Wacom Bamboo Touch Tablet Review

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(More customer reviews)I own both a new 17" MacBook Pro and a 24" iMac, and with the advent of gesture support on the MBP trackpad I've often wished for a multitouch trackpad I could use on the iMac.
And with the Wacom Bamboo Touch, my wish has been granted... mostly.
The Bamboo Touch is a multitouch trackpad, not a pen input device as is most of Wacom's line. If you want pen capabilities, order the Bamboo Pen and Touch instead, but be advised that the pen-enabled version is much larger than the Touch by about 2" in both directions. That may not sound like much, but it takes up significantly more desktop real estate than does the Touch.
The Bamboo Touch supports all of the standard single finger and two finger gestures: clicking, right clicking, dragging, scrolling, zooming, and rotating. It does not, however, understand three and four finger gestures and swipes. This lack is compensated somewhat by the addition of four custom buttons on the side of the trackpad. The additional buttons are helpful, but inexplicably covered with a glossy black plastic that attracts fingerprints like mad.
Build quality is very good, though I miss the silky smooth feel of the glass trackpad on the MBP. Tracking is fast and accurate, though the surface is somewhat sensitive. As such, one must place it off to the side since (unlike the MBP) there's no setting that tells the device to ignore "accidental" inputs. One other nit is that if you're dragging something and pause, the operation seems to time out, often dropping the item where it wasn't wanted. This is a pain when attempting to drag items into spring-loaded, automatically opening folders.
Also on the negative side, the device has a very long USB cord that just piles up on your desk if you have a Mac or other keyboard with built-in USB. Better to have shipped with a foot long "tail" for desktop use, and added a USB extender should one need to reach further.
All in all, the device is recommended and hopefully many of my small nits will be corrected in a future software driver update.
[EDIT]
After using the pad (and talking to Wacom support) it turns out that the "timeout" issue mentioned above isn't a timeout issue at all, but stems from two problems: First, the "active" area of the trackpad is smaller than you think, delineated by the light gray lines in the photo. Thus it's fairly easy to drag something past the line and lose control of it.
Second, unlike the trackpad on the MBP you can NOT pick up your fingers and reposition them during a drag lock. Pick them up and you're done. Period. This means when dragging you have to be careful where you start from on the pad, otherwise you can easily run out of room.

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With the Bamboo Touch, you can say goodbye to the frustrations of using an unresponsive laptop trackpad. Using an innovative tablet and Wacom's "Multi-Touch" technology, the Bamboo Touch allows you to navigate your computer using simple gestures and finger taps. Bamboo Touch makes it easy to move around your Windows desktop, scroll through documents, navigate the web, zoom in and out of photos, and rotate images -- all with the touch of a finger.Sleek, Stylish, and Easy to Use Measuring only 8.2 by 5.4 inches, the Bamboo Touch is compact enough to store comfortably in a laptop case. It features a large and responsive active area, and there's more room to navigate than you'd experience with a mobile device or a traditional laptop trackpad. It's also reversible, so you can use it comfortably whether you're right- or left-handed.The Bamboo Touch is simple to set up, using a plug-and-play mechanism. Simply plug the tablet into your computer via a USB port, install the provided drivers, and you're ready to go. You'll be doodling, writing, and painting in minutes.Navigate Easily with Multi-Touch Technology With the Bamboo Touch, Wacom has implemented a new technology called Multi-Touch. Typically, tablets require you to use the stylus for navigation, but Multi-Touch provides a comfortable hands-on alternative. It allows you to quickly navigate through your computer with a single finger. You can also scroll, zoom, and rotate your screen with simple hand gestures. It's intuitively-designed and easy to use -- even if you're new to the touch experience. The tablet also has four built-in Express Keys, which users can map to whatever shortcuts or commands they choose.Because the Bamboo Touch is potentially a replacement for your mouse, Wacom has included an interactive tutorial that teaches you the gestures and helps you adjust to using the tablet.Bamboo Touch is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP (Service Pack 2) and Mac OS X (10.4.8 or higher.) It requires a powered USB drive, a colored screen, and a CD/DVD drive.What's in the Box Bamboo Touch tablet, Quick Start guide, installation CD (includes driver software, interactive tutorial and user's manual).

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