Recommendations for good but affordable drawing tablets?

[Garamonde]

Wacom seems to be the best but is rather expensive from what I've seen so I want something else good but will leave Mom with enough funds to get me anything else for Christmas, lol (yes I'm kind of late with getting my Christmas list ready shut up ).
BTW, she seems to be against the idea of me sitting it on my lap and using it, but since my room is so poorly organized ATM I have literally no place for it since the very small table I have my laptop sitting on has no room. So I guess preferably something a little lighter in weight (unless tablets are light anyway -- I've never seen one IRL so I wouldn't know) too. Thanks!

[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.

[Chase]

I definitely suggest Wacom if you can swing one. I have owned a three off brands. Two fell apart and the third lacks decent driver support for Windows 7, that is when I could check, as their websites were down for awhile.

If you are okay with a used one, you can usually find refurbished ones on ebay for a bit less. (Be sure to check the normal price first, do no assume it costs less because it is on ebay.)

[Garamonde]

Well unfortunately she refuses to get anything used for me -- she always insists on getting me new condition items.
Which I greatly appreciate, I'm funny about items that may not be clean or have smudges etc. (but it depends on what it is too), it just also costs more.
I am gonna check out the ones in Tellis' link and see how those look, I just have to measure my lap because I need to get the right inches. Not too small but not so big it won't fit on my lap.
Trouble is I'm not sure how big the actual screen will be if I get one small enough for my lap. I'm sort of a small girl so I can't handle anything huge.

[Guy]

I wouldn't worry about size too much, tablets are generally pretty lightweight and thin.

Check these out, particularly the Bamboo Splash:
http://www.wacom.com/en/products/pen-tablets/bamboo


The first tablet i used was a Wacom Bamboo tablet, which was loaned to me from my high-school, now if only i could get my hands on another tablet again...

Good luck, hope you get something cool MJ.

[Woppet*]

Wacom Bamboo. It's cheap, it's great and it has good driver support.
What more could you ask for in a tablet?

Spoiler

Just realised how much I sound like a viral marketer, but seriously, it's a great tablet

[Garamonde]

Well I'm going to see if she can manage to get a Wacom then (as long as I have that I don't need any games for now, I'll spend some time drawing lol), since I want something that will last too and so far I've gotten more recommendations for that.
Although, one review for the Bamboo Splash said that it doesn't have erasing capabilities? I didn't even know tablets had that function, and now that I'm discovering that I think it's kind of a must since I mess up a lot... though I'm not sure. There could be other solutions I don't know about. Thanks for the links and information guys!

[Vipershark]

Wacom Bamboo.

Either the Connect or the Splash. (I think the Splash comes with art software but the connect doesn't otherwise they're the exact same.)

Mine is a Connect but I don't use the included software anyway (I use Paint Tool Sai) so since they're the same price it doesn't matter which you get.

[Previous]

Although, one review for the Bamboo Splash said that it doesn't have erasing capabilities? I didn't even know tablets had that function, and now that I'm discovering that I think it's kind of a must since I mess up a lot... though I'm not sure. There could be other solutions I don't know about.

They probably mean it doesn't have an "eraser" on the other end of the pen (which needs to be supported by software in the first place) - my Wacom Bamboo has one but I don't use it at all, I just switch to the eraser tool manually.

[Garamonde]

Oh okay, I can do that then since Photoshop's hotkey for it is easy to reach for quickly. I wasn't sure whether you could do that or not.

[Woppet*]

Yeah my bamboo has an 'eraser' but i find it much faster to just switch tool rather than flip the whole pen around.
Especially when you make mistakes a few times a minute.

[Garamonde]

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.

Okay well, I finally checked these out for real and well, I think I might go with these.
Wacom also looked nice but after checking it out, the drawing space is only 5.8 x 3.6 inches, which is probably decent but that really feels like it'd be small and cramped for me.
This one on the other hand also looks really good, has a more comfortable sounding space (8 x 6 inches) and also looks like it'll last, for half the price no less. I will put this on my list and see how it goes. Thanks Tellis! ^v^