The reMarkable Paper Pro Is Great for Readers and...Remarkable for Notetakers
I read a lot. I've been working on a dissertation for an amount of time that will remain undisclosed, and I'm either writing or avoiding writing by reading. I read a lot of books and PDFs, many of which I can get through my school library, and when I started school, I bought an iPad to be able to do just that. But what is an iPad if not just a medium screen to avoid my smaller screen? It worked fine—but I was still distracted.
I have been testing out some dumb devices over the years to try to get a handle on my powerful procrastination. I've had the reMarkable 2 for a few years and the reMarkable Pro for a few months. Though they, unfortunately, have not turned me into a different person entirely, they have indeed helped me. They keep my notes organised in one place, are excellent for annotating PDFs, and help me put words when my laptop just won't do.
reMarkable Pro
This tablet is designed for writers and some types of readers
If you don't do a lot of handwriting, you probably don't need this tablet, although I assume you knew that already. I write a lot: to-do lists, notes while thinking, annotations while reading, and sometimes, on occasion, the actual thing I'm supposed to be writing. For anyone who has a lot of notes in a lot of places, the reMarkable gives you a similar notebook-style feeling but without the challenge of remembering where you wrote what. I really like it for my work-adjacent handwriting tasks. It syncs quickly to the reMarkable app on my computer, and I do a lot of typing handwritten notes into something eventually legible.
If you are someone who reads a lot of PDFs or annotates documents, this is a lifesaver. I'll still print out papers that I really need to concentrate on, but for ones I'm skimming, not sure I'll really need, or just trying to get an idea of, the tablet has changed me. It didn't replace the essential things I print, but it has improved anything I would otherwise have to read on a computer screen. I also download a lot of e-books, but I hate reading them on my computer. The reMarkable has helped me here, too.
I will say, I only read e-books for work, not for fun, and so far not a single E Ink display has surmounted the paper-in-hand feel for me. But for people who do read Kindle or library-borrowed e-books, many reMarkable users complain that you can't access these books on this tablet. For me—who downloads most online books as a PDF anyway—this is a nonissue. But if you're looking to annotate your Kindle books, I imagine this is a big letdown.
The Pro has upgrades, which may or may not suit you
There are a few main differences between the reMarkable 2 and the Pro. The Pro has a bigger screen, a faster load time, options to add color, and a backlight. The upgrades are good, but I have a hard time saying they're worth the price difference. The backlight is, hands down, the most useful upgrade. Because I'm reading on this rather than an iPad, I don't want the iPad eyestrain. But in darker rooms, the reMarkable 2 is pretty hard to read on. The new backlight makes it much easier to use, which means I'm way more likely to actually use it. You can't control the backlight as much as you might want, though. The color is rather cool (with no option for a warm one), and the settings don't stick, so you'll have to adjust the light every time you open it back up.
The next most noticeable—and worth-it, in my opinion—upgrade is that the pen-to-paper feel has improved a whole bunch. It's marketed as a "paper feel," but I wouldn't say it feels like paper. More like, say, a scratchy tablet. On the reMarkable 2, though, there's a bit of lag between when you write and when the ink shows up, which really takes you out of the headspace that you're "writing on paper." On the Pro, this time is much quicker. It's still not paper, but it does lend itself to a bit more brain trickery. The Pro has color, too, which is nice for highlighting but not so transformative as to justify the price hike.
With the upgrades comes a larger screen, which I'm a bit torn on. It is certainly better when I'm actually sitting down to write, giving my big, flowy handwriting a place to go. It moves faster between pages, which is more conducive to quick writing. However, with that bigger screen comes a heavier frame. Noticeably heavier. Yes, it's lighter than a laptop, but it's still significantly heavier than a standard notebook. To be honest, I haven't quite made up my mind on how I feel about it. I've been mostly using it at home or bringing it with me instead of my laptop—it feels just a bit too heavy to put in a bag that's also carrying my laptop.
reMarkable Pro
Is It Worth It?
If you're someone who writes a lot, someone who reads a lot, or someone who writes a lot while they are reading, the reMarkable is an extremely easy way to maintain that writing muscle. It's more organised than a bunch of notebooks, though not as searchable as something like a Google Doc. (Right now there's no way to search through your handwritten notes, although you can search if you've typed into the tablet.)
But the same way reading on a Kindle isn't a holding a book, digital paper still isn't paper. There's a slight lag, and the pen options (although plenty) don't have quite as much control as they do on, say, an iPad. Overall, I think it is a fun thing to have. It makes reading and writing a little more enjoyable, makes for a fun distraction-free device when you need one, and is as close to a toy as a non-techie writer type can get. That said, I'm not sure the Pro is giving such a better experience than the 2, and if you're looking to be cost-efficient, the 2 is just fine. But if money is no object and you know you'll use every bit of a dumb device, it will certainly deliver on that.
reMarkable Pro
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