Recommendations for good but affordable drawing tablets?

[Tellis]

Check these out.

They're apparently really well made and actually has full compatibility with errethang operating system wise. Their only downside is that the pen itself is battery powered which is kinda lame but other than that they are apparently really solid, especially for the price.

Unfortunately, if the "apparently"s weren't obvious, I haven't bought one to use yet, and all I know is just hearsay but what I've heard is pretty convincing. I first heard about it from this blog post, where he says he actually likes it MORE than his Wacom. So yeah, that's my suggestion.

Edit: Oh, and yeah, unless you're buying a friggin' Cintiq (you aren't, lol, who needs a Cintiq) virtually all tablets are light enough to hold in your lap. Maybe some would be too BIG but not too heavy.