Good Graphics tablet for PC?

Hey All

I need to buy a 16-year-old a graphics tablet for PC (XP). She wants to draw with a stylus and apparently AAAALLLL the cool kids in her school have one so she's officially deprived. I've never liked them and don't use one so I know less than nothing about them.

Can anyone with some experience point me at the good brands? What features am I looking for? Which ones are crap? What are your favorites?

Any advice is welcome!

Hmmm funny. I'm 17 and don't know a single person that has a tablet.

I wish my parents were like you.

(a few years ago)
ME: This 5 year old Intel Celeron is not going to cut it for my marketing activities!
DAD: Good, go earn money to buy a new computer, then.

True story, except by this age I knew better than ask my parents for expensive stuff I've about always had to pay for everything like that even when I was little. Has a lot to do with how I got the mindset to end up here.

I've used them for a decade

just go to ebay and buy a cheap WACOM

anything WACOM is good.

graphics tablet are one of the few brands where size doesnt matter. Smaller is usually better because people keep them in their lap. Those moster size ones are ridiculous.

do NOT buy a tablet with a mouse. these are usually a complete waste of money

tablets have very minimal utility. They are great for very precise photoshop gestures. But beyond that, they are really not used much.

if i had to guess, i would say a professional tablet user who works in a design firm, actually uses the tablet for less than 5% of his work day.

most of the time, he's on the mouse.

I agree if you want a tablet theres no other choice than a Wacom, been using them for years and they're never given me any issues.

I would suggest a http://www.wacom.com/bamboo/ they're pretty cheap and I cant see a kid needing anything more expensive plus the other models tend to be alot more expensive than the bamboo's.

I've been using graphics tablets for many years.
I've mostly used Wacom & currently have an A4 sized one.
That said, I've mostly been using tablet PCs for this job for the past 6 or so years.
You can pick up used Acer tablet PCs on ebay very cheaply these days.
The advantage over a Wacom tablet is that you draw/write directly on the screen resting on your lap rather than drawing off to one side whilst looking at a desktop monitor. This makes it so much easier to use.

Thanks all! I appreciate the advice. We'll pick one of those bamboos