A free bit of advice :
a) If it ain't a wacom, don't bother. I mean it.

Size ain't everything, unless you're Lord Expansive Drawer who draws with wide, sweeping motions. I have a 6"x8", and i usually end up resizing the active area to about half that. Don't pay for what you won't use.
Now, with that said, i own a Wacom Graphire3 6"x8" tablet - kinda entry level, but it's pretty awesome. If I had a choice, i would gone for the smaller Intuos (mmm, clickwheel), but it was a present, so no dice. In any case, the graphire cost about $200 - australian, mind you - a year ago. I have no idea what that translates into in US dollars.
Lastly, tablets rocksor, but aren't panaceas for bad drawing skills, and additionally the first few times you use a tablet your accuracy will suck, guaranteed. I pride myself on my control of a pen and ability to draw perfect lines, sans a ruler, but my attempts to o the familiarisation excercises the first few times ( draw a grid, then circle and cross the intersections ) failed, miserably.
Now go forth and find a nice WACOM tablet

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