Suitability of 2-in-1’s for note taking

See here for related thread:
https://forum.level1techs.com/t/onenote-for-taking-notes-on-new-job/193905?u=imrazor

On my new job I’ve been issued a Dell Latitude 2-in-1 (aka laptop/tablet hybrid.) I wanted to solicit the experiences of others using such devices for handwritten notes, in particular handwriting recognition and the ergonomics of a hybrid device. This particular device has a quad core U-class 12th gen processor, and a 14” touchscreen. It did not come with a stylus, but I’ll pony up if it makes life easier.

Any thoughts appreciated…

In my experience most of Windows tablets and 2-in-1 devices have dogshit digitizers. On top of that Microsoft handwriting softwares apply some sort of aliasing so what you’re writing changes when you lift the pen off the screen.

But I’ve been having good luck with a Wacom Intuos BT tablet to take notes on Windows PCs. It’s like 50$ or something, doesn’t lag like crazy and using it with Xournal++ has mostly taken care of the awful aliasing Windows softwares (OneNote and Powerpoint) apply.

No experience with that and won’t rely on it ever, especially for mission critial notes.

I think that something as thick as a 2-in-1 can be uncomfortable if you don’t have a surface on almost the same level that you can rest your hand on when you reach the borders of the page. To me anything close to notebook height (so like 1/4inch or a bit more) is fine.

1 Like

Do you normally take notes on paper?

If yes, get a stylus. If no, then you might find out like me last year, that you’ve forgotten how to write (well, at least forgotten how to write quickly enough).

You’ll probably like the lenovo thinkbook plus either gen 1 or 2. The 3 ditches e-ink and has a tablet display where a numpad would be.

Gen 1 had IPS LCD display, and if you care anything about visual fatigue, strobing backlights or cutting corners, you won’t even consider gen 2 as it has an OLED (235 Hz PWM) backlight, which can cause eye strain when not on maximum brightness.