If you’re a photographer, graphics designer or artist that desires precise control of your cursor when editing, a professional pen tablet can make all the difference. The Intuos 5 is the latest tablet to be added to Wacom’s range and advances on its predecessor – the Intuos 4.



With an all-new matte finish and a thin ergonomic design, the Intuos 5 has a sleek appearance and adopts touch-functionality that was first introduced into Wacom’s Bamboo series. When you’re not using the pen, there’s the option of swiping your fingers across the tablet surface to control cursor movement and thanks to the new illuminated corners it’s easy to identify the 224 mm x 140 mm active surface area.



The layout of eight Express keys at the side is virtually identical to previous models and the touch ring in-between allows you to zoom in or out, cycle through layers, alter brush size and rotate images when working Photoshop, Elements or Lightroom. The visual display that revealed the icon of each Express Key command on the Intuos 4 is no longer present however. It has been lost in an effort to keep the surface design as simple as possible, but if you’d like to refer to which buttons are assigned to which command you can lightly touch any button to load an onscreen guide. 



Supporting tilt control (60degrees) for angled brush strokes and 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity on the tip of the pen, again much like the Intuos 4, this latest model benefits from wireless support. The Wireless Accessory kit (£34) comes with a wireless module and rechargeable battery that slot in the tablet and when the USB receiver is plugged in to the computer, it’s good for 15 hours of wireless connectivity with a 10m range.



Installing the tablet is effortless and takes less than 10 minutes. The build quality is strong and durable, and the touch functionality is excellent for navigating through web pages. The ten replacement pen nibs provide a different feel on the tablet’s surface and there’s a Medium pen-only version for £60 less if you can live without the touch function. The Medium sized tablet sits neatly in front of any keyboard but if the dimensions seem too large, there’s a smaller (320 mm x 208 mm x 12 mm) model available for £195. As tablets go, this is as good as it gets and if you’re looking for the ultimate cursor control when you’re editing, you won’t be left disappointed.

Wacom Intuos 5 Touch Medium Specifications

Dimensions (W x D x H): 380 mm x 251 mm x 12 mm
(15.0″ x 9.9″ x 0.5″)

Active area Pen (W x D): 224 mm x 140 mm
(8.8″ x 5.5″)

Active area Touch (W x D): 224 mm x 140 mm
(8.8″ x 5.5″)

Weight: 990 g

Multi-touch Support: Yes

Wireless Accessory Support: yes

Resolution: (per point) 0.005 mm (5,080 lines per inch)

Tilt sensitivity: ± 60°

Maximum reading height with pen: 10 mm

No. of ExpressKeys: 8 capacitve keys

Touch Ring controller: 1



Package contents

Wacom Grip Pen, Pen stand, Ten replacement nibs (five standard nibs, one flex nib, one stroke nib, and three hard felt nibs), Nib extractor,

Colour identification rings, 2 m (6.6 ft) USB cable, Quick Start Guide, Installation CD (includes tablet driver software access to user user manual download)



System requirements

PC: Microsoft Windows® XP (SP3), Windows® Vista (SP2), Windows® 7 (SP1), or higher

Mac: Mac OS X 10.5.8 or later, Intel® processor, Powered USB port, colour display, CD/DVD drive, broadband internet connection