USI 1.0 versus USI 2.0: understanding the difference [VIDEO]

We get asked quite often about which pen works with which Chromebook when it comes to USI. And in some ways, that’s a bit of a bummer. When USI first emerged and started showing up for Chromebooks, I was so relieved that the days of searching for the “right pen” for any given device were over. As a universal standard, USI solves this problem by making your USI pen work with any USI-enabled Chromebook. Period.

USI 2.0 made things a bit more complicated

And then USI 2.0 came along. The new standard enhances the existing USI 1.0 spec by adding more tilt functionality, a wider color pallet, native NFC wireless charging, and support for in-cell displays; but it also introduced a bit of confusion in a space where there really was none. That final in-cell display support addition is what made things a bit sketchy when USI 2.0 first arrived.

You see, the newly-launched (at the time) Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 was the first Chromebook to utilize an in-cell display with USI. So this meant that tablet would only work with USI 2.0 pens and their newfound ability to work with such screens.

So now, instead of universal, you have quasi-universal. And there’s not a quick way to know what pens work with what devices because most Chromebook makers don’t put “in-cell display” on their marketing materials. So, how do you know if your pen will work with the Chromebook you want to buy? Or how do you know if the pen you want to buy will work with the Chromebook you already own?

Just get a USI 2.0 pen

The easiest way to know for certain is to buy a USI 2.0 pen. 2.0 pens will work with all USI panels, regardless of whether they are in-cell or not. So, if you buy (or have) a USI 2.0 pen, you have nothing to worry about from a compatibility standpoint.

If you have or plan to buy a USI 1.0 pen, you are generally good to go there, too, but devices like the Lenovo Chromebook Duet 3 won’t work with your pen. So far, we don’t know of any other Chromebooks like this, but tablets like the Pixel Tablet fall in the same category and require the USI 2.0 pen in order to function.

How you identify those new devices as they show up is the tricky part, and we’ll be doing our best to clarify when we see them here on the site. Still, the simplest fix for all of this is to get a pen that supports the USI 2.0 spec like the ones from Penoval. More will be on the way, for sure, but if you have a 2.0 pen, you won’t have to worry about any of this moving forward.