Excellent Pen [video]

[surface_fan_DE]

Hi forum,

I wanted to share with you just how excellent a brand new Surface Pro 3 i5 8GB RAM works.

All updates up to mid-November (at that time up to date) were installed. I had several restarts. I contacted support, but no one was able to help.

A short description of what can be seen in the video
1. It was impossible to close a tab, because the pointer would drift away to the opposite. See video. Yes, I can use the finger (or CTRL-W for that matter). No, that is not a solution for a 1400 Euro product.

2. The sensitivity of the pen is horrible. It works decent, if you apply quite a lot of pressure. In the video you can see I am having trouble highlighting stuff. This is not acceptable.

3. Writing is a pain. If you write quickly you will (very) frequently miss the first few millimeters of your letters. This is due to the missing sensitivity and produces horrific results. This is not actually shown in the video, but the reason for this problem is seen, so I thought I might as well add this.

Needless to say this product has gone back to the store. I was (and still am) disappointed and conclude that Microsoft still has a long way to go to make this a decent piece of hardware. Maybe the SP4, or 5?

The idea is great, but this is not ready. I cannot recommend a Surface Pro 3 i5 256GB SSD to anyone.

However, different people think differently. Which is a good thing.

PS: Yes, the title is pure irony. The rest -unfortunately- isn't.

 

[jnjroach]

This behavior is not normal, you had a defective unit, I ink on mine 8-12 hours a day with none of these issues...

 

[JackieInCo]

Exchange it for a new one. Mine does not do any of the things you are showing in the video.

 

[Clovismod]

No trouble with the Pen.

 

[Hingle McKringleberry]

We imaged and deployed about 60 SP3's at my company and we had to RMA a higher than average number due to different defects (including digitizer issues). However, the ones that we didn't exchange - perform extremely well and are very rewarding to work on. I would really try and exchange it for a different one before you cast off the device as a lost cause.

 

[ptrkhh]

Try removing and reattaching the nib of the pen. Just pull the nib out of the pen and push it back again. I heard it solved quite a lot of pen issues with the SP3.

One more tip, don't use Google Chrome. Its almost a malware for touch, battery-powered, or high DPI devices. And SP3 is all of them.
It has battery drain issue which hasn't been fixed after half a decade, and overall, its not even touch-friendly. Not only the UI is mouse-based (tabs on top, tiny buttons), but gestures don't work really well. Pinch-zooming, for example, is slow and frustrating compared to how a tablet browser should be.

 

[bluegrass]

I love the pen for inking but I have a terrible time making selections, or trying to grab a side or corner of a window to resize. I usually wind up using my finger or setting up a mouse for what you were doing. I really don't understand why it doesn't like to do the above things but it is great for taking notes or drawing.

 

[Liam2349]

You seem to this this is normal behaviour for a Surface Pro 3 - it isn't.

 

[ctitanic]

The problem may not be the pen but the digitizer. Your should call MS Tech Support and exchange it.

 

[yonghong]

Never used the pen, leave it at home, no place to put it.

 

[ctitanic]

Never used the pen, leave it at home, no place to put it.

 

[ctitanic]

I'm a pen heavy user and so far there was only one king in this market called Wacom.SP3 pen made by Ntrig is not worse. The issues described by the OP are signs of a faulty unit.