[Closed] Do people with digitiser screens on their laptops use them?

I have just had to decide whether to get a Surface Pro or HP Spectre X360 etc with a digitiser or to buy a normal laptop.

In the end I plumped for a normal laptop and I will get an small Intuos tablet to go with. I don't like working directly on the screen as I prefer to be able to see the whole thing whilst working.

It was a tough call though. My other concern was longevity of the hinge. I'm sure they've been pretty well tested but the ones display models I looked at were not flush between the sides of the screen bit and the keyboard bit - they'd gone a bit wonky.

Not so much of a problem on a Surface say but I ultimately prefer a pure laptop style for 'proper'work and th Intuos' are just lovely to do graphics work on.

EDIT - I did get a touchscreen laptop though as that element is very useful. If you use one for any length of time you;ll find yourself trying to swipe around the screen of a non-touchscreen laptop all the time.

Cheers for that, that's exactly the sort of info. I was looking for.

my work laptop is thinkpad with touchscreen thing, I've used it about half a dozen times in a couple of years to mark up pdf's. Most of my time is spent with the usual word/excel/email type stuff though so i'd say its a bit of a gimic unless you have a specific (probably arty) use for the screen.

Used the pen to review a document on a plane. Much easier and nicer than typing with a keyboard. Using tablet mode now despite being on the sofa.

The pen for drawing rough sketches of concepts at work is superb. Instead of a bunch of paper covered in scribbles you end up with actual diagrams that you can use! Apps convert scribbles to proper diagram shapes.

Yep. The only use i would likely have for the pen is marking up docs but it bumps the price up a lot. It's not clear that it's a killer feature to make it worth the price hike unless you spend a lot of time travelling where the smaller form factor of a surface pro and the pen would really rock
Thanks again all.

The Wacom Intuos Draw small is £50 and will do everything a pen screen will. Carting it around is a minor inconvenience compared to having it built in.

The Intuos Pro small is £170 and will blow most pen screens out of the water in terms of accuracy and pressure levels. Personally I'd get the Pro but the Draw is probably adequate for most people.

I have a couple of Lenovo x10 carbons with touch screens for work. It makes scrolling and zooming in a much nicer experience. My ideal laptop would be a MacBook Pro with a touch screen,

Touch screen absolutely. Full pen digitiser? Wouldn't bother...

I spend a fair amount of time in meetings with customers and taking notes on the screen prevents the "is he listening or doing email" suspicion of typing on a laptop.We use shared OneNotes and I've been told I have lovely handwriting.

Also do diagrams like Mols.

Diagrams are where it really wins. I think that the separate tablet might work well though for what I need. I think with onenote I could also just take a photo with office lens and do the same for diagrams but clearly not as slick

I use it loads on my (work) Lenovo Yoga. I don't think it works if there isnt a proper tablet mode though, as writing on a vertical screen doesn't really work.

The Wacom Intuos Draw small is £50 and will do everything a pen screen will

No, it won't. Migtht be great for drawing your own pictures, but there are other uses. In my job people are always sketching out ideas in diagram form on paper - but because you can't edit paper you end up with things scribbled out, highlighted, written over and so on. So all you have left at best is a cue sheet to remember a conversation - IF you remember it.

With the right diagram software you can scribble on the tablet instead and you end up with an actual proper diagram.

What software do you use for diagrams?

Been going through the Windows Ink category on the Windows store. But in the few times this has come up since I got the thing, I used one-note. This use-case is my main hope for the pen.

That would work with the tablet as well I guess, it's just a bit slicker with the screen

Well yes but it's two things that need to be got out and plugged in. The tablet is mobile, you can hand it between people exactly like a pad and so on.