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Wacom rebrands pro tablets, redesigns and rebrands hobbyist line

Bye-bye, Bamboo. Now all of Wacom's graphics tablets bear the Intuos brand and its latest consumer models get the wedge treatment.

Lori Grunin Senior Editor / Advice
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
Expertise Photography, PCs and laptops, gaming and gaming accessories
Lori Grunin
Wacom goes wedge. Wacom

Bamboo, you've been eaten by pandas. Wacom's jettisoning the Bamboo brand for its consumer graphics tablets and encompassing them within the Intuos brand, simultaneously rebranding its Intuos5 line as Intuos Pro. The latter remains unchanged, save for the bundling of the wireless connection kit in the box and a new $379 Special Edition of the medium tablet with silver bezels on top and bottom for those of you who don't like the basic black.

Wacom's also made some odd pricing changes, dropping the price of the small tablet by $20 to $249, raising the price of the large tablet by $30 to $499, and leaving the price of the medium tablet as is at $349.

Wacom refers to its tablet buttons, shown here, as keys. Wacom

As for the former Bamboo, the new black-and-silver Intuos design looks sleeker, wedgier, and a little more modern, with an updated pen that seems a little slimmer than its pro sibling. Wacom adds the capability to program its ExpressKeys with application-specific settings. And you'll be able to accessorize it with colored rings and pen holders.

Thankfully, the naming conventions are a little more straightforward this go-round -- not that Connect, Splash, and Capture didn't adequately differentiate between the Bamboo products. There's the stylus-only Intuos Pen ($79) and the multitouch-capable Pen & Touch small ($99) and medium ($199). These don't have wireless capability; they require the optional $39 wireless accessory kit.