StarDestroyer.Net BBS

So I've decided to try my hand at drawing on my PC and learning how to use all the fancy graphics software.

I figured there would be people experienced on these matters here. So my questions to these experts are what graphics tablet and software do you recommend? I was thinking about getting one of the lower end Wacom tablets and maybe GIMP.

Keep in mind I am but a poor university student

Anything from Wacom is good.
Anything not from Wacom is probably not so good.
They are also quite indestructible. I´ve dropped mine a bunch of times and it still works perfectly fine.

Personally I use a terribly old Wacom Graphire in connection with Photoshop and am perfectly happy with it.
I use it mainly for drawing textures for 3D models and it´s not the core of my work so there are probably other people who know more about software that integrates tablets better than PS but depending on what you want to do Wacom + PS can be a good choice.

One small bit of advice: if you are thinking of buying a tablet PC, for two-for-one-thing deal, try it first. I had a disappointment with such, even though it was a Wacom tablet on a Thinkpad. It is mostly fine and usable now, but not as good as just using a Bamboo that I also have.

If you want to try it, I'd recommend a Wacom Bamboo though. See if you can get a Special Edition or something, those can include good software deals.

Thanks guys; the Wacom Bamboo seems like a rather good deal esp with some online retailers. I'll probably see if I can test it out first