The stylus has got to be about as close to real writing with a ballpoint pen as you can get BUT, despite all the reviews warning me about this, I managed to lose my first stylus when walking to a meeting with my Mobiscribe Origin. So now I have got a US$50 replacement which hurt a little. If only it was magnetic or the elastic pen holder was more effective or on the left of the screen (i.e. inside) but apart from that, I love it