This is an excellent little device. First off, some corrections and suggestions:The device I got came with 42 hot cells. 13, however were unmarked. They are there, however. Just use the other cells to gauge where they should be (there are 13 top cells as well, so they're in the same positions.)[Edit] As you will see in the following paragraphs, I was very excited about the hot cells, because I thought I could replace the many functions I use my keyboard for with those cells. Unfortunately, you have to look away from the screen to see them (which is impossible in the dark unless you put some sort of glow sticker on them). Therefore, keeping my keyboard on my left side has been much more efficient, because I can navigate by touch without taking my eyes off the screen. Note also, however, that I was already very practiced at using only my left hand to execute commands when I used a mouse. It's much faster, also, to simply choose tools from the toolbar (or use the already programmed keyboard shortcuts) than using a hot cell, and to make easy keyboard shortcuts for actions. [End Edit]The pen doesn't have an eraser, but, at least in Photoshop, a hardware eraser would be pointless. Make an action mapped to a function key that changes your tool to eraser, map it to your tablet hot cell, and you're good to go (It's FASTER than flipping the pencil around.)Don't know how? Here's a quick run-through (this is on PS7... other versions shouldn't be a lot different): Window->Action (Check it, if it's already checked uncheck and check it so you can see the action pallete)Click the action pallete, you can probably delete anything that's already there, but you don't need to. Click the create new button at the bottom of the pallete (notepad icon), name it and set it to whatever button combination you want (I think it has all th e function keys +shift+ctrl, so that's plenty of combinations) Hit the record button on the bottom of the pallete, then click the eraser tool. You'll see "Select Eraser" appear in the action pallete. Press Stop.Now in the system tray, click the icon that has a pen drawing on a tablet. Go to hot cells. Click whichever cell you want to make the eraser, name it Eraser, then click define. A menu will pop up, Select Hotkeys: check the ctrl or shift buttons if you used them in your combination, and then choose the correct function button. Then click OK/Apply and your done. Now any time you tap in that cell you select the eraser.With actions, you can also change the brush type, size, opacity, and what pen pressure does, if you want. They're very powerful for streamlining your projects, especially if you end up doing a lot of the same things to every image. With hot cells, it's even faster (though I wish they would ship with blank labels, but I'll get some.)Next, points about pen pressure not working/etc. All the solutions have already been offered. Download the updated driver (I am using this on Vista 64 with no problems. A new driver was issued Jan 15 specifically for Vista 64.) It apparently addressed CS4 issues as as well, but I don't have that to comment. Run the set-up from the zip file on their site, and you'll be good to go (it may take a couple of minutes.. my computer's fairly fast and it still took awhile. During that time it said it was "not responding" but it was actually installing the driver. Don't trust Windows... Reboot. Anyway, next, change the battery. I use rechargeable batteries in all of my wireless stuff, anyway, so it wasn't a big deal. The pen was working before I did this in mine, as well. Finally, check your photoshop brush pallete and make sure you've got it set right. Opacity is in other options, Size is in Shape Manipulation. Those are the only two I foresee using "Pen Pressure" to control. Now, if you're using size, your MAX pressure equals the brush size you select. It won't go bigger than that. So pick the biggest you want it to get, and learn the pressure to get it as small as you want. It takes some getting used to. With opacity it's the same thing, use the highest opacity you want to get to on a single stroke.Another con, the New and Open Hot Cells (which are labeled on the tablet) were reversed on mine. it took all of two seconds to fix, though. (switch the ctrl+o and ctrl+n definitons to the other).Alright, enough of that. The tablet is great. 8x6 is plenty of room, and the texture is nice. Whoever said it was sandpaper is nuts, or they've upgraded the hardware. feels very close to drawing in my sketchbook. I really like it. The pressure sensitivity works well, though I would have preferred some way to have the very lightest pressure be just making contact with the tablet (and not pressing down at all). This is how I do light shading with pencil, and it's a lot more comfortable for me. Adjustments have to be made for the convenience of digital medium, though.Oh, uh... I haven't even taken the mouse out of the bag. I already have a wireless keyboard with touchpad that works great, and then pen works well as a mouse, too.This IS set in absolute mode. I haven't found anyway to make the cursor position the center of the tablet, which really would have been nice (mark the center point with a line and position it with a mouse when you need to be exact.) Hovering works... but basically you just have to memorize how things on screen relate to the pad. I'm sure it will become second nature eventually, but it's a pain right now. The transition is difficult enough from not using hand-eye coordination to draw.[Edit] I now much prefer having it in absolute mode, where the center of the tablet is always the center of the screen. With some practice, I'm now able to reasonably predict the area where I'm going to draw without even looking at the pad. Beware turning the pad at a different angle to your screen :-)[End Edit]Let's see... I think that's it for now. I'll try it in ubuntu 8.10 eventually, and update. From the reviews it seems GIMP works well with it, so that should be interesting.[Edit] Works great on Ubuntu, although it's not fully functional. I couldn't get the pressure working, though I didn't try long. I got along without pressure for a long time :-). I'm very happy with this purchase, and would likely pay twice what I did for it again, which says quite a lot. [End Edit]As a matter of background, I have always preferred using a track ball rather than a mouse and was looking for something with minimal stress when using point-and-click interface devices. My work generally involves using AutoCAD, writing documents, working on spreadsheets and preparing presentations and graphics (which usually go into the documents, spreadsheets and presentations). Though I have not suffered from any severe repetative stress injuries, I have had recurring knots in the muscles of my right shoulder. I looked at the ergonomic 'this' and the molded 'that' but what got me thinking about graphics tablets was a coworker. He had injured his wrists in an accident and he could use no mouse or trackball comfortably. He showed me his full size Intuos4 (Wacom) and I was impressed. My interest in Wacom ended when I saw the sticker price.Though I did not have a chance to try out my coworker's Intuos, I could see by the shape and style of the stylus/pen how easily a person could adapt to using something like this. It would be no more stressful than writing (at worst) and scribbling (at best).Disappointed by the Wacom's price, I searched for other tablets and found this one. When I performed an internet search on this Genius tablet, I went to the negative reviews first to see what the worst case scenarios were. Knowing Amazon would stand behind their product and I could return it, I placed my order. I received this several months ago and have been using it regularly.After I unpacked the graphics tablet, pen, tablet mouse, etc., I installed the provided drivers and then connected the graphics tablet. I did not install anything other than just the drivers and maybe the PenSuite program. Everything worked without a problem from the start. I was concerned about using the graphics tablet and pen with a laptop when my work moved me to a position that would be mobile. Using care about the cord, the tablet packs well. It is very lightweight and its surface area is slightly smaller than my laptop. When packed, it is somewhat protected by my carry case and I usually sandwich it between the laptop and various books and papers. The pen for the tablet goes in a side compartment of my carry case so that the pen tip is not constantly activated (wears down the battery). I do not use the tablet mouse included with the kit.What pleasantly suprised me is that even though the included pen can left- and right-click, my computer has no problem recognizing the pen/graphics tablet as well as my track ball AND the touch pad on my laptop at the same time. I now usually use the laptop's (or trackball's) left- and right-click with one hand and navigate on the tablet with the pen using the other.One of the great features is that the graphics tablet is mapped to your screen. When I take my laptop to a docking station with a separate monitor and plug in the mouse pad, it automatically maps to both the laptop and the additional screen when I plug it in!A great feature that this graphics tablet has is the user-configured 'hot buttons'. They are a series of several small 'hot spots' lined up against the far left, top and far right of the graphics tablet. These are great to configure for quick launching programs or performing other functions. The cherry on top is the fact that the surface that the mouse pen contacts is a thin transparent plastic sheet. There is a notch so that you can lift the sheet and put just about any paper or photo underneath. I use a simple sheet of paper that I jotted with notes that relate which hotbuttons do what function (note that the top row of hot buttons is pre-assigned (e.g. 'open', 'save', 'copy', etc.)).The battery life in the pen is okay for me - a new battery every four months or so doesn't seem too bad.A few notes for those who have read negative comments or are generally skeptical about this product: the mouse pen needs to be in the immediate vicinity of the tablet surface. If you are not on or within about one inch (just less than three centimeters) you WILL have problems navigating with the mouse pen. I presume the same is the case with the mouse itself. There is a reason that Genius advertises 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity with the mouse pen - you need to apply pressure. The work I do does not need that many levels of sensitivity and so general light pressure (like sketching lightly on a piece of paper) is enough.While I think the resolution of the mouse pen and touch pad is really good (2000 LPI according to the manufacturer), I am not good enough to write my name on a grain of rice or copy the painting from dome of the Sistine Chapel onto the back of a business card. For more information, check the Genius website [...]J'ai acheté cette tablette comme première tablette graphique et j'en suis très content. La sensibilité du stylet est très bonne et l'installation est simple. La reconnaissance de caractères écrits fonctionne pour le moment sans problème détecté. Le nombre de raccourcis configurable est très important et on peut y mettre n'importe quelle combinaison de touche.Un bémol cependant, la souris fournie avec la tablette est vraiment dessous et j'utilise donc conjointement ma souris "classique" même en utilisant la tablette (ça permet aussi de ne pas utiliser une pile pour rien).This was my first tablet, I bought it at a great price and couldn't wait to get it in the mail. The only problems I have with it is the fact that the back end didn't have the ability to be used as an eraser and that it does have a cord. Otherwise great product for the price!