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Apple Pencil

C7 POWER

C7 POWER

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 10, 2015
2,055
1,424
Charlotte, NC
This may be a stupid question, but here it goes lol.

I pre ordered the new iPad Pro 11 Inch, will deliver on the 7th. I currently have the 9.7 Inch iPad Pro and never bought the first gen Apple Pencil, so my question is outside of people who draw or will use for Photo Shop, is the Apple Pencil just a waste of money or is it worth getting? I am just not sure on what else if anything its needed/used for.
 
Brett1203 said:
This may be a stupid question, but here it goes lol.

I pre ordered the new iPad Pro 11 Inch, will deliver on the 7th. I currently have the 9.7 Inch iPad Pro and never bought the first gen Apple Pencil, so my question is outside of people who draw or will use for Photo Shop, is the Apple Pencil just a waste of money or is it worth getting? I am just not sure on what else if anything its needed/used for.
Click to expand...
Some people use it for taking notes. I would use it for that more if the 1st gen Pencil didn't die all the time because I have it in a third party case side mounted. I think that it connects and drains since it's close to the display. I ordered the new 12.9" and Apple Pencil 2 which will eliminate this. Anytime I need to jot down some notes it was dead so I would just use the keyboard, but I would plug it in if I was planning on drawing.

Anyway, you can just tap it on the lock screen and it opens notes and you can start writing. There are some writing apps that are popular as well that have some special features and work with the Pencil. I primarily use it for sketching UI wireframes, but sometimes for art, and though I have a fine art degree in design and know how to draw, paint, sculpt, make lithographic prints, etc—but I'm still not very good at using all the software tools on the iPad to make something that looks good beyond pencil/pen black and white technical drawings or sketches. Sometimes I use it in Lightroom to make selective edits or to touch up photos in Affinity Photo. I sit down with my kids and we draw cartoons together. Now that I'm moving up to the bigger 12.9" size and have time being done with the additions to my house, I think I'm going to take some more time this winter and dive deeper into Procreate, Affinity Designer, etc and learn how to do some painting and vector work.
 
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So basically if I do not take notes or draw, there is no reason to buy the Apple Pencil is what I am gathering? :)
 
Brett1203 said:
So basically if I do not take notes or draw, there is no reason to buy the Apple Pencil is what I am gathering? :)
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It does pencil/pen/paintbrush things. If you don't need to do pencil/pen/paintbrush things then you do not need one.
 
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I don’t use mine but 1 or 2 times a week but when I do it is absolutely priceless. I have my son working on handwriting skills and it saves tons of paper. I do lots of annotations and markup in pdf expert. I sketch and make notes in goodnotes. I keep mine in a cheap charging stand.
 
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davidbf1 said:
With what apps please, or just native Notes apps?
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Onenote & Noteability

I'm in many meetings each day and therefore this has replaced my notebook. Of course with the benefit of having all the other features of carrying an iPad.

If you don’t use a pen/pencil at the moment, getting the Apple Pencil will not suddenly change that.
 
I use my Apple Pencil for the same things I use a pencil/pen for. Signing documents, taking notes, writing notes for my students using AirPlay, marking up documents. If you don’t need a pencil/pen in your life then yes it’s a wast of money. Some even use it as a stylus.
 
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I don’t use mine as much as I’d like to because it’s awkward to take it out of the pocket and then make sure it’s paired/charged. I think I’d be a lot more likely to use it with it stuck to the frame of the iPad.
 
I mainly use mine to edit PDFs. It’s much easier than printing and marking up with a pen. I agree that th battery does drain if it’s kept near the device it’s cnnected to. At least it charges quickly. I don’t use it for note taking because my handwriting has gotten so bad, because I always type into a device.
 
My usage is pretty similar as most have already said. I use to write down notes. I also use it to color stuff. I am now venturing into digital art so I do color some postcards (to give people as gifts) using apps like ibispaintx etc. I personally use it every day, but then again I also do most of my brainstorming on the iPad with the pencil. Oh I also annotate pdf files for work.
 
Brett1203 said:
So basically if I do not take notes or draw, there is no reason to buy the Apple Pencil is what I am gathering?
Click to expand...
Yep, it would be a waste of money if you don't plan on doing any of those things. Money that you could be saving for rainy days. It is a great tool for note taking and drawing.

If doing detailed photo editing, its also a great tool. It is a handy tool if you are going to be annotating/editing documents. I have read about teachers going paperless and using it for marking up student assignments turned in as PDFs.

I often use it for note taking. There are a number of great note taking scripts that allow a user to search their notes and synchronize with desktop versions. As implied by AllergyDoc, if handwriting is bad then those notes are difficult to read. I came across a solution to that issue. Nebo is a note taking app that includes diagraming and drawing. The neat thing is that handwriting can be converted in the app to printed text. I got it when it was a "Free App of the Week." Its diagramming tool reminds me of the features built into my old Apple Message Pad 120. I can draw a rough shape and the app will turn it into a smooth shape (lines, eclipse, triangle, rectangle, polygon, stars, and such). Drawing lines between the shapes makes them connected objects so the lines stay connected if I move the objects on the screen.

If you are a student and plan on using the iPad for note taking with a keyboard; reconsider that idea. Studies have shown the memory retention is much higher if the notes are hand written . In that situation, the pencil would be a worth while expense over a keyboard. Just do a google search and there will a number of repeated studies about this issue.

If you are not going to use the pencil, there really is no reason to upgrade the the already great iPad Pro you currently have. Save the money and cancel the order for the new iPad Pro. While it is a really great looking device, its new features are unnecessary. Saving money is not a crime.
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secretk said:
My usage is pretty similar as most have already said. I use to write down notes. I also use it to color stuff. I am now venturing into digital art so I do color some postcards (to give people as gifts) using apps like ibispaintx etc.
Click to expand...

When you are ready to try out vector based drawing application give the new Affinity Designer a try. It costs 20 dollars and is very close to Adobe Illustrator without being forced into a subscription. Affinity Designer also has raster drawing capabilities on the same vector canvas. Its really sweet.
 
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I use my Apple Pencil every single day on my iPad Pro 12.9"
I do not draw nor do I make many notes.
I use it instead of my finger on just about everything I would use my finger on. I use it to scroll, tap, type etc. etc. etc. It is especially useful to me because the 12.9 is large and I don't have to move my hand around much since the pencil can reach to every part of the screen. Just tapping the back arrow on Safari is such a plus instead of using my big fat finger. I didn't think I would use it much when I first got it because like I said, I don't draw but now I can't live without it. Okay, maybe a lil exaggeration there, but really, I feel weird now NOT using it.
 
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As of tonight, I’m using the pencil to add handwriting to pdfs saved in Onedrive.

Recently I could edit pdf and add text in different fonts, sizes etc from within a Onedrive, using the on-screen keyboard. That option has disappeared which I found out tonight when I went to amend my company Dividend voucher template!!

So as per my first sentence I’m using the pencil to do trivial things like adding some handwritten amendments to pdfs. There are probably apps that do this for free.

I want to start using it for taking notes in work, rather than on paper, but I need to practice more before showing myself up in the office!!
 
me too. I draw with the pencil but I love using a pencil or any stylus to navigate.
It is more precise than my own fingertips.
 
I use mine all the time.

Does anyone know of a handwriting keyboard ? the one I am using is getting really glitchey. My Stylus script . I wish they would upate it.
 
I also use mine every day at work for writing in the Goodnotes app.

However, the pencil is also a handy stylus if you don’t want to touch your screen. Like if you’re eating a greasy piece of pizza and don’t want to smear your screen.
 
CrystalQuest76 said:
When you are ready to try out vector based drawing application give the new Affinity Designer a try. It costs 20 dollars and is very close to Adobe Illustrator without being forced into a subscription. Affinity Designer also has raster drawing capabilities on the same vector canvas. Its really sweet.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the recommendation! I unfortunately lack any talent for drawing so I am not sure that it makes sense to pay for an app when I know that I suck at this. Maybe if I can get better I could give it a try. Would you say that I can also use it for coloring the way I do with ibisPaint?

I am also curious that you mention this one over Procreate. Interesting. Have you tried Procreate and if yes how would you compare them?
 
I resented shelling out the money for it initially but I’ve later found that its incredibly useful.

I’m in a lot of meetings so it’s great for taking notes as well as a general stylus.
 
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Elise said:
I resented shelling out the money for it initially but I’ve later found that its incredibly useful.

I’m in a lot of meetings so it’s great for taking notes as well as a general stylus.
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That's how I use it too! I also use it for brainstorming sessions in my head :lol: . Sometimes I need to gather my thoughts on a topic and I find it better if I can put them on paper. I see it better this way. I used to generate piles of paper in the office for stuff like that. Now I can just store them directly in the iPad and carry them with me. I find it easier this way.
 
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secretk said:
That's how I use it too! I also use it for brainstorming sessions in my head :lol: . Sometimes I need to gather my thoughts on a topic and I find it better if I can put them on paper. I see it better this way. I used to generate piles of paper in the office for stuff like that. Now I can just store them directly in the iPad and carry them with me. I find it easier this way.
Click to expand...

I like the new pencil. No having to deal with the risk of losing the end.
 
Elise said:
I like the new pencil. No having to deal with the risk of losing the end.
Click to expand...

You mean the Pencil 2? I like it too, but it is compatible only with the new iPad Pros and I can't justify paying that much for it. So for now I will stick to this one. Once my 2018 (regular) iPad slows down and becomes unusable then I will evaluate my options on combinations of tablet/pencil.

For now I have a Belkin case for the pencil. It has a storage compartment for the pencil's end when the pencil is recharging. So I store it there.
 
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