I have the Wacom Intuos 3 9X12 tablet and love it. I do a lot of photography and I find that the pen works much better for me than a mouse does, especially for subtle shading and touch ups. This tablet also is pressure and tilt sensitive so my pen becomes an amazingly versatile tool. And the keys are programmable so many of my most commonly used
PS functions are now accomplished by pressing a key on the tablet while I am using the pen instead of switching back to the keyboard.