Is the Wacom Intuos Pro Pen compatible with the HP Spectre x360 laptop?

[TheTofuBoi]

Hello, I am considering purchasing the HP Spectre x360 2-1 laptop. A partial reason this product appeals to me is because of its 2-in-1 feature, and I hope to use this laptop sometimes as an art tablet. Unfortunately, the laptop I am looking at is Certified Refurbished and does not contain a pen for the laptop. However, I do have a Wacom Intuos Pro tablet and pen and so I'm wondering whether my Wacom Inuos Pro pen works with the HP Spectre x360 and I'd like to know whether I need to buy another pen for the laptop or if I'm fine with using my current Wacom pen. If it is compatible, is there any software I need to install for it to work? And if it isn't compatible, what pen should I buy that isn't too expensive? Thank you.

[CherylG]

It depends on which protocol your tablet/pen uses and if pen is switchable. For instance, the Spectre uses HP Pen or HP Tilt Pen w/ Microsoft Pen Protocol. The Spectre can also use Microsoft Surface pens because they use the same protocol. I am not familiar with your pen but the Bamboo Ink is dual protocol and can be switched from Wacom to Microsoft.

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-stylus-pen/5902029.p?skuId=5902029

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/hp-tilt-stylus-pen/6163896.p?skuId=6163896

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wacom-bamboo-ink-smart-stylus-black/5731102.p?skuId=5731102

[David_J_W]

Each manufacturer of digitiser hardware has its own pen protocol, which is incompatible with everyone else's. Wacom has two entirely different systems - electromagnetic resonance (EMR) and active electrostatic (AES) - the first uses induction and the second uses capacitance. Microsoft (N-trig) have their own system, as does Synaptics. Samsung's S-Pen system on some of their tablets and mobile phones is incompatible with other systems; I don't know who makes the underlying hardware. There might be other manufacturers I have missed.

Within Wacom's EMR stable there are different mutually incompatible systems. The pens for their professional tablets and digitiser screens (the Intuos and Cintiq ranges) do not work with pens for their consumer tablets (Bamboo, Graphire - there might be more). Some computers have Wacom EMR digitisers built in; I'm not sure whether these are compatible with any of the tablet pens. Indeed, there are further gradations than that between generations of EMR technology.

All in all, you can only assume that a pen is fully functional with the system it was intended for.

Your Wacom Intuos Pro pen is a Wacom EMR pen. Depending on the generation, some Spectre x360s use Synaptics pens whilst others use Microsoft (click here for details). I'm pretty sure the most recent Spectre x360s are Microsoft.

As @CherylG notes, Wacom have made some pens that are switchable between Wacom (AES, I think) and Microsoft - but your Intuos Pro pen is not one of those to my knowledge. If you buy that Spectre x360, you can try the Wacom pen - the worst that will happen - and what I expect to happen - is that the Spectre x360 doesn't respond to it in any way. I would expect to buy the HP pen that goes with the Spectre x360, as that will have been designed for use with the digitiser in the computer's screen. Fortunately the HP pens are not too expensive.

[CherylG]

The Spectre x360 15- BL0xx and BL1xx series all use HP Pen or HP Tilt Pen (Microsoft). Only a handful of models use Wacom-none of the Spectre x360's do. Early models of Spectre x360 used Active Pen(Synatics).

I am using a similiar  Spectre x360 15-BL1xx model as my test/loaner this year and it came with HP Pen(Microsoft) I used the Spectre x360 13-Acoxx last year and it came with the same pen.Several members have reported they work with MS Surface Pens and the Bamboo Ink (with switching option). Probably the best option for one pen that works with both tablet and Spectre is the Bamboo Ink.