Need Recommendation On First Drawing Tablet (PC)

Question

Hi,
I am a web developer (I mostly do the 'plumbing' -- PHP, SQL, CSS) and work with art already received. I do various tasks in Illustrator and PS, such as color correction or converting a photo to a line art logo, but up until now never done much 'free hand' work. I think it's (finally) time to get a drawing tablet... as I've read some good things about less expensive units such as Wacom Bamboo. (I don't want to spend a ton of money on this until I'm sure it's something I will use productively---who knows, I may -hate- the whole concept? Or I may wonder WTF I waited all these years for.)
To be clear, I don't need it as a 'mouse replacement'. My primary need is to learn to free hand draw line art---I mention this because lots of product videos seem to stress the 'iPad'-like functions more than the actual 'drawing'.
A couple of questions:
1. Are there other brands/models (under $200) I should be looking at seriously?
2. I was more focused on the bigger Bamboo... just because all the artists I've ever seen working use big $1000 ones. But I've seen a number of articles where users/reviewers talk about being quite happy with the smaller unit for real drawing. I wonder if that's true once one is an experienced user... IOW is it easier for a noob to to 'learn' to draw well on a larger tablet?
Thanks,
---JC
PS: I am running one machine on CS4 XP and another CS5 --- Win7. Hopefully one can assume the drivers and all that stuff is sorted for all these combinations, right?

Answer 1

For my money you should really only consider WACOM products. All other tablets are inferior.
I've used everything from a 4x5 Graphire 1 to my current large Intuos 4. Never used a Bamboo though. The sweet spot for most users seems to be the 6x8/6x11/medium size. It really relates more to how you work/draw - with lager arms gestures or small finger/wrist gestures. That combined with how much screen realestate you have. I run 3 monitors and while I could get by woth a medium or 6x8 tablet, the large (roughly 12x16) suits me better.
As for features, the Bamboo feature list seems like a great starting point for someone new to tablets. But realize it's got much less pressure sensativity as well as customization options than an Intuous tablet has.
A tablet won't help you "learn to draw" but it will help with small, delicate adjustments and fine tuning that's simply not possible with any mouse, trackball, or trackpad.
Drivers are all at WACOM's site.. never use any driver that comes on CD/DVD with the tablet, they are almost always old versions. Just plug in the tablet and go to wacom's site to download drivers.