Touchpads to replace mice? Oh he** no!

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I've thought about getting graphics tablet before to help with problems from carpal tunnel. How does it work with a graphics tablet? Does the place you are "writing" corresponding to a particular point on the screen?

I don't even like using the laptop touchpads, so a desktop one definitely wont appeal to me. I already have all the functionally I need on my regular mouse.

most are directly proportional, meaning that the point on the tablet corresponds directly to the position on the screen, by far most of the drawing tablets function like this.

i have encountered an engineering tablet that used a relative position, meaning that the middle of the pad always starts where you left the mouse on the screen, to reset you lift the pen, they also neccesitate a button to start drawing where drawing tablets often allow direct drawing, many dont or allow for it to be set up(any high end model should have multiple settings)

the reason is to ease navigating huge cad drawings, for this purpose they often employ a 3d cotnroller as well.

if you are interested in common drawing then you can often find very cheap yet decent tablets for less than 60 bucks, sometimes even down in teh 30 dollar range, never bhought one of those though.

I'm fine with Touchpad's on Laptops. I've mastered the one of my Compaq Presario C300 (pretty much a larger version of the V2000). It's got a nice touch pad, in which it dips down a bit, but it's just the plastic of the case with a touch bit underneath that certain bit. It's great and works.

With my graphics tablet, the point touched corresponds directly to the position on the screen (as Oodain said that most tablets do) once the tablet software is installed from the included disc.
This is a slightly more expensive one (about £400), but the features and pricing of tablets can vary a lot. Some will have screens showing what is on your computer, some won't. Some adapt to how much pressure you apply with the pen, some don't. And some are ambidextrous, other suited only to righties. Most of them will have some level of customisation though. I am given a variety of pen nibs to choose from, I can change the sensitivity, I can assign different functions to different buttons (for example, I can use the other end of the pen to erase when I use most drawing software), and lots more. If you want to buy a tablet, it's best that you look at reviews and work out what is best for you as an individual.

Personally, I have no problem with the touchpad on my computer. I'm not using it for gaming or anything that really needs a mouse. Even Sketchup(so much fun!) is fine with it. Other touchpads do annoy me sometimes though.

I use a Wacom Bamboo graphics touchpad which has a "pen" to click and to draw with. The area of the pad corresponds to the area of the screen.
I got it because of RSI problems that made mouse use painful. It took a little while to get used to but I wouldn't go back to a mouse now.

It's quite small compared to a professional artist's graphics tablet, only 21 x 20 cm (15.5 x 19.5 of "screen area") and cheap, too. It cost me about £70 three years ago and is going strong.

I loathe touch pads and touch screens. This is why I refuse to buy a smart phone. This is why I have a wireless mouse for my laptop. Some of us don't have the coordination needed to use touch screens. When I want to click on something or dial a number, I want actual buttons to push. I don't want to feel like I'm playing a Nintendo DS just to make a phone call.

Buttons I like rotary dial.

I also like using a mouse because I broke my touch pad on my laptop.

I love my Macbooks trackpad.
Its way better then most laptop trackpads.

There was a time when I had only a touchpad with my laptop and I got VERY good at using it in computer games that used the mouse (which was most of them.) I have a mouse now, and I prefer that, but I can live with the touchpad.

So I used to hate touchpads, but not so much anymore. As long as I can turn off the tap-to-click function, it's all good, but I'd still much rather prefer a mouse, especially when it comes to gaming. A touch pad simply isn't as precise or intuitive. I absolutely won't be getting one for my desktop ever.