Which Wacom tablet should I buy?

I'm in the market for a tablet, mainly for retouching.
I've been trying to figure out which to get, Intuos pro, intuos pen and touch or Bamboo

what are the main differences? I know that the pro has 2048 pen sensitivity unlike the others which is 1024. Is the difference needed in portrait retouching?
I don't want to want to upgrade in the future

Could anyone suggest one and tell me why?

I have the bamboo and use it for quite a bit of Photoshopping. From restorations to touch ups. I can't speak to the others, I did read reviews and look at what was offered well before purchasing mine. I was lucky and purchased last years model when it went on sale. I now know how much I like it and how much it can do. When the day comes that I need something more than I have an upgrade will be needed. You have to decide what you want from the tablet and what you want to do with it. Size and space for it also play a factor. The pens also provide something more...do some review reading from a few different sites and see what others have to say.

I have the Intuos 4 medium and really enjoy the added hot keys. They make things like zooming in/out and changing brush size very easy to do without the use of the keyboard. It also has [default]buttons for shortcut keys - Alt, Ctrl, Space bar, etc that also reduce the need to reach for the keyboard. It may not sound like much, but without them you end up reaching for the keyboard a lot.

I went to the Classifieds section here and found the previous years model. Someone was upgrading to the latest model, and I picked up a slightly used model and saved some cash.

Skinnifatkid wrote in post #17236039
I have the bamboo and use it for quite a bit of Photoshopping. From restorations to touch ups. I can't speak to the others, I did read reviews and look at what was offered well before purchasing mine. I was lucky and purchased last years model when it went on sale. I now know how much I like it and how much it can do. When the day comes that I need something more than I have an upgrade will be needed. You have to decide what you want from the tablet and what you want to do with it. Size and space for it also play a factor. The pens also provide something more...do some review reading from a few different sites and see what others have to say.

Thanks for your input I will read more so I can decide

drvnbysound wrote in post #17236078
I have the Intuos 4 medium and really enjoy the added hot keys. They make things like zooming in/out and changing brush size very easy to do without the use of the keyboard. It also has [default]buttons for shortcut keys - Alt, Ctrl, Space bar, etc that also reduce the need to reach for the keyboard. It may not sound like much, but without them you end up reaching for the keyboard a lot.

I went to the Classifieds section here and found the previous years model. Someone was upgrading to the latest model, and I picked up a slightly used model and saved some cash.

Thanks for the tips, thats why I'm leaning toward the pro or maybe get the intuos 5

the cheap small one. Really.

CyberDyneSystems wrote in post #17236245
the cheap small one. Really.

I might end up this route!

I agree with Jake. Get the small, cheap one.

Bought in and got an Intuos Pro, just got delivered today, time to check this bad boy out

MYC1313 wrote in post #17246794
Bought in and got an Intuos Pro, just got delivered today, time to check this bad boy out

Let us know how you like it.

i'm trying to decide between the pro and the bamboo medium, is it really worth the extra $200 for photographer's editing? or is the pro geared more towards graphic artists?

seriously, the cheapest small one - I'm a graphic designer and photo editor and this is what I use at work - you won't need any more than this.

not sure about the cheap part....but definitely the small one. You'll end up adjusting the control area of the tablet to only a fraction of the space anyway so the rest will become wasted real estate

ganginwood wrote in post #17253938
not sure about the cheap part....but definitely the small one. You'll end up adjusting the control area of the tablet to only a fraction of the space anyway so the rest will become wasted real estate

Yep ^^ I have the smallest Wacom Bamboo and have the useable area set to about 1.5" x 2".

ganginwood wrote in post #17253938
not sure about the cheap part.....

To clarify, the O.P asked about which "Wacom" not which tablet.
thus, I was saying the cheapest Wacom, which remains a good quality product.