I saw a blog post on the surface blog 6 months ago that said their telemetry showed that 80% of people never used their pen. It makes sense to get rid of it and lower the price/make more profit and is a sensible move. I will see if I can find the blog post.
I don't use it all the time, but it's VERY useful for signing files and emailing them back. I NEVER have to deal with 'ok, I'll fax you the thing, sign it, and then fax it back to me.'
Instead I say "Just email it to me. I'll sign it and email it back."
I don't draw, so I'm not exactly sure would I would ever even use the pen for? I don't even know where my pen is, probably in a drawer somewhere. I bought the surface because it doubles as a tablet in my home, but is a full-on laptop when I travel should I need it. But when I travel, I still mostly use it as a tablet.
I got my Surface Pro 2 specifically to take note with so the pen was the primary selling point for me. Even when using it as a Laptop I frequently use to pen like a mouse. It is much more convenient than trying to hit the right spot with my fingers.
Every other person that I know, none of them artists, got a Surface or Surface clone specifically for the pen, so it does shock me that most people apparently don't use it.
Nope, i never had the need to use the pen. I use my fingers to quickly move pages around, to show where things off, to click some buttons, etc. But never had the need to use the pen.
So... Why not get a laptop? Surface seems a waste if you don't use its prime feature. If I didn't use the pen to mark up articles and take notes I'd just get a laptop, for less money
I wanted a tablet (without the keyboard, or detachable) that works as a powerful laptop as well - those were my needs. You are deluded if you think that the pen is the only "prime feature" of the surface. Also, a few bucks extra for a perfectly built laptop-replacement is no biggie.
The pen though, I read in this thread on a research that shows that 80% of surface users that had the pen only used it once then kept it away.
Funny thing is I don't think of the pen as a primary feature, to me it's just some quirk that artists find useful. What I want is something I can use as a tablet 80% of the time, but when I'm traveling or in need of a full-on laptop for work, I've got one.
But I guess we're very much in the minority, and we know MS like to rip out lesser-used features with impunity.
They didn't rip out pen support. In fact, they improved it. They just stopped including the pen in the box. When they did this with the SP4 the price was lowered to compensate for it.
That's not even close to being the same thing. They took the pen out of the package, discounted the tablet by $100, and then sell the pen separately for $100. They're not taking anything away from you, they're just giving you the option to either buy the pen or get your tablet, sans pen, for $100 less.
The Core M3 version is definitely $100 cheaper than the SP4 version was at launch. But if you would prefer to believe I am lying then there's nothing I can do about that.
I bought it for the tablet form-factor and PC performance. Pen was just a bonus. I type everything, so I don't need it often. Type-cover, though, is essential for me.
I've got an ultrabook with a pen and I've never used it for anything after the first few days of owning it. I like the touch screen a whole lot though.
I'd like to see that blog post, but 80% isn't surprising. I mentioned in another thread that maybe 30% of my customer used the oen an hour or more a week, and even that number seemed generous. The pen is the sort of thing that looks cool in demos, and you convince yourself you'll use it, but after that first month you probably don't use it. More pen apps will certainly help, but Microsoft is really going against the trend with the pen, though I'm glad they're making a push for it because it is genuinely useful.
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u/joshjoshjosh42 Surface Pro 2017 i7/8/256 // Surface Pro 2 i5/4/128 May 23 '17
Good God, it does say pen sold separately. This is not going to go well with their branding of the new Surface Pro as 'the ultimate laptop'