Warning: This will most likely take more than just a few minutes but is way faster than browsing around not knowing what to read nor where. Based in reviews from average players i read and comments/reviews from pro Osu! players. Always giving my own personal opinion/experiences (common player)
This will be most likely the most common questions (and answers) i've seen plus the ones i had myself, random thoughts about it and what not since you guys know is seriously hard to use the "search" option and people keeps making threads about this (which reminds me a seriously funny picture someone posted with a caption that said "Not this shit again." i was laughing my ass off haha)
First off is probably a set of questions of this kind:
What tablet is good? Which one should i get?
On personal experience i've only tried the Bamboo pen and tablet CTL 460 (which i read several reviews about them and i'm happy with it) and some pros i'vestalked seen around are actually using ( Rucker - uses an older version if i'm not wrong but is practically the same imo, i researched for some difference but i couldn't really find).
While browsing loads of threads here i saw that a good amount of players are also using the Intuos tablets and they are happy about them as well.
And well some other players that are using tablets i never heard of before (which i assume the previously had lol, no idea)
You can read a bit more from here about some tablets: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4825 (couldn't find the one i first read, there are way too many threads now lol)
What i read from a good majority of replies from players (in which i now agree) in several threads is that you do not need a $200 ~ $300+ tablet (if is just for osu! lol), you won't even use all the features of the tablet/pen (at least i never used to pen buttons and i don't think i will ever use them for osu!)
so to conclude: Depending on your budget and if is only for osu! a cheap one is just fine. quoting the popular responses "any get the job done."
Note: Depending on the brand of the tablet you can choose the size, so you will wonder what size is fine, which obviously the size affects significantly the price.
Most players (correct me if wrong, i'm getting my words from several topics i've read before) uses the smallest area you can use in the tablet (yes, you can adjust that and i'll cover that later on here) so that means the smaller size of the tablet is just fine.
What is the difference between them?
Basically... The features the tablet/pen has, which for osu in a general basis you will only use for aim and i HIGHLY doubt there is a difference between the feeling of them when moving. (someone who have tried more than just 1 tablet can correct me if wrong).
those are probably the most common questions people starts with, then it goes something like the next.
Will i have to use the entire are of the tablet? (if you didn't already assume you will have to)
No. you can make different set ups for the tablet. here is the thread that helped me a lot with the settings:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=47504
Do i tap the tablet with the pen to hit the circles or can i use the same way i use the mouse?
you can use your tablet to aim and z/x in the keyboard for the beats, or tap (make tablet-pen contact to left click) and x (or any other key for the right click). So basically yes, you can use the tablet just to aim.
Do you draw (making contact with the tablet) on the tablet to move or keep it on the air? (i had this question after watching some vids in youtube).
You can do both but i personally find it harder if you play making contact with it. with a tablet you don't really have to make contact, you can keep it on the air (obviously not far from the tablet) to move around.
Aaaand that is about it for common technical questions i think. If i'm forgetting some other common questions (which i probably did) feel free to tell me, i'll add them.
Then you may have some other questions involving game-play, game style, improvments and what not. I'll do this review-like not question-answer-like.
The starting -taboo- subject "tablet or mouse and which one is superior".
I'll offer you two different points of view from 2 pro well known players with different style.
Doomsday - Mouse user (this guy is epic with mouse haha)
KRZY - Tablet user (he is the only player i've seen who gave an objective review about "tablet vs mouse")
Literal quote from his review in the "Osu! Monthly 3rd Edition" (if you haven't check this magazine thing you should, is seriously good)
Now from personal experience (i'm not even close to be pro) -common player-
Now i will make this clear.
Getting a tablet does not and will never make you better than a pro mouse player just because "the tablet is a magical tool that will magically make you pro", or worst, expecting to play like Cookiezi (ROFLx9000 @ that thought). If you dare to ask "why?" i'll pin point some of the obvious ones.
-You will NOT have enough control, aim.
-You will NOT have the skill to read complex maps.
-You will NOT have the necesary reflexes.
-You will NOT have the finger speed, timming nor stamina required for some insane songs.
lets pretend you are some natural talented player and you have epic control/aim. Just becase you can reach a beat does NOT mean you will be able to hit it on the right timming and lets face it not having a good timming is either 50 or most likely miss in a really hard/fast song making you fail after the first 20 seconds (if not less).
Do NOT expect to go from normal/hard songs (if you are at that level) to be able to FC or handle a lot of insane songs due to some of the points stated before.
I'll give you the best example:
Granted, tablet will make you improve significatively but will not make you pro. Practice, practice and more practice is the key if that is your goal.
I'm pretty sure i'm forgetting something else (i forgot some ideas i had for being all focused on what i was actually typing lol) regarding self experiences but bah, most important stuff is here. If someone thinks i got something wrong or missing something, again, feel free to tell me and i will edit.
Note:
I'm pretty sure more than one will probably difer from my way of thinking, if you do, please keep the comments objective and constructive i made this based on the several hours i spent reading reviews and personal experiences to help players looking for information.
This will be most likely the most common questions (and answers) i've seen plus the ones i had myself, random thoughts about it and what not since you guys know is seriously hard to use the "search" option and people keeps making threads about this (which reminds me a seriously funny picture someone posted with a caption that said "Not this shit again." i was laughing my ass off haha)
First off is probably a set of questions of this kind:
What tablet is good? Which one should i get?
On personal experience i've only tried the Bamboo pen and tablet CTL 460 (which i read several reviews about them and i'm happy with it) and some pros i've
While browsing loads of threads here i saw that a good amount of players are also using the Intuos tablets and they are happy about them as well.
And well some other players that are using tablets i never heard of before (which i assume the previously had lol, no idea)
You can read a bit more from here about some tablets: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4825 (couldn't find the one i first read, there are way too many threads now lol)
What i read from a good majority of replies from players (in which i now agree) in several threads is that you do not need a $200 ~ $300+ tablet (if is just for osu! lol), you won't even use all the features of the tablet/pen (at least i never used to pen buttons and i don't think i will ever use them for osu!)
so to conclude: Depending on your budget and if is only for osu! a cheap one is just fine. quoting the popular responses "any get the job done."
Note: Depending on the brand of the tablet you can choose the size, so you will wonder what size is fine, which obviously the size affects significantly the price.
Most players (correct me if wrong, i'm getting my words from several topics i've read before) uses the smallest area you can use in the tablet (yes, you can adjust that and i'll cover that later on here) so that means the smaller size of the tablet is just fine.
What is the difference between them?
Basically... The features the tablet/pen has, which for osu in a general basis you will only use for aim and i HIGHLY doubt there is a difference between the feeling of them when moving. (someone who have tried more than just 1 tablet can correct me if wrong).
those are probably the most common questions people starts with, then it goes something like the next.
Will i have to use the entire are of the tablet? (if you didn't already assume you will have to)
No. you can make different set ups for the tablet. here is the thread that helped me a lot with the settings:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=47504
Do i tap the tablet with the pen to hit the circles or can i use the same way i use the mouse?
you can use your tablet to aim and z/x in the keyboard for the beats, or tap (make tablet-pen contact to left click) and x (or any other key for the right click). So basically yes, you can use the tablet just to aim.
Do you draw (making contact with the tablet) on the tablet to move or keep it on the air? (i had this question after watching some vids in youtube).
You can do both but i personally find it harder if you play making contact with it. with a tablet you don't really have to make contact, you can keep it on the air (obviously not far from the tablet) to move around.
Aaaand that is about it for common technical questions i think. If i'm forgetting some other common questions (which i probably did) feel free to tell me, i'll add them.
Then you may have some other questions involving game-play, game style, improvments and what not. I'll do this review-like not question-answer-like.
The starting -taboo- subject "tablet or mouse and which one is superior".
I'll offer you two different points of view from 2 pro well known players with different style.
Doomsday - Mouse user (this guy is epic with mouse haha)
KRZY - Tablet user (he is the only player i've seen who gave an objective review about "tablet vs mouse")
Literal quote from his review in the "Osu! Monthly 3rd Edition" (if you haven't check this magazine thing you should, is seriously good)
SPOILER
Written by: KRZY
Hi all, KRZY writing here. So, like most
of you, last month I enjoyed Doomsday’s
take on the two major input devices of
osu! gameplay, mouse and tablet. Being a
player who uses a tablet as his main playing
device instead of a mouse, I would
like to offer my view on the same matter.
I am someone who thinks tablet players
have certain advantages over mouse
players. In most cases, the tablet area corresponds
to the game screen in a proportional
way, meaning that a certain spot on
the screen is always the same spot on the
tablet area. This really helps when playing
particularly fast-moving or jumpy maps,
since by setting the tablet area so that you
can reach all corners of the screen while
fixing your wrist, you can enjoy a rather
stable gameplay, whereas the mouse is
likely to fly all over the place, forcing the
player to readjust at every break or so.
A stylus is also much more accurate than
a mouse (in most cases), since it has a
much more precise aim thanks to its tip,
compared to the mouse’s big flat bottom.
Tablets do, of course, have their downside.
Often it takes some time to adjust
to a tablet when one is accustomed to a
mouse, which is, from my personal experience,
quite frustrating. After a year of playing
with a mouse, I switched to a tablet on
June 2010. For the next three days, I had
to struggle to pass Normal difficulties when
I had been passing Insane difficulties with
a mouse a week before! Also, lots of people
have faster streaming skills with their
right hand compared to their left hand, and
while a mouse player can stream with his
right hand, this option is unavailable for a tablet
player. Some players overcome this problem
by incorporating tapping with the stylus
as well as the classic z/x (a recent example
would be TTTL, who has a couple of full combos
in 180bpm maps with DoubleTime mod),
but generally this would be a disadvantage to
tablet players.
Despite these downfalls, it seems to be
generally true that switching to a tablet after
spending some months playing with a mouse
to get a feel for the game helps you become a
better player. In my personal opinion, switching
to a tablet from a mouse sets in action a
positive feedback mechanism that helps one
become a better player overall: one gets better
at jumps, one is able to try faster, more
difficult maps (which, on average, contain
harder streams too), one gets faster fingers as
a result, and the loop repeats itself. While the
fact that most of the high-ranking players use
tablets as opposed to mice might not directly
prove that the former are superior devices, it
certainly shows a correlation.
And that, folks, was my take on tablet vs.
mouse. All comments or questions are appreciated!
Hi all, KRZY writing here. So, like most
of you, last month I enjoyed Doomsday’s
take on the two major input devices of
osu! gameplay, mouse and tablet. Being a
player who uses a tablet as his main playing
device instead of a mouse, I would
like to offer my view on the same matter.
I am someone who thinks tablet players
have certain advantages over mouse
players. In most cases, the tablet area corresponds
to the game screen in a proportional
way, meaning that a certain spot on
the screen is always the same spot on the
tablet area. This really helps when playing
particularly fast-moving or jumpy maps,
since by setting the tablet area so that you
can reach all corners of the screen while
fixing your wrist, you can enjoy a rather
stable gameplay, whereas the mouse is
likely to fly all over the place, forcing the
player to readjust at every break or so.
A stylus is also much more accurate than
a mouse (in most cases), since it has a
much more precise aim thanks to its tip,
compared to the mouse’s big flat bottom.
Tablets do, of course, have their downside.
Often it takes some time to adjust
to a tablet when one is accustomed to a
mouse, which is, from my personal experience,
quite frustrating. After a year of playing
with a mouse, I switched to a tablet on
June 2010. For the next three days, I had
to struggle to pass Normal difficulties when
I had been passing Insane difficulties with
a mouse a week before! Also, lots of people
have faster streaming skills with their
right hand compared to their left hand, and
while a mouse player can stream with his
right hand, this option is unavailable for a tablet
player. Some players overcome this problem
by incorporating tapping with the stylus
as well as the classic z/x (a recent example
would be TTTL, who has a couple of full combos
in 180bpm maps with DoubleTime mod),
but generally this would be a disadvantage to
tablet players.
Despite these downfalls, it seems to be
generally true that switching to a tablet after
spending some months playing with a mouse
to get a feel for the game helps you become a
better player. In my personal opinion, switching
to a tablet from a mouse sets in action a
positive feedback mechanism that helps one
become a better player overall: one gets better
at jumps, one is able to try faster, more
difficult maps (which, on average, contain
harder streams too), one gets faster fingers as
a result, and the loop repeats itself. While the
fact that most of the high-ranking players use
tablets as opposed to mice might not directly
prove that the former are superior devices, it
certainly shows a correlation.
And that, folks, was my take on tablet vs.
mouse. All comments or questions are appreciated!
Now from personal experience (i'm not even close to be pro) -common player-
SPOILER
I used mouse for 2 years and recently got my tablet. (i wasn't that interested because... you know "real men use mouse 
" or some people say so haha) and everything went EXACTLY how KRZY said. After playing insane songs i had to go to normal songs because i couldn't aim properly with the tablet (nothing that practice can't solve) i got completely used to it in probably 2 weeks.
I MUST tell you this... your hand/wrist will hurt like F**K after a few hours of playing at the beginning (i doubt i'm the only one who experienced this lol) but it goes away with the time.
About the improvement even i saw the improvement i had in the first week which was HUGE.
some tablet players will say is the "learning curve" but (not flamming or anything intended, this is personal and honest opinion) i will disagree. From barely FC'ing some insane songs i started FC'ed loads of them, i improved most (if not all) the records i had with mouse (which took me dozens of tries to get) with the 1st or 2nd attempt (not necesarely FC). And omg the spinners, gdam spinners. As a mouse player i can tell that this was a nightmare when they were insane songs and mixed super fast spinners and then really far away beats or really centered beats, the mouse control required to do that perfectly is ridiculous and the control you get from a tablet is just delightful.
" or some people say so haha) and everything went EXACTLY how KRZY said. After playing insane songs i had to go to normal songs because i couldn't aim properly with the tablet (nothing that practice can't solve) i got completely used to it in probably 2 weeks.I MUST tell you this... your hand/wrist will hurt like F**K after a few hours of playing at the beginning (i doubt i'm the only one who experienced this lol) but it goes away with the time.
About the improvement even i saw the improvement i had in the first week which was HUGE.
some tablet players will say is the "learning curve" but (not flamming or anything intended, this is personal and honest opinion) i will disagree. From barely FC'ing some insane songs i started FC'ed loads of them, i improved most (if not all) the records i had with mouse (which took me dozens of tries to get) with the 1st or 2nd attempt (not necesarely FC). And omg the spinners, gdam spinners. As a mouse player i can tell that this was a nightmare when they were insane songs and mixed super fast spinners and then really far away beats or really centered beats, the mouse control required to do that perfectly is ridiculous and the control you get from a tablet is just delightful.
Now i will make this clear.
Getting a tablet does not and will never make you better than a pro mouse player just because "the tablet is a magical tool that will magically make you pro", or worst, expecting to play like Cookiezi (ROFLx9000 @ that thought). If you dare to ask "why?" i'll pin point some of the obvious ones.
-You will NOT have enough control, aim.
-You will NOT have the skill to read complex maps.
-You will NOT have the necesary reflexes.
-You will NOT have the finger speed, timming nor stamina required for some insane songs.
lets pretend you are some natural talented player and you have epic control/aim. Just becase you can reach a beat does NOT mean you will be able to hit it on the right timming and lets face it not having a good timming is either 50 or most likely miss in a really hard/fast song making you fail after the first 20 seconds (if not less).
Do NOT expect to go from normal/hard songs (if you are at that level) to be able to FC or handle a lot of insane songs due to some of the points stated before.
I'll give you the best example:
SPOILER
If you ever played Pump it up or DDR in PC you most likely did it on the arcade machine and you will 100% agree with me. In PC you could play seriously and i mean seriously hard songs (using the keyboard) and when you went to the machine you could barely keep up with the start of the song before failing a few seconds after due to your lack of physical conditions required that are gained ONLY and ONLY by practicing in the arcade machine.
Granted, tablet will make you improve significatively but will not make you pro. Practice, practice and more practice is the key if that is your goal.
I'm pretty sure i'm forgetting something else (i forgot some ideas i had for being all focused on what i was actually typing lol) regarding self experiences but bah, most important stuff is here. If someone thinks i got something wrong or missing something, again, feel free to tell me and i will edit.
Note:
I'm pretty sure more than one will probably difer from my way of thinking, if you do, please keep the comments objective and constructive i made this based on the several hours i spent reading reviews and personal experiences to help players looking for information.
