The Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch is an inexpensive tablet that can be integrated with your PC to be used with creative work.

Tablets are generally the domain of designers and anyone who uses programs such as PhotoShop and Illustrator professionally, and they’re generally fairly expensive. But the Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch is in reach of non-professional creative-types, carrying a recommended retail price of $159.

The device can be used instead of your mouse to operate your computer, though this may take some getting used to for everyday functionality such as browsing the web. You do this by touching the tablet and gesturing what you want to do. This is particularly handy for rotating photos and the like.

When you need to do something that requires more precision - for example, editing photos - you can use the pen to draw on the screen. You can even use it to mark up word documents or make sketches.

Wacom has also equipped the Bamboo Pen & Touch with the Bamboo Dock, which holds all the device’s widgets and applications. One of the cooler ones allows you to draw a sketch then upload it to Twitter.

The device comes bundled with a range of software including Adobe Photoshop Elements 7, which adds to the value of the $159 price tag.

Buy a cheap Wacom tablet on sale

By Caroline Warnes