We have several iPads here that have all been used with Pencils for the past few years, and we haven't worn out a tip yet, though they occasionally fall off and need to be screwed on again. Tips are relatively cheap the official four-pack costs $19, and many third-party tips on Amazon cost under $10, so you can play around. The default tip has a nice matte feel against the iPad's screen, and of course there's a whole ecosystem of replacement and third-party tips in different materials that you can play with. Capacitive styli have enabled iPad artists since the first model came out in 2010, and Apple's 2015 launch of the Pencil brought the company's effortless setup and tight integration with its OS into the picture.

There's a huge world of stylus-compatible devices and tablets beyond the iPad, but Apple's tablets are the first choice for many artists and educators because of their ease of use (better than Surface tablets) and deep tablet-centric software library (better than Samsung tablets). Though $129 is a steep price for a stylus, serious artists and design professionals should spare no expense for top-quality tools, and the new Pencil's convenient magnetic charging, clever design, and impressive functionality make it our Editor's Choice. How to Set Up Two-Factor AuthenticationĪpple's second-generation Pencil is so much better than the first-generation model that it's a reason to choose the 2020 model of the iPad Air, which is compatible with it, over the base-model iPad, which can only use the original Pencil.How to Record the Screen on Your Windows PC or Mac.How to Convert YouTube Videos to MP3 Files.

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