The new Surface Pro 3 and the N-trig pen technology versus Wacom pen technology

In a decision probably completely unrelated to competitor Samsung's announcement that it's purchased a piece of Wacom Technology, Inc., Microsoft has unveiled an all-new and larger 12-inch Surface Pro 3 that no longer features Wacom-based pen technology but instead features N-trig active pen/Duosense technology. The decision to move to N-trig is probably a factor of reduced licensing and manufacturing costs and potentially a marketing bullet point as 90% of business-based buyers have no clue who Wacom or N-trig are, but will respond to "bigger, faster, more new!" with glee.



Given that N-trig DuoSense is a fully-integrated capacitive plus active pen (it has a battery and the pen does all of the pressure sensing) input technology, there are two notable advantages of slightly less parallax effect (distance between display image to pen tip - the more glass between the tip and the image, the more parallax) and advanced palm rejection.

However, the specs boast 0.25mm pen accuracy (which is about average) and only a measly 256 distinct levels of pressure sensitivity. This might actually become a deal-killer for serious artists and creative types, so, as you can see, it's a bit of a set-back for the new Surface Pro 3.

I've used the N-trig pen on a couple of the SONY tablets and I wasn't that impressed with sampling rates on some of the tablets (possibly a factor of performance of the tablet itself) but on some it ran well enough, however the pen made a horrible squeeking noise when drawing large, fast arcs. I don't see any felt-style nibs or pens available for this technology so nylon-based nibs are your only option for now.

The most compelling competitive selling feature the new Surface Pro 3 tablet has is that it is larger, although the decent screen resolution of 2,160 x 1,440 is not class-leading in any way. This size increase addresses one of the complaints I've had with the Surface Pros, but now that the pen technology has 1/4th the pressure sensitivity of the Wacom Touch Feel pens, and 1/8th that of the Cintiqs, Microsoft has once again put up a bit of a hurdle between my want for a Surface Pro and my need for one. Furthermore, all of the extra pens one might have from an Android device or previous Surface Pro are not compatible with the new device. Additional horsepower and a higher price is just a given at this point

Of course, Toshiba, Dell, Asus, et al. are perfectly free to develop their own 12" and larger Windows tablets with Wacom pen technology so all is not lost, but still, it's a bit of a let-down to see the premium name coming up short on this critical feature for a larger tablet.

More info on the N-trig pen technology used with the Surface Pro 3
The Surface Pro 3 includes a pen but additional units can be purchased for around fifty bucks. Pens are 9.5mm in diameter and 135mm long, sporting a side button and "eraser" that turns the tablet on and off (no word if it actually can function as an eraser). The pen utilizes Bluetooth 4.0 for communication with the tablet and as previously mentioned, has only 256 levels of pressure sensitivity and a sensing accuracy of 0.25mm.

N-trig is apparently the only combined active pen and touch solution available today that allows "slim" pen and touch-enabled mobile devices using only a single sensor (others are basically a frankenstein of different technology solutions) for Windows and Android operating systems.

Here's a page with a video of the technology in action.

Critique of the N-trig pen technology
Now, all of this means that we have a pen that's much better to hold and use than the one that came with the Surface Pro 2, but doesn't confer any specific styling or functional advantage except that the button on the end - much as a pen extends or retracts the ballpoint - turns the tablet on and off. We also have a pen that requires a battery replacement every 18 months or so, which is a bit of an annoyance, especially if it begins to stutter or cause performance issues as the battery approaches its end-of-life. The use of Bluetooth means one more device to sync, and more performance drainage when drawing (I recommend shutting off Bluetooth when drawing, to get the full, undivided attention of your Operating System). Lastly, I don't see any alternate pen nibs being available to simulate a more natural drawing experience.

In my opinion, for the majority of people, the new N-trig technology for the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablets will work just fine and they'll be perfectly happy with it (until such time as they need to replace the battery, but I'm certain it's something like an LR-44 and will be easy to replace). Artists and designers, however, will be disappointed by the inability to use existing Wacom pens, the lack of nibs with different materials, and with the reduced pressure sensitivity.