Years ago, I settled on a few trusted input devices: a Kensington Orbit trackball and a Griffin PowerMate for scrolling. Both have sat next to my keyboard at the office ever since. At home, I use an Apple Magic Mouse, and on the road I use nothing more than my laptop’s trackpad.

I consider these things old friends (even the youngish Mighty Mouse) and I’ve been loathe to switch. But switch I did.

Wacom, longtime leaders in the tablet market (not the Android/iPad kind, but the pen-and-slate kind your design nerd friends use in place of a mouse) has revamped its consumer line of Bamboo tablets,...