Pen for Surface Pro and Thinkvision

Hi, I have a Surface Pro 7 and I recently bought a refurbished Lenovo Thinkvision LT1423p touchscreen monitor (specs for the monitor: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd028550) to help me teach math from home during COVID. It is an older model, but I should be able to draw and take notes with it. The original monitor comes with a digitizer pen, I just didn't buy one because I have the Surface pen and I thought it would work for both. Now, the monitor and its touchscreen work great, but I can't get it to pick up the Surface pen. I'm having trouble getting help from either company (Lenovo or Microsoft) and was wondering if anyone can give me some advice. Can I pair the Surface pen to the Lenovo monitor? If not, is there some pen that might work for both devices? I would rather not have to bounce back between 2 pens and I also don't want to have to spend a ton of money (my school does not pay for this type of equipment). Any ideas? Thank you!

 

The LT1423p uses Wacom EMR, while the SP7 is N-Trig/Microsoft Pen Protocol, so you'll need to switch between 2 pens unfortunately.

As for compatible pens, the Thinkvision uses first gen UD EMR pens, so any of these style of pens would work:


You can sometimes find listings from resellers on eBay, Amazon, or AliExpress.

For example, here is one of the more affordable listings for ~$15:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33003336456.html

 

I hope you got it cheap enough, the Lt1423p was a pretty poorly done monitor. Marty is correct that it uses a different pen technology, but the LT's pen was one of the worst uses of an EMR pen in a device I've ever seen. My uses were more artistic but I found the pen performance kind of lacking and none of my EMR pens worked well with it, even the included Silo stick pen that came with seemed somewhat gimped. The monitor is also very very dim compared to a Surface Pro. and the whole Display Link USB connection was hardly ever stable, it crashed constantly. I paired my Lt1423p with both my Surface Pro 3 and then my Surface Pro 5, in both cases the experience was so subpar I never even bothered again. Its kind of shame you're pairing it with a Pro 7, since that has USB-C port and can much easier make use of USB-C monitors like the Asus Zen Touch (which doesn't have pen input, but its a decent secondary monitor).

 

Thank you Marty! This info is really helpful!

 

Yes, Darkmagistric, I think I got a decent deal, I only paid $90. But you are right, I am questioning whether I got the right thing for my needs. Honestly, to start with I was thinking about just getting a second monitor to help with zoom lectures since I can't see my students when I use my surface as my whiteboard during lectures. A math lecture doesn't have a lot of discussion! But that was still frustrating since I didn't have a keyboard or mouse attached and I really didn't want to have to buy more equipment. So I thought why not something else to write on that I attached to my surface. Trying to do all this with a budget of $120-$150 has been difficult, so when I saw this monitor I thought it might work for me. If it really works as poorly as you say, I am wondering if I should send it back...

 

To be fair, $90 is much better then the $400+ I spent on it when it came out. Given your budget, I would recommend to try and make do with it. The Asus Monitor I mentioned costs in the $300 range, and most any decent USB-C monitor will likely cost in that same ballpark.

 

You are right, I looked and any decent monitor is out of my reach! I really do appreciate the advice-- thank you!!!

 

<<...I was thinking about just getting a second monitor...But that was still frustrating since I didn't have a keyboard or mouse attached and I really didn't want to have to buy more equipment...Trying to do all this with a budget of $120-$150 has been difficult...>>

Hey folks, maybe we can help @Sandie H out here? My tech closet is full of old but still usable keyboards, mice and monitors. I know that many of you are the same. Maybe we could just donate what Sandie needs?

Sandie, in an ideal situation, exactly what do you think you need? Do you just need a decent monitor, or would you also want a keyboard and mouse set-up? How are you managing the connections? Do you have a hub?

@jnjroach @Marty @darkmagistric @JoeS @dstrauss @Bronsky @jhoff80 ...

 

I recently purged much of it at my wife's request - I have some accessories left, and I do have a couple of Portable USB Monitors (non-touch)

 

Wow! That is an incredibly generous offer @Steve S, I'm not sure what to say except thank you. I guess at this point, it seems a bit superfluous to bring in a keyboard and mouse since my Surface has the detachable keyboard/mouse pad so my ideal at this point is finding some cheap tablet, with stylus, that could double as a whiteboard when I'm lecturing and a second monitor when I'm not teaching, but that is probably beyond what generosity allows. So, next best thing would be a small monitor, keyboard, and mouse. I do have a USB-C hub that has HDMI and USB connection that is working quite well.