Hello....new this site....I am looking to buy a tablet....wacom seems to be the one that is good and affordable....i have a laptop computer...and i want to be able to use my touchpad as a mouse as well as use the tablet.....does anyone know if i can do both...or should i say either or...mouse ...touch pad...and tablet....i will be taking my computer to other locations and will not want to bring the tablet and all around....and want the comvieniece of my own keyboard and touchpad....any info on tablet would be nice as well....thanks.....

Im not sure I can answer your question about combining these two, but I can tell you that in my opinion, and in that of everyone else I have talked to, Wacom makes the very best tablet for the least amount of money. (Even if you buy the most expensive of something else, I doubt it will serve you better) I own the Wacom graphyr 2, only paid $100 for it and it is absolutely wonderful.

You can use any mouse attached to your computer, at the same time. For example if I wanted to, I could use my touchpad, trackpoint, wacom mouse, optical mouse, and joystick-as-a-mouse all at the same time. And obviously you can only use the ones plugged in. This is assuming you're using a modern OS like windows 2k or xp. On older versions you might have to reboot...

I suggest, if you can afford it, to get a 6x8 tablet rather than a 4x5. I find it a million times better for digital art work, and I don't feel cramped like I was on 4x5, larger than that is only useful if you have a lot of deskspace and either are doing cad/large tracing or want to split up your tablet into different regions. Otherwise your arm gets tired... Since graphire 3 has an relatively inexpensive 6x8 now, it's probably worth it.

Yeah, it really depends on your taste too. I mean, I personally like the big one. It sits on my lap nicely while I draw, really I don't work very well at all with tiny ones, but then again, I have long arms. I got an Aiptek, but mind you, I had been saving up from all my babysitting gigs. My friend swears the Aiptek breaks down really quickly, but I have yet to experiance any problems.
With my Aipteck, a unattached pen comes with it, but also a mouse. Its true, as Macello-san said, you can use a mouse at the same time as the Tablet, so there should be no problems.

Could I make just a quick reminder to nobbie: please type complete, grammatically correct sentences to the best of your ability. Otherwise, the effort involved in understanding your post is tedious if not annoying, or both.