Cintiq 12wx-Gate...the followup

Apologies to all for not posting over the holidays...being down with the sickness ain't exactly conducive to finding animation goodies on the interwebs. However, Mark Dowsett over there at Vibe Computing was kind enough to keep me posted about the price problems with the 12wx, Wacom's drool-worthy new artist toy. Seems Mark did some back and forthing with Wacom and managed to get the price down to $1179 canuck bucks...it's still almost $200 over Wacom's suggested retail, but ya gotta remember that the retailers can't keep a load of these in stock...they're not gonna move like Ipods, after all. Plus, Vibe offers a demo program for y'all who want to kick the tires before drivin' this beauty off the lot.

I'd also like to point out that both Mark and the doods from Silicon Cowboys got back to me with prompt replies and emails...still waitin' on Vistek. So if you've got the dosh and wanna be flash-a-matin' like a crazy maniac, go get yerself one. Me, I gotta waits for the birthday. C'mon, April! And thanks once again to Mark Dowsett of Vibe Computing for the feedback and candor.

Cintiq 12wx: Not so grand fer canucks...

O.k., this really gives me the shits. Wacom comes out with an awesome new bit of kit, the sketchbook-sized Cintiq 12wx, which reviewers say is the greatest thing since bananas met peanut butter. 'Cept Wacom don't ship to beaver-land, and Canadian resellers, gentle, helpful upstanding souls all, have taken the opportunity to fleece the ever-luvin' hell out of their countrymen. The 12wx retails for $999 bucks stateside and our dollars are almost at par. Yet check out the markups...as little as 70 bucks and as much as 300 over the retail. Nice. I emailed Wacom...I'll letch'all know what they has to says. More later.

UPDATE: Teach me to jump to the conclusions. Got an e-mail from a reseller and he sez the markup is for duty and shipping. I'm gonna assume that the smaller the shops, the higher the markup. Plus, this ain't exactly a mass-market piece of kit, so the smaller shops can't be getting many in, hence the markup. The larger shops must be takin' a hit just to sell 'em. Hmmm...looks like I may have to work my Ohio connections to get me hands on one of these without payin' an arm and a leg extra just to get it here. Meanwhile, the reseller fella I was talkin' bout sez he complained about the situation to Wacom in hopes of bringin' the price down. Haven't heard back from Wacom, so I'll be givin' this fella the benefit of the doubt. On account of he wrote back. More as this story develops!

UPDATE on yer UPDATE: Hookay, shot a voicemail to the fellas at Vistek here in T'rawna and Silicon Cowboys out in BC about availability and shipping. As soon as I gets the skinny, I'll let y'all know where the best bang for your Canuck buck is.

Cintiq 12wx: it's a grand, baby!

Hate to nick shit from John Martz over there at Drawn, but all you TAIS members gotta know about this. The Cintiq 12wx is a sketchbook-sized version of Wacom's awesome draw-on lcd monitors, with a 12.1 inch diagonal screen...essentially you've got 8 1/2 x 11 inches to draw on. The bonus is that the unit is small and light enough to be spun round on a table top, so hard-to-draw angles are no sweat. Everything I've heard about performance is telling me that this is the same Cintiq quality that has made this the digital art tool to have, just more compact.

Here's the kicker: the e-mail I got from Wacom yesterday lists this lil' darlin' at $999 canuck bucks! It ain't cheap, but it's definetly sumthin' you could save yer nickels for over a few months and own. Good on ya, Wacom! I'll be getting one of these lil' beauts for me birthday, I thinks. There's a bit of a demo courtesy of them there YouTubes below. And here Christmas is right 'round the corner. If you've got a flash animator or digital artist on yer shoppin' list, a slightly overweight wallet and a need to be a holiday hero this year, well, hop on over to the Wacom E-Shop and get you one!