Don't judge a tool until you have tried it yourself...

[mugenjohncel]

Uncle Mugen's story time
Moral Lesson: Don't judge a tool until you have tried it yourself... you might be in for a surprise...

What you see below is the result of an unplanned one hour of sketching using a really REALLY cheap CDR-King Tablet.


A long time ago, I was having a conversation with another forum member named LordcloudX. During that conversation I am hell bent on winning my argument that CDR-King products are CRAP!... In case you didn't know... CDR-King is one of the largest retailer of Computer parts and accessories in the Philippines. Their products had some of the LOWEST prices in the market made possible by cheap re-branded Chinese imports... and they also break easily... I know very well for I have tried their routers... none of them lasted longer than 6 months.

Earlier today, I visited a long time friend from when I was still working as a freehand illustrator since his house happened to be along my planned route. So we chat a bit and like me... he too retired from being a graphic artist. He is now working for Telus as a Callcenter agent to support his now growing family. Of course, once an artist, always an artist and the same can be said for both of us. I still draw during my spare time and so is he... but the real highlight of this visit is that GOD DAMN CDR-KING TABLET sitting in front of his computer... so I looked at him dead straight and asked him... why CDR-King?... Those things are cheap crap and breaks easily... He answered "It's Cheap"

Now it's one of those unwritten rule that when it comes to tablets you've got to have WACOM. Wacom is simply the best and in my case, I made effort to acquire a refurbished Cintiq and like every Cintiq user has to say... you'll never EVER wanna use another tablet other than CINTIQ... so here is a cheap Php1380.00 (US$31.56) tablet with it's large CDR-King logo staring at me, mocking me, challenging me, enticing me to try it. Modesty tossed aside, I am quite confident in my drawing skills and my curiosity got the better of me... I'm so curious how this crap will perform in the hands of someone like me. So I asked my good old friend to fire up his PC so I can test drive his CDR-King Tablet. While I was drawing, I found out that the pen needed a battery to properly operate...pfft... but as I started my first stroke I was surprised at how accurate CDR-King tablet is. It's so accurate, it's so smooth, it performs just like an Intuos... probably even better... Now before I sing CDR-King praises... I have to tell that maybe I was in a rather good mood for drawing that day and may be a factor but damn... if you removed this ugly CDR-King Logo... I probably won't be able to tell the difference between this and a Wacom. About 10 minutes I was happy at the results of the initial sketch that I proceeded to ink it and eventually color it. The end result is so nice I copied it into my USB drive to brag about it here and in my blog...

So there you have it... I still don't trust CDR-King too much especially every time I recall my routers but damn... maybe if they sell more products like this who knows... maybe I too will start coming back to their stores and maybe even get myself one of these.

OK Cloud... you can go ahead and sing that "I was right and you were wrong song..." time to give CDR-King some Thumbs Up...

"POOF" (Disappears)

Edit: Wow!... I didn't know those things are selling like hotcakes... the two CDR-Kings I went to were all sold out...

[wizzardx]

That artwork is really nice . I thought it was a high quality anime screencap at first.

[Lumen_Astrum]

I actually steered away on a CD-R King tablet when I was buying my first one.
In fact, I ended up spending around 500php more than how much a CD-R King tablet costs XD (And this tablet needs a battery...)

I had a really horrible experience in CD-R King stuff. I got headphones there for a cheapo price, and I thought it will last long, but it broke down after 6 months.
So ever since then I didn't buy anything in CD-R King except for DVDs and CDs.

[Sapphi]

Yeah... I have a Medion tablet (internet research tells me they are re-badged Aipteks) from Aldi.* It also requires a battery for the pen. But I've had it since I was around 11 or twelve years old, and it's still going strong. It's actually a really nice tablet (huge, too - the drawing space is about 10 inches tall and 13 inches wide).

The only gripe I have with it is that the software/driver/whatever that ensures the tablet draws correctly is somewhat finicky. It seems to only start up if I have the tablet plugged into my top USB slot, for whatever reason. I have to see a little tablet icon in my lower-right-hand corner of the screen, or else it won't work properly, and it drives me nuts when it decides not to show up.

Also, for whatever reason, if I load up Photoshop and plug it in afterward, Photoshop will not know that I'm drawing with a pressure-sensitive device. If I plug it in before loading up Photoshop, works like a charm. It took me a long time to figure that out... I thought it was just being random. XD And I also found out I can't use an electric heating pad and the tablet at the same time. Must disrupt some frequency or something.

Anyway, even with those gripes, I am pretty proud of my tablet. I'll probably get a Wacom eventually because I'm sure they're more reliable, but it's fun telling people I got it at Aldi

*Extremely cheap store, with no name brands and no grocery bags. Groceries are stacked up in the boxes they were shipped in. You rent your cart for a quarter and get the quarter back after you return the cart. There are no grocery bags; if you don't have enough groceries to justify a cart you can just grab an empty box and put your stuff in there. Despite this, they have some of the most delicious food EVER.

[Taleweaver]

Anyway, even with those gripes, I am pretty proud of my tablet. I'll probably get a Wacom eventually because I'm sure they're more reliable, but it's fun telling people I got it at Aldi

*Extremely cheap store, with no name brands and no grocery bags. Groceries are stacked up in the boxes they were shipped in. You rent your cart for a quarter and get the quarter back after you return the cart. There are no grocery bags; if you don't have enough groceries to justify a cart you can just grab an empty box and put your stuff in there. Despite this, they have some of the most delicious food EVER.

As a German company, Aldi is well-known in Germany for dirt-cheap yet reliable computers, TVs and other electronic stuff, and their brand "Medion" regularly gets good grades in computer magazines. Germany's largest newspaper, BILD Zeitung (a tabloid, for all purposes), constantly declares a Medion PC the "Volkscomputer", or "the People's Computer" for offering good quality at a very reasonable price. Funny that Aldi apparently slowly gets the same reputation overseas.

[DaFool]

I bought a CD-R King HD Camcorder worth around php 3500 ($80) and it works way better than my previous Sony Camcorder that was worth $1000.

$80 > $1000
720p > 1080i
.mov > .m2t (or something that needed transcoding before going into AFX)

[gaoldart]

I use a freekin' Genius tablet... and it' more loyal to me than my own computer

[Sapphi]

As a German company, Aldi is well-known in Germany for dirt-cheap yet reliable computers, TVs and other electronic stuff, and their brand "Medion" regularly gets good grades in computer magazines. Germany's largest newspaper, BILD Zeitung (a tabloid, for all purposes), constantly declares a Medion PC the "Volkscomputer", or "the People's Computer" for offering good quality at a very reasonable price. Funny that Aldi apparently slowly gets the same reputation overseas.

Wow, I didn't know that ^_^
So do Aldis in Germany have the same no-frills business model as the ones in the USA? Do you guys like have an Aldi in every town? XD