Taking each point in turn Grandad.
1. You are not alone in not remembering things from previous tutorials, my head is like a sieve these days so I wouldn't worry on that account. I may seem like a fount of knowledge to you, but rest assured that I often have to go over something again and refresh my knowledge before teaching it to you guys and then I probably forget most of it if I don't use it for a while. That is why I keep banging on about practicing what you know as usually the repetition makes it stick in your head a bit better.
2. Yes it can become crowded and yes it is advisable to merge layers when you are sure they are no longer needed, but it is often just as easy to switch them off instead. Alternatively you can 'park up' some unused layers at the bottom in a close stack and switch them all off, that way you can always fish one back out again and move it to the correct place if you needed it. In reality you will not be using Paths a great deal and when you do so they are usually in 'created' type images, so you don't often have many picture image layers to deal with at the same time. Also remember that a PATH does not always have to occupy a seperate layer all to itself, that is only required when constructing 'created' images, more often than not a PATH can be added to an existing picture layer and would only be visible IF you were to go into the PATHS tab and turn the visibility ON. So in essence you should not have many additional layers in your list even if you do add some PATHS for whatever reason.
3. This is a difficult one for me as I do actually own one and have done for many years, but I rarely if ever use it. I suppose I should say at this point that I am pretty fast with a mouse as I used to do CAD design an could whizz around doing engineering drawings with just a mouse so never really have a problem. The original pen tablets used to have lots of icons that were specifically set up for CAD type drawing so they were very handy as you only had to touch the pen to select various tools and I reckon they will still be very good when used for a dedicated programme. There is really only one make to look at as far as I am concerned and that is the WACOM range and they do some very good ones and you could get a good one for under £100.
Take a look at this link for Amazon:
This would be a very good value entry level tablet and do most of what you would need from it and you could decide if or not it was the thing for you, many people just cannot get to grips with using a pen as you do need a different skill set to use one. They are never quite as they claim and on a personal note I can draw freehand with a mouse better than with one of these.
The other thing is the workspace size, the more expensive ones are larger, but don't be too put of by this. Imagine that the small area of the pen tablet workspace is say only A5 and your monitor is a 24" then it will all be relative, so you do not have to reposition your mouse to move around, rather you lift your pen and place it or touch the same position on your smaller pad and it translates to the same position on your larger screen (if that makes sense)
You can normally apply pen pressure that will relate to a heavier or lighter flow of ink or colour in Editing and Painting programmes and on some models (more expensive) they will also have the ability to be reversed and the end used as an eraser.
Here is a better version of the same sort of tablet, but you really need to read all the blurb and the comments to get a feel for the differences.
So in essence Grandad I do own one, but hardly use it, they are in my opinion like Marmite, you either love or hate them. They can be used on other programmes instead of a mouse and some people swear by them and others wish they had never bought one. So my advice would not be against you buying one as you may love it, rather to not spend a lot of money until you have tried one out. They may still have them on demo in PC World (but don't buy from them, too expensive) and you could try one out.
The last thing to consider, but this may or may not be a problem, but I have heard of people having a conflict with 'some' editing software when using one.
Sorry not to have been more positive or helpfull, but it really is one of those personal choice things.
EDIT: Grandad take a look at the Flash Video option just below the product image and it will give you a better idea of the differences and the uses of both types. Worth noting that they both keep plugging that pretty useless feature of writing with a pen rather than what other practical benefits there are of actually using one over a mouse.
