Lenovo Active Pen 2 vs 1 (Artist Review)
Big thanks to Lenovo Singapore for providing the Active Pen 2 for this review.
In this review, I'll be comparing the Active Pen 2 (AP2) vs the 1st generation Active Pen from the perspective of an artist.
There are some slight design changes. The new pen is slightly longer, the pen clip is gone, and there's a new back button.
Build quality is excellent because it's almost full metal throughout. It's also nice to hold with the matte surface texture.
The pen is still powered by one AAAA battery and battery life is rated to last for months.
The new tip has a more textured surface on it that creates more friction when writing or drawing on the glass screen. This is now much easier to control compared to the slippery hard tip from the first pen.
The new tip also protrudes more slightly. This means the part that holds the tip no longer blocks the view of the tip, which means you can actually see the lines appear beneath the tip more easily as you use the pen.
These two improvements makes it a much more satisfying experience when using the pen.
The new pen now supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, up from the 2,048 levels in the previous pen. In actual use, I don't really notice much difference in the pressure sensitivity. Both are very sensitive pens.
If you look closely at the slow diagonal strokes from AP1 in the picture above, you can see some slight jitter. Other than that, the strokes usually come out the way I expect.
The new pen is also more accurate. There's no jitter issue when drawing diagonal lines slowly. Compare the slow diagonal strokes and you can see that the jitter is no longer there. What this means is, if you draw slowly, e.g. when drawing portraits, or detailed illustrations, the jitter will no longer be a problem and affect your work.
Palm rejection works relatively well. The only thing to note is you have to have the pen close to the screen for palm rejection to work flawlessly.
One reason why the pen performs so well is probably because it uses Wacom technology. Wacom driver and settings are already installed. With this, you can adjust pressure sensitivity and configure the functionality of the buttons.
The pen is always on so you don't have to pair it with the tablet to use it. However, if you want to configure the back button, you will need to pair with via Bluetooth. This allows you to set functionality to single and double click actions to the back button.
If you're buying the Lenovo Active Pen 2 separately, it will come with a USB pen holder for storage and three replacement pen tips. Retail price is US $50, significantly cheaper compared to the Microsoft Surface Pen.
This pen is actually bundled with the Lenovo Miix 520 that I've reviewed recently.
Conclusion
The 1st generation Lenovo Active Pen already works quite well and the new pen improves on that to provide an even more satisfying experience. It's definitely worth the money.
Easily 5 out of 5 stars.
But before you buy, make sure your device can support the pen. At the time of this review, these are the compatible devices:
- ThinkPad X1 Tablet Gen2 (20JB, 20JC)
- Lenovo MIIX 720
- Lenovo MIIX 510
- Lenovo MIIX 520
- Lenovo Yoga 720
- Lenovo Yoga 920
Availability
Check out more reviews on
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.de | Amazon.fr | Amazon.it | Amazon.es | Amazon.co.jp | Amazon.cn
Comments
Is the 2nd compatible with
Is the 2nd compatible with the lenovo miix 320? It also comes with a lenovo active pen, just the first version
@Caterina
In reply to Is the 2nd compatible with by Caterina R (not verified)
@Caterina
Not sure if Pen 2 is compatible with 320 or not. You've got to check their website for the compatibility list.
This has been an excellent
This has been an excellent review of the Lenovo Active Pen 2. The Lenovo Active Pen 2 works perfectly on a Lenovo Yoga 730-15IKB. The Pen 2, in combination with MyScript's Nebo app, gives you a great writing tool. So for artist and writer, Lenovo has produced an outstanding product.
does lenovo active pen 2
does lenovo active pen 2 support tilt ? so its like shading on the side of a pencil ?
Is Lenovo Active Pen 1
Is Lenovo Active Pen 1 compatible with Lenovo Ideapad D3300 or Lenovo Miix 3?
Because Lenovo Active Pen 2 doesn't seem to be.
Thanks.
Is Lenovo Active Pen 1 or 2
Is Lenovo Active Pen 1 or 2 compatible with Lenovo Ideapad D3300 ?
Because Lenovo Active Pen 2 doesn't seem to be.
Thanks.
@SHAHMALARANI
In reply to Is Lenovo Active Pen 1 or 2 by SHAHMALARANI C… (not verified)
@SHAHMALARANI
If so, Pen 1 is probably not going to work
I cannot get the Active Pen 2
I cannot get the Active Pen 2 to work with my Lenovo d330 tablet. Some websites say it is compatible but I cannot get it to work, although it is paired with the tablet via Bluetooth. Need help!
@Lenovo d330
In reply to I cannot get the Active Pen 2 by Kevin (not verified)
@Lenovo d330
You may have to ask Lenovo about that. Actually this stylus does not need pairing to work. Once there's battery, it should work already. Bluetooth pairing is just for additional features like the shortcut buttons.
Before asking you anything,
Before asking you anything, Thumbs Up for your review. Your review was simple, clear and was just on point.
I bought Lenovo Yoga 530 - 14IKB 16 GB variant. Apparently my model didn't come with any active pen inside the box, strange that only the 8GB variant comes with Lenovo Active Pen 1 inside the box. I planning to buy one, so I was thinking of getting latest one. So can you please tell me whether my laptop supports the Lenovo Active Pen 2?
@Nikhil Simha
In reply to Before asking you anything, by Nikhil Simha (not verified)
@Nikhil Simha
It should be able to use Lenovo Active Pen 2
Do you think the Thinkpad P40
Do you think the Thinkpad P40 Yoga will support this pen? It supports the Active Stylus 1 and it uses ActiveES pen tablet technology. I can't find any confirmation of whether it is supported or not.
@Anonymous
In reply to Do you think the Thinkpad P40 by Anonymous (not verified)
@Anonymous
If it supports Active Pen 1, it will support Active Pen 2.
Thank you. That makes sense.
In reply to @Anonymous by Teoh Yi Chie
Thank you. That makes sense. I figured as much, but I wasn't sure.
I saw that all other pens supported by the tablets which support the Active Pen 2 are also supported by the P40, so it seems like this one should work too.
Is this pen compatible with
Is this pen compatible with Lenovo Yoga 530?
Wow. you ave given great
Wow. you ave given great reviews. Thanks
I have have an ACER ACTIVE STYLUS and ACER SPIN 5. but my pressures sensitivity doesn't seem to change. what can i do to change that ? even if i use my fingers the sensitivity still remians the same. pls help
hi! i have lenovo yoga740
hi! i have lenovo yoga740-151ML and i would like to know if my pc supports yhe active pen 2 or the at least one of them.
thankss
agustin
@Aruna
In reply to Wow. you ave given great by Aruna (not verified)
@Aruna
Could be something to do with Wintab driver.
Search online to see how you can install Microsoft Wintab driver
Hi! How is the durability of
Hi! How is the durability of the Lenovo Active Pen 2?
@Andrea
In reply to Hi! How is the durability of by Andrea (not verified)
@Andrea
Build quality is solid. Battery life can last for months.
Is Active Pen 2 work with
Is Active Pen 2 work with Lenovo Flex 15.6" 2-in-1 Touchscreen Laptop , i7 , 4K ?
Does this pen support Lenovo
Does this pen support Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus ?
Hi, does anyone know why this
Hi, does anyone know why this pen has 3 batteries? Why does it need those rather expensive and hard to aquire coin cells in addition to the AAAA battery?
Will the Lenovo Active Pen 2
Will the Lenovo Active Pen 2 work on the Samsung Galaxy Book Flex2 Alpha?
@Anonymous
In reply to Will the Lenovo Active Pen 2 by Anonymous (not verified)
@Anonymous
I'm not sure about that
Too many failure points,
Too many failure points, ended up buying 3 active pens so far due to their tendency to fall apart.
The spring connecting to the battery doesn't have a good contact, thus the pen is losing power unless you switch the spring or add some sort of tin foil above the battery.
The upper part is connected to the screwing cap with cheap glue that losses the adheasive in about half a year, leading to the entire upper part to be useless.
Furthermore, the 2 main bottoms are also connected with probably the same type of glue, leading to them also falling off in about the same time period...
Overall not very comfortable stylus which seemed to be designed to fail within half a year to a year if use....
Does the Lenovo Yoga 6 (13",
Does the Lenovo Yoga 6 (13", 7) work with the Lenovo Active Pen 2?
Add new comment