Wacom tablets have long been staples of design professionals, who use them to draw freehand on a computer. With digital photography now commonplace, casual users are discovering Wacom's low-price entry model.

The Graphire3 comes in two sizes (pick the larger 6- by 8-inch tablet) and is bundled with both a pen and a mouse. Use the pen to work with drawing and photography applications in a more natural way, or turn on handwriting recognition and use it for text input. This is a handy way to work, once you get used to it, although we wish the pen had a more comfortable grip.