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papbot

macrumors 68020
May 19, 2015
2,305
1,078
I have this one I got at Amazon as a backup to my Apple Pencil 2, and it is fantastic. It charges just like the Apple pencil by attaching magnetically to the iPad. Pretty much feels and operates just like the Apple pencil for much less.

Wireless Charging Stylus Pen for iPad ($32.99 - 4.5 out of 5 Stars - 254 Ratings)
I have to say that one is quite impressive. I might consider it as a backup to my Apple one.
 
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Devin Breeding

macrumors 6502
May 2, 2020
296
251
Conway SC
I see that the Apple Pencil seems to be something everyone with an iPad is buying these days, and I almost got caught up in that as I have been deciding which iPad to buy here while multiple models are on sale.

The Apple Pencil 2 had been on sale for $89, and I was initially thinking it was a "must have" to go along with the new iPad that I will be getting (likely the Air 5th generation). But, as I think about it- I won't use the iPad for writing, and I don't draw- so the pencil would really be a replacement for my finger within photo editing apps like Lightroom or Pixelmator, and that would really be it.

Realistically, a basic soft tip stylus (not a smart pen/pencil, but a true, "dumb" stylus) would be all I would need for this, correct- with no need for the pencil? Or do those of you out there with the same use case as I do find that you actually do find good value in the Pencil?

Thanks!
The Apple Pencil works great but was probably the biggest waste of money I’ve ever sent Apple’s way due to almost no use.
 

wilberforce

macrumors 68030
Aug 15, 2020
2,931
3,207
SF Bay Area
I use my Apple Pencil a lot. It enables me to do a variety of things easily on my iPads that would be cumbersome and slow on my Macs with mouse/trackpad.
Such as:
Taking notes with hand-drawn diagrams or sketches or math equations
Graphics using Adobe Fresco
Masking edits in Photoshop and Lightroom
Drafting technical drawings and sketches
Marking up drawings and documents
Signing documents

If I didn't have an Apple Pencil I would probably have rather limited use for my iPads.

Just to point out that there are different needs or preferences for different people.
 

bondr006

macrumors 68030
Jun 8, 2010
2,904
16,820
Cary, NC - My Name is Rob Bond
I am a realtor and also use my Apple pencil 2 a ton. I work with contracts, forms, docs, pdf's, take a huge amount of notes, sketch house dimensions, take pictures and edit in Affinity Photo 2, communicate(messages and email). Working with documents, pdf's, contracts, and forms would be virtually impossible without the pencil. Editing, marking up, and signing is much easier, and at this point I could not function without the pencil. The iPad Pro and an Apple pencil 2 are two of the best tools I have ever used personally and professionally.
 
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wingennis

macrumors regular
Mar 9, 2016
148
254
Northern Arizona
Bought it when the 11/12.9 IPPs came out. Have never used it. I'm glad it is available for creatives, though. I've been stunned by the art I've seen.
 

Atomic1977

macrumors 6502
Jul 8, 2017
389
182
West Bend Wisconsin
I so far don’t have a pencil for my ipad but any kind of stylus can and does help with some things. The Logitech Crayon all though I’ve never seen one is a cheaper name brand item to the pencil.
 

Novius89

macrumors regular
Nov 1, 2020
248
142
iPad 2018 here with Apple Pencil 1st generation.

I bought the iPad with a gifted gift card from my old job. Never saw the need for it, but I bought it for €100 brand new.
I was right, I didn’t use it at all after playing the first week “because it’s a new toy”.

My girlfriend played a ton of games on it for almost 4 years.

In 2022 I started a new job and going to college to become a nurse.
I got tired of printing and using and losing papers for notes and whatnot.

I purchased a pencil, set up the iPad with all my work and college apps.
And use it instead of papers, I sign a lot of forms with this.
Use it as a notepad when I interview clients and colleagues for assignments, and i wouldn’t miss it for the world…. Absolutely amazing.

After drawing some penises, cars, and an effort for one serious drawing in the first day when I got the pencil, I never use it for drawing.
 
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bondr006

macrumors 68030
Jun 8, 2010
2,904
16,820
Cary, NC - My Name is Rob Bond
Unless you're an artist, student or you have sausage fingers with zero touchscreen accuracy (rare on a smartphone let alone a tablet) then you don't need an Apple pencil or any type of stylus.
That sir is a very short sighted and narrowly subjective opinion. Almost sounds as if you are trying to shame people that like their Apple pencils, and have found use for them outside of your narrow viewpoint. I don't fit into any of your subjective examples, as some others here also don't. I am a realtor who uses my iPad Pro as my main work device, and the Apple pencil is integral to my being able to accomplish that. As I said earlier,

"I work with contracts, forms, docs, pdf's, take a huge amount of notes, sketch house dimensions, take pictures and edit in Affinity Photo 2, communicate(messages and email). Working with documents, pdf's, contracts, and forms would be virtually impossible without the pencil. Editing, marking up, and signing is much easier, and at this point I could not function without the pencil. The iPad Pro and an Apple pencil 2 are two of the best tools I have ever used personally and professionally."

There are many who are not artists, students, or who don't have "sausage fingers", that find the iPad coupled with the Apple pencil to be useful, and even invaluable to them.

MacRumors Article: Everything You Need to Know About the Apple Pencil

intego Article: Everything you can do with the Apple Pencil, and the Logitech Crayon

Macworld Article: Why you should get an Apple Pencil even if you don't draw
 
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sunking101

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2013
7,423
2,659
That sir is a very short sighted and narrowly subjective opinion. Almost sounds as if you are trying to shame people that like their Apple pencils, and have found use for them outside of your narrow viewpoint. I don't fit into any of your subjective examples, as some others here also don't. I am a realtor who uses his iPad Pro as my main work device, and the Apple pencil is integral my being able to accomplish that. As I said earlier,

"I work with contracts, forms, docs, pdf's, take a huge amount of notes, sketch house dimensions, take pictures and edit in Affinity Photo 2, communicate(messages and email). Working with documents, pdf's, contracts, and forms would be virtually impossible without the pencil. Editing, marking up, and signing is much easier, and at this point I could not function without the pencil. The iPad Pro and an Apple pencil 2 are two of the best tools I have ever used personally and professionally."

There are many who are not artists, students, or who have sausage fingers, that find the iPad coupled with the Apple pencil to be useful, and even invaluable to them.

MacRumors Article: Everything You Need to Know About the Apple Pencil

intego Article: Everything you can do with the Apple Pencil, and the Logitech Crayon

Macworld Article: Why you should get an Apple Pencil even if you don't draw
Well you need one then. I'm not saying that nobody needs them or indeed uses them. I'm just saying that most don't. We got by not using them on tiny phone screens so why would we need them on a massive screen?
 

bondr006

macrumors 68030
Jun 8, 2010
2,904
16,820
Cary, NC - My Name is Rob Bond
Well you need one then. I'm not saying that nobody needs them or indeed uses them. I'm just saying that most don't. We got by not using them on tiny phone screens so why would we need them on a massive screen?
That's the point! The bigger screen of the iPad is exactly what makes the Apple pencil useful. Signing, filling forms, mark ups and annotating, handwritten notes, precision photo editing, sketching, painting, pointing device, whiteboard presentations in Keynote and PowerPoint, and the list goes on... Lack of imagination and vision, does not equate to lack of need and usefulness.
 
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Torty

macrumors 65816
Oct 16, 2013
1,239
944
Have the Air 3 and bought the Pencil (1st Gen) with it. To be honest: I very very rarely use it. Only if something is too tiny where it's easier to point via pencil like correcting texts and I need to go between words to correct one letter. But the zoom view is back so this is now again easier to do with my fingers.
Never do manual notes, I prefer typing. Don't do photo edit, only adding some filters here and there.
 

Mainsail

macrumors 68020
Sep 19, 2010
2,430
3,235
I used to have an iPad Air 4 with Apple Pencil 2. I never used the Pencil, so it was a waste of money for me. On the other hand, I gave the iPad + Pencil to my son to use in his Phd Econ program. He uses it for writing equations and finds it invaluable. So, it really depends on your use. I replaced my iPad Air with the iPad 10 ($399 on sale). I have no intention of buying expensive Apple accessories, including the Pencil.

If you are not an artist, here is a short video about inexpensive alternatives to Apple Pencil:


Edit: Personally, I just highlight with my finger and annotate with a text box. My handwriting is really bad on the glass screen, and the text box is more legible.
 
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sunking101

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2013
7,423
2,659
That's the point! The bigger screen of the iPad is exactly what makes the Apple pencil useful. Signing, filling forms, mark ups and annotating, handwritten notes, precision photo editing, sketching, painting, pointing device, whiteboard presentations in Keynote and PowerPoint, and the list goes on... Lack of imagination and vision, does not equate to lack of need and usefulness.
Yep. I totally get that. So we can add 'realtors' to the list as well. Most home users still don't need the Apple Pencil though.
 

Mike Boreham

macrumors 68040
Aug 10, 2006
3,915
1,897
UK
I am not an artist (can't draw). I do color from time to time in Procreate but it happens once or twice in a year these days. I bought the pencil for digital note taking (no pile of papers, easy searching with OCR). I also use the pencil to annotate and highlight when reading.

Few things come to mind that separate the cheaper stylus from the Apple Pencil:

1. Charging method (plus for 2nd generation)
2. Pressure sensitivity
3. Palm rejection
4. Overall precision

As I am not artist pressure sensitivity does not matter to me that much. Palm rejection though is a huge deal when taking digital notes. Precision is also important for me. If I read a book and want to highlight/annotate something I do not want to waste time and redo it just because the stylus did not pick up the word/phrase I wanted. I want to focus on the book, not on the tool.

If you do not see a use case for you for that, then maybe try out cheap stylus.
Thanks.

Lots of people have praised cheap third party copies but I don't see any of them mentioning palm rejection which is a big deal for you.

Any third party pen users care to comment on palm rejection?
 
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bondr006

macrumors 68030
Jun 8, 2010
2,904
16,820
Cary, NC - My Name is Rob Bond
Yep. I totally get that. So we can add 'realtors' to the list as well. Most home users still don't need the Apple Pencil though.
There's a lot more than realtors that can be added to the list. Doctor's, nurses, warehouse managers, inventory clerks, business owners of any kind, law enforcement, attorneys, secretaries, and yes, even plain, old "home owners", and house wives. With just a little imagination, the list of people that the Apple pencil and iPad is useful to is huge. Anyone that uses pen and paper, and likes to jot, doodle, take notes, etc. is on "the list". Imagine how much forest could be saved if pen and paper went totally digital. I am also a photographer who originally used film in the 70's, 80's, and 90's which was very limiting. Now I never run out of film, nor do I have to go have it processed and printed, and I can take as many photos as I want. And just the same, we now have unlimited pads of paper on our tablets. We never have to run out paper, pens or ink, and in the mean time, we save money, time, and trees. Like I said, it takes just a little imagination, and vision to see the endless possibilities.
 
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bondr006

macrumors 68030
Jun 8, 2010
2,904
16,820
Cary, NC - My Name is Rob Bond
Thanks.

Lots of people have praised cheap third party copies but I don't see any of them mentioning palm rejection which is a big deal for you.

Any third party pen users care to comment on palm rejection?
All the Apple pencil clones I have ever seen on Amazon have palm rejection and tilt sensitivity. The only thing they don't have is pressure sensitivity, which is not a must unless you are an artist. Most of them charge by USB C, except for a few. I have this one that I use as a backup to my Apple pencil, and it feels and operates just the same. Even charges magnetically on the edge of the iPad like the Apple pencil. Unless I look at what is in my hand, it's hard to tell the difference it's so good.
 
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Digitalguy

macrumors 601
Apr 15, 2019
4,643
4,469
Thanks.

Lots of people have praised cheap third party copies but I don't see any of them mentioning palm rejection which is a big deal for you.

Any third party pen users care to comment on palm rejection?
As bondr006 said virtually all of them have palm rejection, because they are all based on the technology used by the Logitech crayon, which is available to any manufacturer. So they work exactly like the crayon, just with an Apple pencil shape and a cheaper price.
 

Nhwhazup

macrumors 68040
Sep 2, 2010
3,474
1,718
New Hampshire
I use my pencil all the time in GoodNotes and Notability. When I was working and did training, I would do all my PowerPoint presentations from the iPad and use the pencil to highlight, underline as I presented. Would also leave blank pages to write on when making lists from those in the class. Just so seamless and simple way to present.

Additionally, I am an old Franklin Covey fan. I use a pdf daily calendar in that same Franklin Covey style and love the feeling of writing with the pencil.
 

bondr006

macrumors 68030
Jun 8, 2010
2,904
16,820
Cary, NC - My Name is Rob Bond
I use my pencil all the time in GoodNotes and Notability. When I was working and did training, I would do all my PowerPoint presentations from the iPad and use the pencil to highlight, underline as I presented. Would also leave blank pages to write on when making lists from those in the class. Just so seamless and simple way to present.

Additionally, I am an old Franklin Covey fan. I use a pdf daily calendar in that same Franklin Covey style and love the feeling of writing with the pencil.
Can you please give me a link to the PDF calendar/planner you use. I am also an old Franklin Covey fan. Thank you!
 

Nhwhazup

macrumors 68040
Sep 2, 2010
3,474
1,718
New Hampshire
Can you please give me a link to the PDF calendar/planner you use. I am also an old Franklin Covey fan. Thank you!

I use this one. Pricey but so worth it
 
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papbot

macrumors 68020
May 19, 2015
2,305
1,078
I would consider one of the 3rd party devices if they supported the hover function on the M2 iPP. I have come to really find that useful with my Apple Pencil. If anyone here has an M2 and a 3rd party device hopefully they will mention this.
 

rui no onna

Contributor
Oct 25, 2013
14,916
13,260
I am still using the original tip. After 3.5 years, the time between charges is reduced, and I have lost the cover that went over the lighting input. But the device was relatively cheap, easy to use, and universal for ALL iPads that use any generation of Apple Pencil.

Not quite all. Only iPads released in 2018 or later are compatible. The 2015 Pro 12.9, 2016 Pro 9.7 and 2017 Pro 10.5 & 12.9 are not supported.

I have the Logitech Crayon as well and it works really nicely when I’m reviewing/comparing/annotating documents on a couple of iPads. With the Apple Pencil, you need one Pencil for each iPad. With the Crayon and generic clones, you can seamlessly switch between different iPads with the same Crayon/Pencil (just like pen and paper).
 
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