the ability to lean back in our chair, unencumbered by wires, with the tablet on our knee, and keep working. The wireless range is quoted at 10 metres,

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and even in the crowded MacUser offices, where there's a lot of activity on the 2.4GHz spectrum used by Bluetooth, we could easily use the tablet this distance from the Mac.

Of course, you'd need a huge screen to see what was happening at that distance, but it could be used to good effect in presentation or academic contexts.

You do have to make some compromises for dumping the cables, however. First, the tablet requires a battery. Top marks here, though: it's a high-capacity Lithuim-ion battery - the kind you can keep topped up - which Wacom claims provides 25 hours of continuous usage per charge. Power-saving features extend this if it's not in constant use.

The tablet's light even with the battery installed - about the weight of a chunky sketchbook. The supplied stylus and mouse require no power, and while they're neither as advanced nor comfortable as those supplied with Wacom's Intuos range, they're still pretty good.

The driver and configuration options, too, would strike Intuos users as basic, but there's enough to keep many users happy. A copy of Painter Essentials 2 is also included.

Performance is generally very good. There's a very slight lag, but it's barely noticeable and you soon get used to it. Pressure sensitivity is limited to 512 levels - wired versions offer twice this - but this is fine for most. The drawing surface could also be less 'slippery', but we're generally very impressed with Wacom's first wireless tablet.

We'd be happier if its price tag were nearer £150, but it's not extortionate.