I bought a small tablet and it's sufficient to travel from the upper left corner of my screen to the lower right. I don't think the medium size is necessary, especially if space is limited. I'd recommend the the Intuos Pro Small to anyone wanting to advance in photography or digital arts of any kind.
According to the Wacom website, it is compatible with the IPad but it looks like you may need to buy a stylus separate from the one the Intuos Pro ships with.