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The Best Writing Tablets To Take All Your Notes On The Go

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Keyboards are all well and good, but nothing replaces the feel of pen and paper. Sometimes, the act of physically writing feels less ephemeral than jotting a note with your thumbs. But if you want to take your notepad on the go, actual pen and paper won’t cut it. The best writing tablets let you jot down important reminders, memos and more, and they integrate with cloud services so you can easily store and access your content.

The best writing tablets include the Remarkable 2 tablet, the Apple iPad Pro and the Kobo Elipsa 2E.

The advantage to writing tablets goes beyond simply having access to all your notes from anywhere at any time. You can also organize, combine and edit notes. Some writing tablets, like our top pick, the Remarkable 2 tablet , let you grab blocks of your notes and move them around. Others, like the Amazon Kindle Scribe , let you open sticky notes to directly mark on your ebooks. As writers and editors, we’ve put the latest crop of writing tablets to the test, spoken with industry experts and have carefully combed through reviews to evaluate the best writing tablets. These are the best writing tablets you can buy today.

Best Writing Tablet Overall: Remarkable 2
Best Writing Tablet For Annotating Books: Kobo Elipsa 2E
Best E-Ink E-reader And Writing Tablet Combo: Amazon Kindle Scribe
Best Color E Ink Writing Tablet: Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C
Best Android Writing Tablet: Onyx Boox Note Air3
Best Apple Writing Tablet: Apple iPad Pro

Best Writing Tablet Overall

Distraction-free note-taking, remarkable 2.

Best for: Distraction-free environment for taking and organizing notes.

The Remarkable 2 shines because it focuses on one thing—taking notes—and does it really well. Most tablets have extra apps and a constant flow of notifications that can distract you from your writing mission, but the Remarkable tablet removes those temptations to help you focus.

The Remarkable delivers a slim 10.3-inch E Ink display on a tablet that stands 4.7-millimeters, making it arguably the thinnest tablet on the market. The tablet is lightweight, weighing just 0.9 pounds for easy carry. It has no front or side light as found on other E Ink tablets, so don’t expect to write much in a dimly lit environment. It features with a stylus that when pressed to the display can write like a ballpoint pen, marker and pencil that you can use across a library of templates. You get 8GB of internal storage—which means you can take a library of digital notebooks on the go—and it stores notes as PDF, PNG or SVG files. If you want full synchronization and unlimited storage, Remarkable has its $3/month Connect subscription. You can use the Remarkable app to access your notes at any time from your phone or laptop. Also optional? The $199 type folio case.

What our editors say: “I use three devices daily: My laptop, my cell phone and my Remarkable 2 tablet,” says consumer tech and electronics editor Rebecca Isaacs. “The user-friendly OS makes it easy to take and organize notes, and I love that I can tap open my notes in seconds while taking meetings. It doesn’t come with a backlight—which is the only drawback I’ve found—but I appreciate that I can upload, sign and send documents quickly. I’ve been using the device since early 2021 and even with my library’s worth of notes stored on the tablet, I’ve barely used more than 1GB of storage. It’s my go-to note-taking device.”

Distraction-free note-taking experience
Full integration with Microsoft, Google and other cloud storage
Great organization system within the Codex (Linux-based) OS
Synchronization features require subscription
Case sold separately
No backlight

The 2024 Forbes Vetted Best Product Awards are here: Explore our 150 top-recommended items across categories after extensive research and testing.

Best Writing Tablet For Annotating Books

Jot notes directly on book pages.

Rakuten Kobo

Kobo Elipsa 2E

Best For: Making notes directly on books and documents.

The Rakuten Kobo Elipsa 2E is a great option for students wanting to jot directly onto a book’s page. It can handle 15 file formats as well, including ePub and PDF. Kobo’s interface is well-suited for borrowing library books through OverDrive, but you can also order your books through the Rakuten Kobo Store, too. The Elipsa has 32GB of storage for e-books, audiobooks, PDFs and other documents, one of the largest features you can get right now. It uses an E Ink display that’s easy on the eyes, and it has LED side lighting to illuminate the screen and adjust color temperature for those late-night study sessions.

The Elipsa 2E’s pen also makes this worthy of your consideration. It comes with a stylus that lets you write notes directly on e-books and documents, just as you would if you were holding a pen to page. The stylus has a a USB-C port on the side for charging, and it has a faux eraser on top. If you flip the stylus upside-down on the tablet, it switches into eraser mode. You can magnetically attach the stylus to the Elipsa 2E, a handy trick so you don’t lose it.

What our editors say: Tech editor Rebecca Isaacs tested the device and loved how easy it was to read books and take notes. “As a heavy note-taker and reader, I loved that the Kobo combines two of my most important daily routines into one handy tablet. It’s thin and light, so I can easily toss it in my bag for on-the-go moments. Plus, the backlight helps me work and read when I’m on cross-country flights.”

Write directly on book pages
Includes stylus
Handles 15 file types
Search engine not user-friendly for searching Kobo books
Stylus requires recharging

Best E-Ink E-reader And Writing Tablet Combo

Take your notes–and kindle–with you, amazon kindle scribe.

Best for: Kindle users who want to combine their books and notetaking into one device.

The Amazon Kindle Scribe is another two-in-one design tied to Amazon’s Kindle and Audible eBook ecosystem. The 10.2-inch screen provides enough space to comfortably read your favorite books as well as create to-do lists, write memos and take meeting notes. The note-taking software is task-focused; choose the page style from among the presets and then you can start taking notes. You can add comments to books and documents, but the Kindle Scribe does so by putting them into a digital sticky note instead of directly on the page. The included stylus clips to the edge of the Kindle Scribe magnetically.

If you have a Microsoft Office 365 subscription, you can use the Kindle Scribe to take notes and create comments on Word documents. Plus, thanks to the Kindle app integration, you can use your laptop or phone to pull up any marked-up documents for review. The LED sidelight is fully adjustable, so you can use the built-in warm light for reading or taking notes in low-light. We recommend the model priced here, with the Premium Pen (with virtual eraser and shortcut buttons) and double the baseline storage. These upgrades add $50 to the total cost, but they make the Scribe even more usable.

What our editors say: Consumer tech and electronics editor Rebecca Isaacs reviewed the Amazon Kindle Scribe and says, “If you’re considering an e-reader, the Scribe is worthwhile for students and workers who want to take notes and maximize that precious carry-on real estate while traveling. Plus, with that backlight, it can be easy to take notes while in dimly lit areas, airplanes included. For a relatively affordable price tag, the Amazon Kindle Scribe is worth your investment.”

Friendly Kindle interface
Microsoft Office integration
Magnetic stylus
Can’t write directly on the book and document pages

Best E-Ink Color Writing Tablet

Finally, a color e ink display, onyx boox tab ultra c.

Best for: Reading and annotating color content on an Android tablet with a color E Ink screen.

The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C combines the best of its grayscale sibling and adds a color E Ink display. It’s the first color E Ink display to add color to your notes. Choose your saturation level, refresh rate and even hue for the HD E-ink Carta display. For the most detailed of note takers, it’s easy to highlight and color code your notes, and you can design everything and anything in the notebook.

Because it runs with on Android, you can also add your favorite apps, and it effectively doubles as an E Ink productivity tool. Plus, with the over 4,000 different colors the tablet can display, you can create art on the Tab Ultra C, making it a solid option for artists.

What Our Editors Say: Tech Editor Rebecca Isaacs reviewed the device and said, “The tablet offers a plethora of distinct display refresh rates: HD, Ultrafast, Fast, Balanced and Regal. While some rate settings are designed for watching videos, others reduce the refresh rate in favor of showing finer display details. While using Discord, some preset refresh rates detract from my messaging experience with severe ghosting. Other display settings keep up with the notifications and changing screen for Google Docs and Microsoft Office. It boils down to your own needs.”

Over 4,000 available colors for drawing, designing and more
Android 11 experience enhances its all-in-one use
Outdated Android 11

Best Android Writing Tablet

Add all your favorite apps, onyx boox note air3.

Best for: Reading, taking notes and using your favorite (basic) Android apps.

The Onyx Boox Note Air3 tablet is a great choice if you want to have access to some of your main Android apps on the go. Like the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C on our list, the Note Air3 runs on the Android OS—Android 12, to be precise—so you can download apps like Kindle, Libby and more to double as a reading tablet. While you won’t get color with this grayscale model, you can get a color-based Note Air3 for $100 more if color is an absolute must.

In addition to the 10.3-inch screen, you get 64GB of storage for your notes, and 4GB RAM is speedy enough to pop in and out of apps for multi-tasking needs. Plus, with the build-in backlight, you can work for hours for late-night study sessions, on airplane and more.

What our editors say: Tech editor Rebecca Isaacs tested the Note Air3 and says, “For those that don’t need the power of the Tab Ultra C, the Note Air3 works well. The response on the page felt smooth and fast when writing and tapping in between apps. Plus, the Note Air3’s cloud storage and Google integrations meant I could review my Google cloud documents in real time before returning to my note-taking.”

Android 12 OS
Adjustable display settings
Included pencil doesn’t have built-in eraser
Android 12 is still outdated

Best Apple Writing Tablet

Apple's latest large, beautiful display, apple 11-inch ipad pro.

Best for: Apple enthusiasts who want to keep their tech in one ecosystem.

The Apple iPad Pro 11-inch has a roomy 11-inch LCD display that’s perfect for writing notes and drawing using Apple Pencil. It has Apple’s latest M2 processor and comes with either 128GB of storage or 256GB of storage, depending on your needs. Apple’s ecosystem also features some great tools for note takers and those that prefer to hand write, including Notes and Books, which allows you to take notes and mark up your books. Because the Apple Pencil has built-in Safari integration, you can also mark up web pages with the iPad, too.

Because it’s a tablet first and foremost, the Apple Pencil comes separately and costs about $89. If you’re buying an iPad for its writing prowess, you need to invest in the Apple Pencil separately. Don’t let that sway you from splurging on this premium tablet, though. This writing tablet is perfect for Apple users since it connects seamlessly into the rest of the Apple device and iOS app ecosystem. It’s also great for students who want to have a seamless connection between their MacBook and their iPad so they can review notes on the Apple iCloud.

What our writers say: Apple expert David Phelan reviewed the Apple iPad Pro and says, “The snappy design on the tenth-generation iPad now matches the Pro, Air and mini. This 2022 iteration ups the display size, and it adds rounded corners to boot. Plus, the Touch ID moves to the top button, making it so much more convenient to unlock the tablet. Performance is fast and strong, easily enough for most people.”

Powerful Apple M2 processor
Broad app support for Apple Pencil
Large 11-inch display produces brilliant colors
Apple Pencil costs extra

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The Forbes Vetted tech team is well-versed in all things digital, having written hundreds of articles in the category. A couple of staffers, including Dave Johnson , our executive editor, have even authored a books on tech-related hardware subjects.

Melissa Perenson , the co-author of this story, has reviewed e-readers since the release of the first Kindle, and she’s been an avid stylus user since the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 phone introduced the concept. The Forbes Vetted team has performed hands-on testing with every tablet on this list and has talked to industry experts and cross compared each tablet’s specs with the competition. We strive to offer accurate, trustworthy product assessments that are the result of our intensive research and hands-on testing.

Our writers and editors have years of experience writing about a broad range of consumer electronics and have the background and expertise to help you make the best buying decisions possible. The tech vertical is overseen by Rebecca Isaacs , the consumer tech and electronics editor at Forbes Vetted.

We know tech tends to become quickly outdated. To keep this piece fresh and accurate, it’s regularly updated; its current iteration was published in February 2024.

Best E Ink Tablets for 2024: Devices Made for Reading and Writing

The ReMarkable 2, Kindle Scribe and other E Ink tablets help you save paper and keep you organized all in one place.

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CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.

An environmentally friendly way to keep your notes is here. With an E Ink tablet, you can take all your notes in one place and even store them on an online cloud so you don't lose them. A good E Ink tablet will be as light as an e-reader and feel natural to write on. While there are ways to write on Apple , Microsoft , Samsung and Amazon tablets, E Ink tablets are made with gray-scale tech so they won't die as quickly, helping them last all day.

E ink devices aren't going to replace an iPad as they're mostly just meant for reading and writing. You won't be able to stream your favorite show or watch the latest TikTok video on these tablets, but they are the best E Ink tablets for taking into the classroom without disturbing the professor or your classmates. Whether you're looking for a top-of-the-line E Ink device with all the bells and whistles or a cheap E Ink tablet that gets the note-taking job done, you might just find what you're looking for below.

I've recently spent time with the newest E Ink tablet on the market, the Amazon Kindle Scribe . Like other E Ink tablets on this list, the Kindle Scribe comes with a stylus and offers note-taking and annotation support for PDFs. Additionally, you can take handwritten notes on Kindle titles via a sticky-note application that pins your notes to the text. In keeping with Amazon tradition, the Scribe won't directly support ePub files, which means you'll need to send them to your Kindle via Amazon's Whispersync service for conversion. The Scribe features a 300-dpi touchscreen and starts at $340 for the 16GB model, although it also comes in 32GB and 64GB versions and is available now .

So how does the new Kindle Scribe compare to other E Ink tablets? Let's break it down.

Best for writing and note-taking

Remarkable 2.

The ReMarkable 2 is the best E Ink tablet for students who love to take lots of handwritten notes. It is only 0.19 inches thick and 0.88 pounds, which makes it light and easy to carry in your backpack. This 10.3-inch tablet uses a monochrome digital display with a resolution of 226 DPI. The writing and text look clear and sharp, and you can choose from over 40 different page templates for notes, including seven options just for musical notation. The software is easy to use, with clear buttons at the top for you to add notebooks and folders. It has 8GB of internal storage and now includes handwriting conversion and Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive integration. Those services used to be part of ReMarkable's Connect subscription, but are now included for free with every device. The Connect subscription itself still exists, but now costs $3 a month instead of $8. It offers a ReMarkable 2 protection plan, along with unlimited cloud storage and the ability to add notes in your notebooks when you're on mobile and desktop devices.

The included stylus doesn't require pairing or charging but supports tilt detection and the standard 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity. Practically speaking, it offers the most realistic writing experience of any tablet I've ever used. The screen has a paper-like feel, which gives the pen a level of friction that feels incredibly true to life.

The ReMarkable 2 also shines with PDFs. Highlights automatically straighten themselves and turn a legible shade of gray without any needed adjustment. You can add pages to PDFs for extra notes or write in the margins with ease. The ReMarkable's thinness, two-week battery life, pen input and PDF management capabilities made this E Ink tablet my favorite.

The ReMarkable 2 isn't without faults. The biggest issue is that it lacks any kind of backlight, which could be a deal breaker. Much like an actual book or notebook, this device requires an external light source to use in the dark. Even the cheapest Kindle now has front-light illumination for nighttime use. It also doesn't function particularly well as an e-reader, as the only formats it supports are PDF and unprotected epub. That means that you won't be able to access your Kindle content or any other epub books with digital rights management software, which includes almost all legally purchasable ebooks on the market.

Ultimately, I found this tablet to be incredibly useful. This is the cheapest E Ink tablet on our list, but it's still essentially just a PDF and note-taking device.

Best E Ink tablet for Amazon content

Kindle scribe.

The Kindle Scribe comes with a fantastic 300 ppi, 10.2-inch display that is evenly lit and perfect for large-format reading. The writing experience is also very pleasant and natural, but the Scribe's software limitations keep this device from soaring.

The Scribe looks and feels like an extra-large Kindle Paperwhite or Oasis, although it lacks the physical page-turning buttons of Amazon's premium e-reader. Words look crisp and clear, while the device itself is fast and responsive.

The Scribe's notebooks are easy to use, but lacking in features compared to other E Ink Tablets. You can export your notebooks via email, but there's no Dropbox or any other third-party support. There are 18 notebook templates available, including six lined options, graphing paper, musical notation, and to-do lists. All of that is great, but these notebooks lack any smart features. For example, there's no way to insert equations or convert your handwriting to text.

Similarly, writing in books and documents is too limited to be useful to serious highlighters and doodlers. That's because Amazon doesn't actually let you write directly on the page in anything other than a PDF. Instead, you'll need to write on "sticky notes" if you want to handwrite a note in a book or even a Word Doc. Not only does this prevent you from scribbling in the margins of books, but it also means you'll need to take a separate action to start writing at all.

The sticky notes are then collected automatically in your Notes and Highlights section, where they are presented without any of the context in which you wrote them. It does allow you to jump to the page on which a note was written by tapping on your markings. This is great in theory but is confusing if you have more than one note on each page, as it doesn't pinpoint the exact location where the note was created. The Scribe also doesn't let you write any kind of notes at all on manga, comics, graphic novels, magazines, or newspapers.

Currently, you are allowed to write directly on the page in PDFs, but the experience isn't great. The pen itself works well, but dealing with documents is more difficult than it should be. When you're in a PDF, you aren't able to adjust the font size or layout, so instead you have to pinch to zoom to enlarge or reposition the document. That part works well, and it's not too hard to find a level that works best for you. Once you're positioned in your PDF, you can't stay there. The Scribe makes it impossible to maintain your current zoom levels from one page to the next. Instead, you have to zoom all the way out again to swipe to the next page, just to reposition it all over again. This is a huge pain and makes reading long PDFs cumbersome and frustrating.

Ultimately, the Scribe is great if you want a large-screen e-reader or are eager to handwrite sticky notes in Amazon books. It just isn't quite good enough at either PDFs or in-line note-taking to recommend it as anything other than a gigantic, but excellent, Kindle.

amazon kindle scribe with note on top of page

Best E Ink tablet for reading

Kobo elipsa.

Kobo might be a smaller company than Amazon, but it's been making e-readers for just about as long. While Amazon once made a 9.7-inch Kindle, the product never offered natural input with a touchscreen or stylus and was discontinued in 2014. More recently, Kobo was the first with a waterproof e-reader and it's the first of the major e-reading players to make a 10.3-inch device with a stylus.

Like most Kobos, the Elipsa is an excellent e-reader and offers battery life measured in weeks, depending on use. Unlike Kindles, Kobos has a seemingly limitless ability to customize the reading experience. You can play continuously with margins, line spacing, fonts and font size to get a page that looks exactly how you want it to, no matter the size of the screen. The included stylus can be used on any PDF or Kobo ePub, so it works just as well on library books as it does on books from the Kobo store.

Speaking of the library, Kobo is known for its deep integration with the ebook library service OverDrive. You can easily access, browse and download library books directly from your device, so long as your local library uses OverDrive. Borrowing an ebook from the New York Public Library was a seamless experience and one that makes all Kobos a must-have for library lovers.

Unfortunately, the Elipsa's note-taking capabilities are lacking. There is a noticeable lag when writing with the stylus for any length of time, and the notebook features are fairly basic. Only four templates are available in the basic notebooks and only a single lined template in the advanced notebooks. Advanced notebooks do let you insert drawings, diagrams, math equations and a free-form section, while also offering the ability to convert your handwriting to text. There are only a few pen types to choose from and only five pen brush sizes.

I wasn't able to use the notebook feature for anything other than the most basic scribbles and wouldn't recommend it for anything more than that.

The Kobo Elipsa has 32GB of storage, a resolution of 227 DPI, and a blue front light, but it lacks the warm light of the Boox. While this E Ink tablet misses the mark on long-form writing, it excels as a large-screen, library-friendly e-reader with the ability to scribble in the margins.

Most versatile E Ink tablet

Onyx boox note air 2 (update: currently unavailable).

The Boox Note Air 2 is the most tablet-like E Ink device I tested. This 10.3-inch tablet features a resolution of 227 mph, runs on a customized version of the Android 11 operating system and even has its own app store, where you can download third-party apps that have been optimized for the device. While it doesn't come pre-baked into the system, you can access the full Google Play store. I wouldn't recommend it for anything other than downloading an e-reading app, as the Boox still has an E Ink display and isn't made for games or video. A step-by-step on how to get the Google Play store installed is in this hands-on review of a previous model .

Also, the Boox comes with only 64GB of non-expandable storage, so you don't want apps filling up your system. The company does offer 5GB of cloud storage from its own service for free to help transfer documents to the device, although you can also use Dropbox, Evernote and OneNote.

The biggest benefit of the app store is that you'll have access to your entire collection of books from your Kindle, Nook and Kobo libraries. You can also download the Libby app for library books, and Marvel Unlimited users can download the app and read comics, although not in color. The Note Air 2 includes speakers and a microphone, allowing you to listen to audiobooks from Audible or other audiobook apps.

This is a great selling point of the device, but I found the in-app experience to be less than ideal. Many of the features that make the Note Air 2 unique are disabled in third-party apps. For example, you won't be able to use the pen to take notes or make highlights in books on the Kindle app. Instead, you'll have to type in notes you want to take, like using the app on any other tablet. To write directly onto books, you'll need to have them in DRM-free ebook format. Luckily, the Boox supports a wide range of formats including PDF, epub, DOC, and Mobi.

Note-taking and PDF management are strong on the Note Air 2 but not as seamless as on the ReMarkable 2. Highlights aren't automatically straightened, and users have to choose the color and width of the marker. The Note Air 2 provides 16 options of grayscale color, but they all look the same on the device, leaving highlights looking dark and messy. The included stylus also features 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity but lags ever so slightly when writing across the page. On the plus side, you can include audio recordings for more accurate retention. The Note Air 2 also lets you open a PDF and notebook at the same time in a split-screen view, giving you the ability to read and take notes all at once.

Like the Kindle Paperwhite and Oasis, the Boox Note Air 2 comes with a warm and cold front light to help make the screen easier on the eyes and give it a more paperlike look. You can easily adjust both lights with a swipe-down menu. Plus, it also measures its battery life in weeks, not days.

While this tablet is by far the most expensive on our list, it's also the most versatile of the E Ink tablets and does a lot well but nothing great.

You might see that the company has recently announced a Note Air 2 Plus. I haven't tried that one, but it's almost identical to the original Air 2 -- just with a bigger battery, which also makes it very slightly heavier. They also make the Tab Ultra, which I've tested and enjoyed, but ultimately found too expensive to recommend to most people.

Other E Ink tablets we've tested

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra : The Tab Ultra arrived as a souped-up version of Boox's own Note Air 2, with an impressive 128GB of storage, almost double the battery, a built-in 16-megapixel rear camera for document scanning and an optional keyboard case for typing notes on the go. Like the Note Air 2, Tab Ultra uses Android 11 software, which means that you can easily access apps from the Google Play store. The refresh modes on the Ultra's E Ink display can easily be changed to a Fast mode or an Ultra Fast mode, which will cause some loss of detail in the images, but are great for typing in Google Docs using the keyboard case, or for scrolling through a website on the internet (although to be honest, this doesn't look good on an E Ink screen).

The typing experience was a lot better than I anticipated and I was able to effectively use the keyboard to write my notes. The included keyboard was a little small for truly comfortable typing -- especially for those with larger hands -- but the case itself is cleverly constructed in a way that lets you switch from typing to handwriting with minimal fuss. Unfortunately, using the camera for scanning documents into PDFs is a complete mess. The OCR software doesn't do a very good job of reading text on the image and the resulting PDFs are utterly unusable. If you need to scan a doc, you're much better off using your phone.

Ultimately, the Ultra is just too expensive to recommend with its $500 list price, especially considering that the keyboard case costs an additional $109. You can't use a keyboard or take pictures on the Boox's Note Air 2, but that's more than okay. The Note Air 2 offers many of the best functions of the Tab Ultra for hundreds of dollars less.

How we test E Ink tablets

Every E Ink tablet undergoes extensive hands-on testing. In this case, each tablet was used for one week of rehearsal in a professional theatrical production. This involved evaluating the set-up process, loading PDFs and books onto the devices, and using both the device and the included stylus as a script during full six-hour days of rehearsal. Tasks included highlighting, taking notes in the margins and creating and taking detailed notes in notebooks. We also downloaded ebooks onto the device and used it as a recreational e-reader.

Anecdotally, we considered the hardware design and features, stylus capabilities, overall ease of use, effective UI layouts, notebook settings, E Ink settings, PDF markup capabilities, e-reading settings and format compatibility, app support and performance, and the overall speed and reliability of the system.

E Ink tablet FAQ

How is an e ink tablet different from an e-reader.

Both e-readers and E Ink tablets use E Ink technology to render words and images on the page. They both offer a distraction-free experience that's easier on the eyes than a traditional LCD color screen.

E-readers tend to be smaller than size and focus only on the experience of reading a book or PDF. E Ink tablets offer e-reading features but also include the ability to use a stylus to write notes in a digital notebook and/or in the margins of PDFs and ebooks. Since handwriting is integral to the E Ink tablet experience, the devices themselves tend to be bigger to more closely approximate the size of a sheet of paper.

Who are E Ink tablets for?

E Ink tablets are best suited for people who enjoy writing notes or sketching by hand and who need to read and mark up lots of PDF or DRM-free ebooks. They could be a particularly good fit for students, lawyers or any other professional in need of a digital, distraction-free note-taking device.

They aren't for people who want constant notifications and fast processing speeds to watch videos or play games.

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The best note-taking tablets: Expert tested

Tablets serve a variety of functions, but one of their go-to uses these days is for taking notes. These machines make it easier than ever for students or professionals to jot down everything they need while being portable and even powerful enough to replace a heftier laptop.

Tablets run the gamut in terms of everything they can do (and all the prices they show up at), so even if you're looking for a tablet to take notes in classes or meetings, it's important to consider what else you might want to use your tablet for. For students, you might get a tablet for school instead of a laptop, while professionals might carry one for commuting purposes since they are much more portable. There are tablets on the market that fit both of those scenarios.

Also: The best tablets you can buy

ZDNET went hands-on with the following tablets, with our top contender being the iPad Air , thanks to its lightweight build and compatibility with the second-generation Apple Pencil. But we also included tablets from Microsoft, Amazon, and more to take digital notes on.

The best note-taking tablets of 2024

Apple ipad air (5th generation), best note-taking tablet overall.

Fully customizable with color, storage, and access
Fast speed with Apple's M1 chip
Retina display
Only compatible with iOS
Camera cannot be used with other apps

Even Android fans will like Apple's iPad Air. The lightweight tablet can do everything -- including taking notes. Compatible with the Apple Pencil (second generation), the iPad Air makes it easy to take notes in class or meetings and watch seminars virtually if needed. Apple's products are largely customizable, and this is no different: you can opt for one of five colors and get more or less storage depending on what you need.

In addition, you can also equip your iPad to use cellular data if Wi-Fi doesn't feel sufficient for classes or commuting. For students or professionals who might need to use their tablets while on the go often, a cellular data plan ensures you can always get online to access.

Review: iPad Air (2022): So good I almost regret buying my iPad Pro

ZDNET contributor, Jason Cipriani, went hands-on with the iPad Air and was impressed by its 2-in-1 compatibility thanks to the Apple Keyboard and Apple Pencil additions.

"It's as powerful as the iPad Pro, but costs hundreds of dollars less -- even when you max out the storage -- with a display that's on par with the 11-inch iPad Pro," he wrote.

Microsoft Surface Go 3

Best lightweight note-taking tablet.

Fully customizable
Lightweight
Stylus and keyboard sold separately
Customizations can get pricey

The Microsoft Surface Go 3 is a lightweight tablet that you'll hardly even notice it in your bag. It's just over a pound, and even if you add a keyboard to it, it still doesn't take up too much space. The Surface Go 3 has a hefty battery life that can last you through a full day and also charges quickly if you need it in a hurry.

Review: Microsoft Surface Go 3: A portable and versatile 2-in-1, but battery life disappoints

The Microsoft Surface Go 3 also has a facial recognition camera to add a layer of security and runs a Windows operating system. It's also compatible with the Surface pen, should you want to use a stylus while taking notes. It also has a crisp 1920x1280 resolution for joining Zoom calls or simply watching Netflix.

Contributing writer Mary Branscombe tested the Microsoft Surface Go 3 when it first debuted back in 2021 and called out that it's "a real PC that can run standard Windows workloads -- just in a tiny, light and slim package."

"Like the previous models, the Surface Go 3 shines as a portable device: it's perfect for working on an airplane tray table or a crowded train, and for throwing in a backpack or the kitbag in the back of a vehicle," she wrote.

In addition, you can customize your machine with different storage options and processors to boost it up if you want it to run faster or have more space. Just keep in mind that the more you customize, the higher the price tag.

Amazon Kindle Scribe

Best note-taking tablet for reading.

Impressive battery life
Included pen for handwritten notes
Compatible with Microsoft Word
Premium Pen upgrade will cost you more
Does not support note-taking on magazines or newspapers

Kindle Scribe tech specs: Display: 10.2-inch 300 ppi Paperwhite display | Storage: 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB | Weight: 0.96 pounds | Dimensions: 7.7 x 9.0 x .22 inches | Battery life: Up to 12 weeks (at 30 minutes per day)

The Kindle Scribe is perhaps the perfect example of part e-reader, part tablet. It has the same functions you've come to know and love in a Kindle, like a 300 ppi glare-free screen, weeks of battery life, and adjustable warm light. It's also compatible with Amazon's Basic or Premium Pen, so you can take handwritten notes or underline important quotations within the book you're reading.

Your notes are automatically organized in one place for every book so that you can browse, review, and export them via email. The Kindle Scribe also comes with preset templates to help you create notebooks, journals, and lists, and you can create sticky notes in Microsoft Word and other compatible Word documents.

Review: Amazon Kindle Scribe: 7 months later, it's so close to perfect

The Kindle Scribe comes with the Basic pen, but for the more advanced features like a dedicated eraser and the shortcut button, you'll need the premium pen, which costs $30 extra.

ZDNET contributor, Matthew Miller, called this 2-in-1 tablet "close to perfect" in his hands-on review.

"A key function is how I can quickly and easily erase my handwritten notes by 'brushing' the eraser portion of the $59 Premium Pen . It's an optional accessory for the Scribe, but one that I highly recommend picking up if you want the full note-taking experience," Miller advises.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9

Best note-taking tablet for android users.

Stunning display
S Pen in box
Many of the same features as the pricier S9 Ultra and S9+
Missing apps

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 is part of Samsung's latest tablet series released this year. The Tab S9 comes with 8GB or 12GB of memory and starts at 128GB of storage which can be expanded by up to 1TB thanks to microSD card support. Inside the Tab S9 is Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor.

The 11-inch LCD display is compact enough to make the tablet portable. But most importantly, included in the box with the S9 is an S Pen that you can use to write or draw in your favorite apps, just like you can with the Samsung Galaxy Note lineup.

Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab S9

Miller also tested this base Tab S9 model, saying it was an enjoyable experience, including the new and improved S Pen that has an IP68 waterproof rating and a 2.9ms latency.

"Samsung clearly beats Apple by including the S Pen with the tablet, and I love using the Samsung Notes app that includes support for syncing flawlessly with OneNote. It's hard to beat a Samsung tablet when it comes to taking notes, and I stand by that," he wrote.

Amazon Fire Max 11

Best budget note-taking tablet.

Affordably priced, especially when bundled
Solid battery life
New, modernized design
Performance is just alright
Important productivity apps are missing

With a starting price of $245, the Fire Max 11 brings an 11-inch display, 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage with support for 1TB of microSD card storage. If you're looking for a tablet for work and play, the Fire Max 11 Productivity Bundle costs $370, but comes with a keyboard with touchpad, case, and a stylus that has 4,096 levels of pressure.

Review: Amazon Fire Max 11: Easily the best Fire tablet yet

Cipriani also went hands-on with the Amazon Fire Max 11 and said that it is "easily the best Fire Tablet Amazon has made yet."

"You can use the pen to write in the search field of the Silk Browser or the search bar on the Fire Max 11's main screen," he wrote. "The handwriting recognition is pretty good, converting my horrible handwriting to text with impressive accuracy." Plus, it has an impressive battery life of up to 14 hours.

What is the best note-taking tablet?

The best note-taking tablet is the iPad Air based on price, ratings, display, features, and more. It's also super lightweight, making it the perfect choice to carry anywhere.

*Lowest price at the time of writing. Please note that prices may vary based on retailer and available promotions, sales, or discounts.

Which note-taking tablet is right for you?

Choosing a tablet really comes down to what you want to use it for and what you want to spend. Basic tablets tend to be cheaper, so if you don't plan to use them for much other than taking notes, you can look at spending a little less and getting something like an Amazon Fire Tablet.

However, if you want a tablet you can use for school and and for everyday things like streaming, photo editing, and more, something like an iPad might be a better choice.

How did we choose these note-taking tablets?

In choosing these tablets for note-taking, we considered tablets we have used hands-on and reviewed at ZDNET. We also considered reviews (both good and bad) in our decision-making process. Ultimately, it came down to the following factors when making our top picks:

Display: A tablet's experience is largely based on its display, so we paid attention to tablets with HD resolutions and even paper-like displays.
Stylus compatibility: Most people use a stylus when taking notes on a tablet, so we considered tablets that either come with a stylus right out of the box or have the option to buy one from the maker separately. It's important to note most universal styluses will also work with these tablets.
Size: Tablets that you will mainly use for note-taking purposes will have different requirements than tablets you need to replace a laptop with. Smaller size tablets are best for note-taking purposes and are lightweight and portable.
Price: Tablets will vary in price from $150 all the way up to $1,000 or more, depending on storage capacity, display quality, processors, and more. We included a wide range of prices for every budget.

Do I need a stylus for a note-taking tablet?

Using a stylus is totally up to you, but it can definitely help with functionality. Some tablets come with a stylus, while others will have them sold separately. If you're looking at this from a cost perspective, consider the fact that the stylus will often be an added expense, but you may find it worth it for ease of use, especially if you're the type that likes the feeling of writing out your notes rather than typing them.

What are the best note-taking apps?

The best note-taking apps let you digitize your notes and to-dos while keeping them all in one place or syncing them to a cloud. Our favorites are Notability, Evernote, GoodNotes 5, and even Apple's free Notes app is a worthy choice.

Does the Apple Pencil convert handwriting to text?

Yes--the Apple Pencil can convert your hand-written notes into text for better legibility. Here's how:

In the Notes or Freeform apps, tap to show the tool palette.

In the tool palette, tap the Handwriting tool (to the left of the pen).

Write with Apple Pencil, and Scribble automatically converts your handwriting into typed text.

Are there alternative note-taking tablets worth considering?

If none of the above caught your eye or don't seem quite like what you're looking for, there are some similar models at different price points that will also serve you well in taking notes at school or at work.

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Pocket-lint

The best note-taking tablets.

Capture your best ideas in a notebook that never runs out of pages with these great note-taking tablets.

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There's a certain charm to writing on pen and paper that tablets will never be able to replace, but if you're trying to cut down on paper waste and want a near-infinite amount of storage for your journal entries, sketches, and meeting notes, a good note-taking tablet is worth considering. And you don't even have to commit to a full-on computer if you don't want to, there are focused tablets designed to cater to writers with a notebook-like experience that only have features you need, and none of the other apps and distractions you don't.

Freewrite Alpha is a playful, distraction-free way for me to write first drafts

The ideal note-taking tablet will be great at capturing handwriting, but it should also accept other kinds of input, maybe even a whole keyboard accessory if you prefer typing. Our picks cover a wide variety of tablets, with different types of displays, accessories, and operating systems. Even though it's not the new kid on the block anymore, we think the reMarkable 2 is the best note-taking tablet because of its high-quality writing feel, simple but capable software, and robust integration with cloud storage, but the whole list is worth a read, so read on to explore all of your options.

reMarkable 2

A remarkable way to digitize notes

The reMarkable 2 tablet lets you take notes by hand, and it does so exceptionally well. It is the ultimate minimalist document creation and editing tool, with Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive integration.

Handwriting feels natural
Non-reflective display
Many sheet styles and templates to choose from
Can't use in dark
Unlimited cloud storage, mobile syncing, and other features require monthly subscription

The reMarkable 2 tablet lets you create as many "digital notebooks" as you can store onboard (or in the cloud with a reMarkable Connect subscription). This eliminates the need for physical notebooks, while still retaining the feel and experience of writing with pen and paper thanks to the excellent design of its hardware.

ReMarkable 2: You'll never need paper notebooks again

Writing on the 10.3-inch E Ink display feels natural and responsive while still having enough resistance to feel like paper, and it does a reasonable job of converting imprecise handwriting into text. You can import PDFs and EPUB documents to annotate or read on screen, and bring in Microsoft Word documents, too. The tablet can connect to Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive cloud storage. The display lacks a sidelight or backlight, though, which makes it unsuitable for use in the dark.

It's worth noting, the reMarkable 2 is thin, at 4.7mm or 0.2 inches, and light, weighing just 400g, making it perfect for carrying around all day. When paired with its Type Folio keyboard, it is a svelte travel companion that is perfect for writing by hand or keyboard.

Amazon Kindle Scribe

Amazon's staple eReader took notes

The Amazon Kindle Scribe is more than simply the largest Kindle you can buy. It's also the best note-taking tablet and eReader combo around.

Non-reflective display with sidelights
Full access to your Kindle book library
Long battery life
Few specialty note-taking templates
No physical keyboard option

The Amazon Kindle Scribe delivers a terrific writing experience paired with all the functionality of the already excellent Kindle eReaders . This 10.2-inch E Ink screen also has a sharp 300ppi resolution, which gives text an extra crispness that you won't find on other E Ink tablets on this list.

Amazon Kindle Scribe: Write on

The Scribe also has side light and color temperature adjustments, so you can use the screen in any lighting without straining your eyes, a key feature from Kindle Paperwhite models. Of course, unlike other Kindles, the Scribe has stylus support. While there are fewer interesting templates than the reMarkable 2, the Kindle Scribe has more options than the competing eReader/note-taking tablet Rakuten Kobo Elipsa 2E , and it lets you pick them before you start writing.

The Scribe's stylus feels comfortable in hand and is smooth to use on the responsive display. You can use the stylus to annotate books and PDFs, but for the most part, this is accomplished via pop-up boxes (as opposed to editing directly on the page). A few eBooks now support on-page writing, but not the majority -- at least not yet, anyway. The Amazon Kindle Scribe is really the best choice for anyone deeply committed to Amazon's Kindle bookstore, including students who also like to write notes.

Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (2022)

A way to keep all your notes within iCloud

The Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (4th-generation) packs a powerful punch with an Apple M2 processor inside. This tablet supports the second-generation Apple Pencil for accurate and seamless writing and sketching on screen.

Smooth, pressure-sensitive stylus for writing and drawing
General use tablet with full iPad app support
Brilliant, sharp display
Stylus and keyboard cost extra

The Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (4th-generation) is on the high end of Apple's tablet offerings, and it shows in its level of polish. While other, less expensive models support the Apple Pencil, this model stands out because of how it strikes a balance between size, performance, and price. That starts with its weight, which comes in at just over a pound, and its 11-inch screen, which is large enough to handle everything from drawings to playing your favorite movie.

Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (M2, 2022): Exceptional tablet, but a hard sell

There's widespread support for the pricey Apple Pencil 2 stylus, making the iPad Pro a great note-taking choice for creatives. It also works well with sharing across devices; for example, you can start a note or drawing on your iPad and share it with an iPhone or MacBook .

As a note-taking tablet, the iPad Pro is among the most expensive models you can buy. But for the money, you not only get a capable note-taking tablet, but you also get one of the best all-around tablets on the market. As with other general-use tablets, the Apple Pencil 2 and Magic Keyboard are extra-cost add-ons, but they're worth considering too if you want more of an all-in-one computer experience. Fair warning, Apple is rumored to be refreshing its iPad lineup soon , so if you're interested in the newest tablet experience, it might be worth waiting, either for this model of iPad Pro to go down in price or for a new and improved model.

Ratta Supernote Nomad

Highly-customizable with the Kindle app built-in

Ratta's Supernote Nomad is an E Ink tablet with dozens of templates to choose from, smooth handwriting, and the ability to link notes together.

Smooth handwriting
Searchable notes
Dozens of templates
Requires a lot of setup

For a smaller, more portable note-taking tablet, the Ratta Supernote Nomad combines the best of the reMarkable 2 and the Kindle Scribe into one compact package. Its self-repairing screen protector is great at simulating the feel of writing on paper when combined with the ceramic nibs of the styluses Ratta sells. And the Nomad's touch-sensitive sides make it easy to pull up menus, select text, and undo mistakes without having to find the right tool.

Even better, Ratta has a small suite of downloadable software you can use to extend the abilities of your Supernote, including a drawing app called Atelier and a Kindle app for reading books from your Amazon library. The apps, along with the Nomad's existing email, calendar, and cloud storage functionality make it an inherently useful note-taking tablet if you're willing to pay a little extra for it.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE

Samsung design at an affordable price

Samsung's Galaxy Tab S9 FE carries over the design of the company's more expensive tablets just with slightly downgraded specs and a far more affordable price.

Stylus is included
Adaptive refresh rate display
Google Play Store has plenty of drawing and writing apps
Display is a step-down
Processor is designed for browsing, not intense work

Samsung makes good Android tablets leveraging the company's access to beautiful AMOLED displays, powerful chips, and reliable S Pen stylus, but it doesn't make affordable ones. Enter the Galaxy Tab S9 FE (Fan Edition), which carries over a majority of the features you want from the normal Galaxy Tab S9 and pairs it with a more affordable LCD screen and Exynos processor.

Critical to taking notes, the Galaxy Tab S9 FE includes an S Pen in the box and has a pre-installed Samsung Notes app that is a completely competent way to take notes and sketch simple drawings on the go. You'll have everything you need to read, browse the web, and write down your thoughts without having to spend a dollar more on another accessory.

Amazon Fire Max 11

A thin, stylus-compatible Fire tablet

The Amazon Fire Max 11 is the first Fire tablet with a competitively thin, stylish design. It's also the first Fire tablet that has a stylus option, so you can handwrite notes and sketch with ease.

Low cost for a tablet
Full support for Amazon services and Appstore
Pressure-sensitive stylus support
Keyboard case and stylus cost extra
Can't run Google Play Store apps and Google services

The thin Amazon Fire Max 11 is Amazon's first attempt at a grown-up tablet that doesn't come with a plastic, candy-colored chassis. This, plus an aluminum body and reinforced glass covering its display, helps the tablet look and feel like its worth more than its bargain price. The Fire Max 11 also has a 16:9 aspect ratio display with 2,000 x 1,200 pixels. That means it's not as sharp as, say, an Apple iPad, but it's still high-resolution enough to produce pleasing images on its 11-inch LCD.

Amazon Fire Max 11: Amazon's best tablet yet

The Fire Max 11 has a microSD card slot, so you can easily expand its 64GB of included storage. It also has conveniences like a fingerprint reader built into the power button, which makes it easy to reliably unlock the tablet. As with all Amazon tablets , the Fire Max 11 runs Amazon's FireOS operating system, and it only works with the Amazon Appstore. Still, there are plenty of apps for entertainment and productivity, including a free trial of Microsoft 365.

The interface is straightforward, making it easy to consume and discover Amazon's music, videos, and books. You'll also love being able to have a split screen view for two apps and how responsive the USI 2.0-compatible stylus with 4096 pressure sensitivity is for writing and sketching on screen. This tablet is a great choice for students and professionals who want an affordable note-taking tablet and don't need full access to the Google Play Store.

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro

The best part of a Kindle: in color

Color E Ink display
Thin, portable design
Full access to Google Play Store

If you're considering the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro, it's probably because of its color E Ink display. Where most electrophoretic displays are monochrome, the Boox Tab Ultra C Pro can display colors at 150ppi. That means colors look muted and grainy, like a color photo in a newspaper. But even if they're dull, it still adds a splash of life that differentiates this note-taking tablet from other E Ink competitors.

You can download apps and access any eBookstore, and use Google apps and services, too.

Another notable distinction: this model runs Android 12 and can access the Google Play Store. That means you can download apps and access any eBookstore, and use Google apps and services, too. The Tab Ultra C Pro has a roomy 10.3-inch glare-free screen, and it comes with a stylus that feels good in hand.

Creating notes is front and center and easy to accomplish, but that's about all that's clear about the interface. The stylus is responsive with the included Notepad app and its over 40 templates -- and you can add your template by uploading a PNG or PDF file.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (Wi-Fi)

Trade off taking both written and typed notes

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 combines unique design points like a built-in kickstand with a crisp display that supports both touch and stylus input. And since it's a Windows 11 PC running on a 12th-generation Intel Core processor, this tablet is a laptop replacement, too.

Full Windows PC in a tablet form
Plenty of power
Gorgeous display

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 packs a Windows 11 PC into a high-resolution, freestanding display. The 13.3-inch screen has a 2,880 x 1,920 resolution, making it well-suited for everything from gaming to precise content creation and, at nearly two pounds, the Surface Pro has a certain heft that reflects its robust components.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9: A master of versatility

The tablet's specs are modest for a PC, but still more powerful than most other tablets on this list. The baseline configuration priced here has 8GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, and an Intel Core i5 processor; higher-spec'd versions with more RAM and storage and a better processor are options, albeit at higher prices. The Surface Pro 9 even has a Thunderbolt 4 port, handy for use with high-speed storage peripherals. You can run the full gamut of PC and web apps and services just as you would on your laptop.

The Surface Pro 9 works with Microsoft's optional stylus for handwriting notes and drawing in professional applications. The stylus is a great addition to note-taking apps like Microsoft OneNote and complex creative apps like Corel Paint or Adobe Illustrator.

The bottom line: best note-taking tablet

If the only thing you plan to do with your device is write notes, and you don't want the distractions that come with apps and eBooks, then the reMarkable 2 is the top note-taking pick, in part because it is laser-focused on one task -- using a stylus to write digital notes -- and it does this task very well. It has a slew of useful templates, ranging from a blank page to storyboards and various music writing templates. The variety and range of templates are a real plus, since they make it easy to get started on creative and professional projects.

The Kindle Scribe might be Amazon's most expensive Kindle, but it makes for a highly affordable note-taking tablet. Its stylus and notebook tool offer a satisfying note-taking experience and, on the whole, it gives you a good bang for your buck, since it's a great eReader on top of being a good writing tool. If you're looking for something more premium, and a lot more capable, it's hard to beat the 11-inch Apple iPad Pro (4th-Generation). You lose some of the focus of more traditional E Ink tablets, but you get an all-around more powerful and flexible computer, that's great at taking notes with an Apple Pencil.

How did we choose the best note-taking tablets?

Both the Pocket-lint and I have extensive hands-on experience testing and using tablets for work and creativity, with a special focus on taking notes. We considered the various use-cases for each device, along with display quality, writing feel, the reflectivity of their screens, and their software. Additionally, we looked at how other factors, such as battery life and ports, played into the overall aesthetic and practical experience of using each tablet.

Q: Are there any advantages to E Ink over a color screen?

If you're just interested in plain old handwritten notes, there's really no reason to stray from the monochromatic joys of an E Ink tablet. Color screens, and particularly OLED and LCD ones, usually mean you'll have easy access to more distractions. A color E Ink could be worth considering if you know you'll want to read comics when you're not jotting down thoughts, but until color E Ink displays improve, there are real trade-offs in resolution that could bother you.

Q: Do styli for note-taking need replacing or refills over time?

Surprisingly, it depends on the tablet. Both the Kindle Scribe and reMarkablet 2 have styluses with refillable nibs that get worn down over time. They ship with a sheet of refills, but if you write a lot (or with added pressure) you'll have to buy refills eventually.

In contrast, the S Pen that comes with the Galaxy Tab S9 FE doesn't ever need to be changed, but it's also far less enjoyable to use to write. The Apple Pencil you can use with the iPad Pro falls somewhere in the middle. It technically has a replaceable nib, but it takes much longer to wear down.

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The best E Ink tablets for 2024

The best tablets for reading and writing to your heart's content..

I'm a notebook lover and have been for most of my life. I've had dozens over the years, serving as safe places for me to dump story ideas, to-do lists, meeting notes and everything in between. But at a certain point, I turned away from physical notebooks because it became easier to save all of those things digitally in various apps that were always available to me on my phone. Today, people like me might be served well by E Ink tablets. They can combine the feeling of writing in a regular notebook with many of the conveniences of digitized documents. Plus, many of them come with an included stylus, an accessory you have to pay extra for when buying a standard slab. Unfortunately, though, E Ink tablets are nowhere near as ubiquitous as general tablets — but there are just enough of them now to make deciding which is right for you more complicated than you might think. We tested out seven different E Ink tablets to see how well they work, how convenient they really are and which are the best tablets using E Ink screens available today.

reMarkable 2

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An E Ink tablet will be a worthwhile purchase to a very select group of people. If you prefer the look and feel of an e paper display to LCD panels found on traditional tablets, it makes a lot of sense. They’re also good options for those who want a more paper-like writing experience (although you can get that kind of functionality on a regular tablet with the right screen protector) or a more distraction-free device overall.

The final note is key here. Most E Ink tablets don’t run on the same operating systems as regular tablets, so you’re automatically going to be limited in what you can do. And even with those that do allow you to download traditional apps like Chrome, Instagram and Facebook, E Ink tablets are not designed to give you the best casual-browsing experience. This is mostly due to the nature of E Ink displays, which have noticeable refreshes, a lack of color and lower quality than the panels you’ll find on even the cheapest iPad.

Arguably the biggest reason why you wouldn’t want to go with an iPad (all models of which support stylus input, a plethora of reading apps, etc) is because it’s much easier to get distracted by email, social media and other Internet-related temptations. An e-reader is also worth considering if this is the case for you, but just know that most standard e-readers do not accept stylus input. If you like to make notes in the margins of books, underline and mark up PDFs and the like, an e-reader won’t cut it.

What to look for in an E Ink tablet

I discovered four main things that can really make or break your experience with an E Ink tablet during my testing; first is the writing experience. How good it is will depend a lot on the display’s refresh rate (does it refresh after every time you put pen to “paper,” so to speak?) and the stylus’ latency. Most had little to no latency, but there were some that were worse than others. Finally, you should double check before buying that your preferred E Ink tablet comes with a stylus.

The second thing to consider is the reading experience. How much will you be reading books, documents and other things on this tablet? While you can find E Ink tablets in all different sizes, most of them tend to be larger than your standard e-reader because it makes writing much easier. Having a larger display isn’t a bad thing, but it might make holding it for long periods slightly more uncomfortable. (Most e-readers are roughly the size of a paperback book, giving you a similar feeling to analog reading).

The supported file types will also make a big difference. It’s hard to make a blanket statement here because this varies so much among E Ink tablets. The TL;DR is that you’ll have a much better reading experience if you go with one made by a company that already has a history in e-book sales (i.e. Amazon or Kobo). All of the titles you bought via the Kindle or Kobo store should automatically be available to you on your Kindle or Kobo E Ink tablet. And with Kindle titles, specifically, since they are protected by DRM, it’s not necessarily the best idea to try to bring those titles over to a third-party device . Unless the tablet supports reading apps like Amazon’s Kindle or the Kobo app, you’ll be limited to supported file types, like ePUB, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, PNG and others.

Search functionality

Third, most E Ink tablets have some search features, but they can vary widely between models. You’ll want to consider how important it is to you to be able to search through all your handwritten notes and markups. I noticed that Amazon’s and Kobo’s E Ink tablets made it easy to refer back to notes made in books and files because they automatically save on which pages you took notes, made highlights and more. Searching is less standardized on E Ink tablets that have different supported file types, but their features can be quite powerful in their own right. For example, a few devices I tested supported text search in handwritten notes along with handwriting recognition, the latter of which allows you to translate your scribbles into typed text.

Sharing and connectivity

The final factor to consider is sharing and connectivity. Yes, we established that E Ink tablets can be great distraction-free devices, but most manufacturers understand that your notes and doodles aren’t created in a vacuum. You’ll likely want to access them elsewhere, and that requires some form of connectivity. All of the E Ink tablets I tried were Wi-Fi devices, and some supported cloud syncing, companion mobile apps and the ability to export notes via email so you can access them elsewhere. None of them, however, integrate directly with a digital note taking system like Evernote or OneNote, so these devices will always be somewhat supplementary if you use apps like that, too. Ultimately, you should think about what you will want to do with the documents you’ll interact with on your E Ink tablet after the tablet portion is done.

The latest reMarkable tablet isn’t topping our list because it’s the most full-featured or even most interesting writing tablet we tested. Rather, it provides the best mix of features people will find useful in an e-paper device like this. We’ll get into them all, but first, it’s worth mentioning build quality. The reMarkable 2 weighs less than one pound and is one of the sleekest E Ink tablets we tried. It has a 10.3-inch monochrome digital paper display that’s surrounded by beige-colored bezels, with the chunkiest portion at the bottom edge where you’d naturally grip it. There’s a slim silver bezel on the left side, which attaches to accessories like the folio case and the new Type Folio keyboard . Hats off to reMarkable for making an E Ink tablet that feels right at home with all of your other fancy gadgets.

Let’s start with the writing and reading experiences on the reMarkable 2, both of which are great. From the get go, scribbling, doodling and writing was a breeze. We tested out the Marker Plus, which has a built-in eraser, but both it and the standard Marker are tilt- and pressure sensitive pens, and require no batteries or charging. I observed basically no lag between my pressing down onto the reMarkable 2’s screen and lines showing up. The latency was so low that it felt the closest to actual pen-and-paper. But I will say that this is not unique among our top picks in this guide – almost all of the E Ink tablets we tested got this very crucial feature right.

When it comes to reading, the reMarkable 2 supports PDFs and ePUBs, and you can add files to the device by logging into your reMarkable account on desktop or via the companion mobile app on your phone. You can also pair your Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive or Dropbox account with your reMarkable account and access files that way as well. That should be good enough for anyone who, say, reads a lot of academic papers or reviews many documents for work. It’ll be harder for people who purchase their ebooks from online marketplaces like the Kindle or Kobo stores, but there are other options for those.

Another fun way to get documents onto the reMarkable 2 is via the Read with reMarkable extension for Google Chrome. After installing it and pairing your reMarkable account, you’ll be able to send articles you find online directly to your reMarkable 2 so you can check them out later. You can even customize these files to be sent as text only, which will let you change their format directly on your reMarkable, or as a PDF file. Regardless of which you choose, you’ll be able to mark up these articles as you would any other file on the E Ink tablet. I used this extension a lot and I did enjoy reading longform articles on the reMarkable 2 more than on my iPhone. Being able to underline, highlight and otherwise mark up those stories was more of a bonus than a necessity for me, but for others who glean sources from online materials will be better off for it.

Overall, it’s pretty easy to get files onto the reMarkable 2 and it is possible to access them elsewhere when you may not be able to whip out the E Ink tablet. Those with a reMarkable Connect subscription will have the best experience, and it’s a nice perk that you get a one-year membership when you buy one. The $3-per-month subscription provides the ability to edit existing notes and take new ones from anywhere using the desktop and mobile apps, plus unlimited cloud storage and syncing. On that last front, if you don’t pay for Connect, only “notes and documents synced online in the last 50 days” will be available in reMarkable’s companion apps. I suspect 50 days worth of document syncing will be enough for some, but not power-users. Putting the ability to take notes anywhere behind a paywall is a bit of a bummer no matter what and makes it much harder for anyone to use the reMarkable ecosystem as their main note-taking space.

That said, I kept most of my testing to the reMarkable 2 itself and was impressed by its ability to be a digital notebook without a steep learning curve. You can create different notebooks and “quick sheets” to organize your handwritten notes, and folders to make sense of imported files. You’ll find eight different brush types with which to mark up documents and take notes, along with customizable line thicknesses and “colors” (which just show up as shades on the tablet itself). You can even type wherever you want in a doc, and the reMarkable 2 can translate handwritten notes into machine-readable text with surprising accuracy.

It was no shock that the reMarkable 2 ended up having the best mix of features, along with a relatively low learning curve. The company was one of the first on the scene with a truly viable E Ink tablet back in 2017, and they’ve been refining the experience ever since. But that comes at a cost – the reMarkable 2 isn’t the most expensive E Ink tablet we tested, but it’s not cheap either. The tablet alone will set you back $299, and then you’ll have to shell out either $79 or $129 for the Marker or Marker Plus, respectively. In all, you’re looking at $430 for the best version of the reMarkable 2 you can get (and that assumes you skip the new $199 Type Folio Keyboard). You could get a 9th-gen iPad and the 1st-gen Apple Pencil for the same price and you’d have a more flexible duo, purely based on the capabilities of iOS.

But you’re probably not considering an iPad for a specific reason, whether that’s your love for E Ink or the feeling of pen-to-paper writing, or you simply want a more distraction-free experience. If you’re looking for an E Ink tablet that will not take ages to get used to, offers a stellar writing experience and makes it relatively simple to access notes elsewhere, the reMarkable 2 is your best bet.

Great reading and writing experience
Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive and Dropbox support
Easy to use
Marker costs extra
Unlimited cloud storage comes with a subscription cost

You really have two options in this space: the Amazon Kindle Scribe and the Kobo Elipsa 2E . The Scribe edged out the Elipsa 2E purely because of its low-latency pen-and-screen combination. The Elipsa has its merits, which we’ll get into in a bit, but it just couldn’t compete with the Scribe when it came to a seamless and smooth handwriting experience.

We already gave the Kindle Scribe the full review treatment , and in general, I enjoyed it while testing it out for this guide, too. As mentioned, there’s little to no latency when writing on the Scribe with its companion pen. Thanks to the latest software update , you also have more brush types to choose from now, including fountain pen, marker and pencil, which add to the charm. Like other E Ink tablets, the Scribe makes it easy to create multiple notebooks, and you can add pages to them and change up their templates if you wish.

As an e-reader, the Scribe shines not only thanks to its 10.2-inch touchscreen with auto-adjusting front lights, but also because you have Amazon’s entire ebook store at your fingertips. If you get most of your reading material from Amazon or subscribe to Kindle Unlimited , you’ll be able to jump right into all of your titles instantly on the Scribe. In addition, the Scribe can connect to Audible via Bluetooth for audiobook listening. It’s also easy to get ebooks from your local library and read them on a Kindle. This will be crucial not only for voracious readers, but especially for students who buy or rent digital textbooks and those who consume books regularly for research purposes.

I thought about students a lot when using the Scribe. I started college in 2009, two years after the first Kindle was released and one year before the first iPad came out. Getting textbooks digitally really wasn’t an option for me – but I can understand the appeal a note-taking device like the Kindle Scribe would have for students. It’s arguably even better than a standard Kindle because its bigger screen size, which will make it less tiring to stare at for long periods of time. Adding the ability to take handwritten notes while you’re studying is icing on the cake.

However, Amazon’s execution of book notes is not my favorite. You actually cannot make annotations in the margins of Kindle ebooks. Instead you press and hold the pen’s tip on the screen to highlight text or add a note to a particular word or phrase. If you do the latter, a window pops up on the bottom half of the screen where you can either take a handwritten note or type a text note using the Scribe’s mildly frustrating and sluggish on-screen keyboard.

Amazon recently rectified this a bit with a software update that allows for direct on-page writing in certain Kindle books. The Kindle Store now has a section that showcases "Write-on Books," which is currently mostly made up of journals and game books that feature puzzles like crosswords and sudoku. This is certainly a step in the right direction, but it means you still won't be able to mark up your favorite fiction and non-fiction books until they support the new feature.

This is where I give a nod to the Kobo Elipsa 2E , where you can write notes in the margins, underline, circle and otherwise mark up your reading material. It’s a more natural (and fun) experience since it mimics what you’d do if you were reading a physical book. It’s a shame that the latency on the Elipsa was just a hair more noticeable than that of the Scribe. If it weren’t for that, it might have beaten Amazon’s device here.

What that extra bit of latency translates to in practice is handwriting that can come out just a bit messier, and that increases precipitously the faster you write. But that also means that you’ll notice this the most when taking notes longhand on the Elipsa; if you’re primarily using an E Ink tablet to mark up documents, it won’t affect you as much. Despite that, I did like the way Kobo executed notebooks on the Elipsa. You can have a standard notebook where you can write and scribble away, or an “advanced” notebook that supports handwriting-to-text conversion and inserting things like diagrams and formulas. Text conversion is actually pretty accurate, too, even when dealing with some of my ugliest handwriting.

Kobo also has a pretty sizable ebook marketplace, so it’s certainly a decent option if you want to stay clear of the Amazon ecosystem. But Amazon has the upper hand when it comes to price. The Kobo Elipsa 2E pack that includes its stylus is $399, while the 16GB Kindle Scribe with the premium pen (which includes dedicated eraser and shortcut buttons) comes in at $369. Even if you max out the Scribe with 64GB of storage, you’d only spend $20 more than you would on the Kobo Elipsa. That, combined with the Scribe’s strong overall performance and the ubiquity of Amazon’s ebook offerings will make it the better choice for most readers.

Basic pen included in cost
Seamlessly integrates with Kindle books
Low-latency writing experience
Writing in margins limited to certain books
Inelegant notebook experience

Screen size: 10.3-inch | Battery life: Weeks | Network connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Capacity: 32GB | Included stylus: No, extra cost | Supported file types: PDF, EPUB, Word, Text (.txt), PNG, JPG, Comic book archive (.cbz), FictionBook2 (.fb2) and OpenXPS (.xps)

I spent a while testing all of these E Ink tablets, and the Supernote X is the one I was consistently most excited to use. As a notebook nerd, I find this thing so cool. Available in 10.3-inch (what I tested) and 7.8-inch sizes, the Supernote X has a “FeelWrite” screen protector that has a different feel than a standard e-paper screen. When writing on it with Heart of Metal Pen 2, which is weighty and looks like a fountain pen, you get a gel pen-like feel rather than the subtly scratchy vibe that other E Ink tablets have. In fact, the Supernote X has one of the best writing experiences out of any tablet I tested.

The Supernote X supports a range of file formats, including PDF, ePUB, Word (.doc), PNG and JPG, which really opens up the content you can put onto the thing. I wanted to see if I could treat it almost like a digital bullet journal, and that wasn’t hard to do. There are built-in page templates, but I was able to download daily, weekly and monthly planner templates online, resize them and move them onto the Supernote X using Android File Transfer . The device has a dedicated “MyStyle” folder where you can save files you want to use as templates. The most difficult part was making sure I had the dimensions right while resizing the documents. Once saved in the right folder, I could make an entire notebook out of the templates I had gotten from the internet for free.

Supernote does have its own “app store,” but there’s not much in there, and its Play Store offerings are limited to only the Kindle app. This device doesn’t have a backlight, so it won’t be easy to see in dark environments. But you can download Amazon’s ebook app and read just like you would on a standard tablet (no, you can’t mark up books here either).

Honestly, the last thing I wanted to do with the Supernote X was read, though. The device really shines as an E Ink notebook and the company clearly put a lot of thought into “building a better mousetrap,” so to speak. You can translate handwritten words into typed text, but you don’t have to do that in order for the software to recognize your handwriting. There’s a keywords feature that lets you basically bookmark important phrases for quick access later. All you need to do is lasso the word, press the keyword button and the tablet’s software will translate your writing into typed text. Then you can add it as a keyword and quickly jump back to it from the left-side tablet of contents menu. Similarly, you can bookmark titles and add stars to pages that are important, all of which help you jump between important bits.

That said, the Supernote X sometimes felt a little inconsistent. The writing experience was top-notch, but there were other things that felt a little less polished. For example, you can swipe down on the right bezel to bring up a menu that lets you quickly navigate between favorited notes and recent documents – that’s quite thoughtful. But then the Files page just has a couple of starkly named folders like Export, Screenshot and Inbox that I didn’t touch once, and the pen sidebar has more options than most people will know what to do with (and none of them have text labels).

These are small nit-picks, but they go to show that the Supernote X might not be the best device for tech novices. There is a learning curve here, but notebook nerds like myself will be thrilled with all that the Supernote X has to offer. Unsurprisingly, all those advanced features come at a steep price: the A5-sized tablet with a folio and pen will set you back at least $532, making it the most expensive set on our list.

Excellent writing experience
Tons of notebook customization options
Good handwriting recognition
Pen comes at an added cost
No backlight

While we haven’t fully tested the new Boox Note Air 3 , we feel comfortable recommending it here because it’s basically just a slightly upgraded version of our previous pick, the Note Air 2 Plus . Key differences are the Note Air 3’s faster processor and new fingerprint recognition feature, but otherwise both devices have the same 10.3-inch “paperlike” screen, run the latest version of Android and come bundled with a stylus.

Based on our experience with the Note Air 2 Plus, Boox’s entire Note series is what you’d get if you removed some of the notebook-specific features from the Supernote X and added in a more complete version of Android. Boox makes a number of interesting E Ink devices and the Note Air 2 Plus/Note Air 3 are the ones that best compare to the others on our list thanks to its 10.3-inch display. They are E Ink Android tablets, so that means you can actually download Android apps from the Google Play Store like Kindle, Kobo and others. There’s even a web browser, and yes, you can watch videos on this thing, too.

Of course, just because you can do all of that doesn’t mean you should. E Ink screens are truly best for reading and writing, so I didn’t spend much time binge watching YouTube on Boox’s device – but I was happy that I had the freedom to do so. Really, the utility of Android comes in with the app store and I expect that most people will use it to download all of their favorite reading and writing apps. Much like a standard tablet, this will be a great option for anyone that gets their reading material from a bunch of different places — and since you can manually transfer documents from your computer to the device, too, it’s far-and-away the most versatile option on our list.

I experienced little to no latency when writing on Boox’s device and I was happy with the number of brush options it has. Like the Supernote X, it comes with a bunch of page templates you can use, or you can bring in your own PDFs and other documents to use as templates. There’s an “AI recognition” feature that translates a whole page’s handwriting into typed text, and it’s actually pretty accurate. (Though, it did consistently confuse my “&” for a capital A). I also appreciated that you can add other kinds of material to your notes, including web pages and voice recordings, and share notes as PDFs or PNGs via email, Google Drive and other services. Features like those ensure that, with this partially analog device, you don’t miss out on some of the conveniences that a true digital notebook system would have.

And, importantly, Boox tablets in general offer an interesting value proposition. A Note Air 3 bundle with the tablet, a standard pen and a folio case comes in at $400, putting it on the higher end of the price spectrum among the devices we tested. But considering it’s a full Android tablet, that doesn’t seem absurd. Those who want to avoid distractions most of the time while still having access to email and a web browser might gravitate towards a device like this.

There's also the Note Air 3 C, a version of the same tablet that has a color e-paper display, and were able to spend some time with that device. Color, unsurprisingly, adds a lot of dimension and fun to a device like this. Not only can you enjoy full-color images in books, but you can also take notes, highlight and mark up documents using a few different colors of digital pens and markers. The big caveat, though, is that the Note Air 3 C costs $100 more than the standard Note Air 3, so you'll have to pay a premium if color is a priority for you.

Runs Android 11 with access to Google Play Store
Supports many ways to add files to the device
Stylus included in the box
Color E Ink display option available at an additional cost
E Ink screen hinders it from being a good video-consumption device
Not as user-friendly as others

Other E Ink tablets we've tested

Lenovo smart paper.

Lenovo made a solid E Ink tablet in the Smart Paper , but it's too pricey and too married to the company's companion cloud service to warrant a spot on our top picks list. The hardware is great, but the software isn't as flexible as those of competitors like the reMarkable 2. It has good Google Drive integration, but you must pair it with Lenovo's cloud service to really get the most use out of it — and in the UK, the service costs £9 per month for three months, which is quite expensive.

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra

The Boox Tab Ultra has a lot of the same features we like in the Note Air 2 Plus, but it’s designed to be a true, all-purpose tablet with an E Ink screen. Running Android 11 and compatible with a magnetic keyboard case, you can use it like a standard 2-in-1 laptop, albeit a low-powered one. You can browse the web, check email and even watch YouTube videos on this thing — but that doesn’t mean you should. A standard 2-in-1 laptop with a more responsive screen and better overall performance would be a better fit for most people who even have the slightest desire to have an all-in-one device. Like the rest of Onyx’s devices, the Tab Ultra is specifically for those who put reading and eye comfort above all else.

TCL NXTPAPER 14 Pro

We got to spend some time with TCL’s latest E Ink-like tablet at CES , the NXTPAPER 14 Pro. Using the company’s NXTPAPER 3.0 technology, the device isn’t precisely an E Ink tablet but one that attempts to strike a balance between the displays of ereaders and standard slabs. It focuses on eye comfort by filtering out up to 61 percent of blue light, using a Circularly Polarized Light (CPL) screen and the like. TCL has not revealed pricing for the NXTPAPER 14 Pro, but it did confirm it would arrive in the US in early 2024.

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Best tablets for taking notes in 2024.

Productivity, portability, or even affordability - no matter your preference in note-taking tablets, we’ve got the best options for you

We love tablets and use them for everything from gaming to art . While there are a lot of tablets on the market, they're not all optimized for taking notes. From what we've found, the best note-taking tablets come in all sorts of sizes and prices. And you don't need to stick to traditional tablets with their blue light keeping you up all hours.

Personally, we've grown to love E Ink displays —they look and feel so much like paper. Still, it's hard to escape the allure of a bright, large screen, especially if you're an illustrator or prefer a brighter screen for all those pie charts.

But there's one more aspect to consider: the stylus. We're not talking about those cheap 5 dollar multi-pack styluses on Amazon that fall apart after a month's use. The best stylus includes features like pressure detection for annotations, replaceable nibs, and an ergonomic design that comfortably fits in your hand.

There's a lot to consider when investing in a note-taking tablet, but we have you covered. Take a look at our favorites below.

Lenovo Tab P11 Pro Gen 2

Samsung galaxy tab s9, boogie board blackboard, oneplus pad, amazon fire max 11, apple ipad air (5th generation), onyx boox note air3 c, supernote nomad, samsung galaxy tab s9 ultra, amazon kindle scribe, our favorite tablets for taking notes in 2024.

Does it all and then some

The Lenovo Tab P11 Pro Gen 2 stands out for its combination of a stellar OLED display and capable stylus input using the included Precision Pen 3. All of this makes it a great value option for note-takers on the go.

One of the best screens on a tablet
Precision Pen 3 offers precise note-taking capabilities
Value-priced positioning
Mid-range processor and limited RAM can make heavy multitasking a chore
Boring, utilitarian design

The Lenovo P11 Pro Gen 2 isn't going to win any awards for being the most exciting option on the market, but it more than makes up for it by delivering where it counts.

Avid note-takers will appreciate the oversized display for its class. The 11.2-inch OLED HDR 10+ panel running at 120Hz makes watching content and playing games an immersive experience. The upsized screen makes it a breeze to jot down notes in your choice of apps using the included Precision Pen 3.

The stylus offers a matte finish, replaceable nibs, and 4,096 pressure sensitivity points, making it an excellent choice for note-taking. That said, the pen suffers from noticeable jitter when writing at an angle that can make sketching a less-than-ideal experience. Thoughtfully, the pen can be connected magnetically to the back of the tablet, ensuring it's never out of reach.

Unfortunately, performance isn't the focus of the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro Gen 2. Instead, the tablet takes a value-oriented approach with a MediaTek Kompanio 1300T chipset paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, which can be upgraded with a microSD card. It's perfectly suited for lightweight tasks like browsing the internet, catching up on social media, streaming, and note-taking, but not for running powerful apps or playing games.

Despite its affordable price point, the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro Gen 2 keeps the basics. It can also be purchased as a bundle with the Precision Pen 3 and a keyboard dock, making it an even better value for the money.

Power and performance

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 combines class-leading performance with some of the best note-taking software features on an Android tablet. The included S-Pen has just 2.8ms of latency, which makes it ideal for jotting down notes. Its excellent AMOLED display makes it a great choice for multimedia consumption too.

Flagship-grade performance without breaking the bank
Included stylus pairs beautifully with stylus-optimized software
IP68 rating for beachside doodling
Large 8400mAh battery
Dated design

Samsung introduced its Galaxy Tab S9 series earlier this year with upgrades that bumped the lineup to the top of our best Android tablets list for good reason. The smallest of the group, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 , ranks highly as the best premium note-taking option with its 11-inch high-resolution, 120Hz AMOLED display and taller-than-usual 16:10 orientation.

Samsung has also upgraded the tablet with a more efficient Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset , making it ideally suited for multitasking. Buyers will also find helpful additions like a microSD card slot for storage expansion over and above the 128GB storage available on the base unit.

Moreover, Samsung's built-in software suite, which includes apps for notes and drawing and support for S Pen features, makes the Galaxy Tab S9 one of the best note-taking tablets on the market. The S Pen's incredibly low 2.8ms latency also guarantees a superlative note-taking experience. The stylus can also be used to navigate the interface using gestures. Moreover, Samsung has made thoughtful additions to apps like the Gallery, where the S Pen is handy for annotation or more convenient editing. When done, the stylus magnetically attaches to the tablet for easy stowing.

The IP68 rating makes the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 a great option if you find yourself doodling at the beach. Meanwhile, Keeping the tablet going all day is a large 8,400mAh battery that can be topped up reasonably quickly with 45W charging support. While the tablet is steeply priced, the included S Pen and ample power ensure it'll be a constant companion for years.

Keeping it simple

The Boogie Board Blackboard may not have the high-end specs or versatility of full-fledged tablets. However, if all you want to do is take notes and do not really require the extra bells and whistles that come with most other tablets in this list, the Boogie Board Blackboard makes for a sensible (and affordable) choice. Purpose-built and devoid of distractions, this no-nonsense tool fulfills its singular function, offering a streamlined note-taking experience.

Sleek design
Very portable
Frequent charging not required
Not meant to be used outdoors
Erase feature is laggy at times

If you need a handy, tablet-sized device to jot down quick notes or mark up documents, you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars on a full-fledged tablet. There are several purpose-built note-taking tablets that ditch other features in favor of note-taking capabilities. Take the Boogie Board Blackboard, for example. This purpose-built note-taking tablet features an 8.5" x 11" semi-transparent writing surface and a digital pen that allows you to jot down your notes in your handwriting, just as you would do on a normal sheet of paper.

The Boogie Board Blackboard also lets you create digital copies of your notes and send them to others using the dedicated app. And because it's reusable, you can save money and reduce paper waste. With its affordable price tag and focus on note-taking, the Boogie Board Blackboard could be an excellent choice for students, professionals, and anyone who needs a simple and effective way to take notes.

The OnePlus Pad is the one to get if you value a productivity-first tablet. The 7:5 aspect ratio of the screen is particularly geared towards multitasking and makes it a cinch to open two apps simultaneously. The 2ms latency of the stylus further accentuates the pen-like note-taking experience.

Large 144Hz display optimized for reading and multitasking
The OnePlus Stylus offers suitably low latency for note-taking
Long battery life
Software ecosystem could be better fleshed out
Stylus costs extra
Only an LCD screen

The OnePlus Pad sticks to the brand's ethos of offering incredible performance at a value-oriented price point. The company's first tablet gets the essentials right with a bright, sizable 11.61-inch display. Whwould'veMOLED panel would've certainly elevated the hardware credentials of the OnePlus Pad, the LCD screen delivers rich contrast and a panel that remains perfectly viewable outdoors. The silky smooth 144Hz refresh further adds to the fluid experience.

While the unusual 7:5 aspect ratio might not be ideal for watching movies, the OnePlus Pad is a great choice for productivity fiends. Browsing multiple pages simultaneously, multitasking, and performing note-related tasks flourish on the OnePlus Pad, though you will have to splurge extra on the OnePlus Stylus Pen to maximize the capabilities of the tablet.

The OnePlus Stylus Pen has hardware support for a minimal 2ms latency, which should mean lag-free note-taking. That said, you'll need relevant software to take advantage of that low latency. Elsewhere, the stylus supports palm rejection, tilt support, and 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, making note-taking a cinch.

Powering the OnePlus Pad is a MediaTek Dimensity 9000 chipset. Combined with 8GB or more of RAM, the tablet can even play the latest games. The lack of a fingerprint scanner is perplexing, but the built-in software-based face recognition does a good enough job of securely unlocking the tablet — as long as there's ample ambient light.

The OnePlus Pad brings excellent longevity with its 9,510mAh battery, making it one of the longest-lasting tablets around. However, the Pad's best feature is its is its ultra-fast 67W wired charging that'll let you top up the tablet in under two hours. You can also get the OnePlus Pad bundled with the keyboard accessory, making it a great value.

Big screen, low price

Amazon's value-priced Fire Max 11 tablet combines a large 11-inch display with a premium build. The tablet isn't a productivity workhorse, but avid note-takers will appreciate the 4,096 points of sensitivity and tilt support when using the official stylus.

Offers an expansive canvas for note-taking
Fingerprint scanner embedded in power button
14 hours of battery life
Sluggish performance is not conducive to long use
Amazon Stylus Pen lacks a rechargeable battery, and has noticeable latency
No Google Play Store

The Amazon Fire Max 11 is the go-to solution for those who need the largest screen possible without spending big money. Significantly improved performance thanks to a MediaTek MT8188J processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage on the base model make the Fire Max 11 a good starting point for those who are still deciding whether to add a tablet to their tech portfolio.

As a note-taking device, the Fire Max 11 offers an expansive canvas, but the lack of the Google Play Store can make installing some of the best note-taking apps tedious, if not impossible. The official Amazon Stylus Pen can be attached magnetically to the tablet and supports all the usual functions like taking notes and erasing words, but the quality isn't exemplary due to the quality of plastics and the lack of a rechargeable battery.

The budget stylus offers decent pressure sensitivity and even tilt support, but the usage experience can be laggy. The tablet is compatible with all USI 2.0 Stylus pens, allowing you to upgrade to a more premium option, but it might not be worth it due to the lack of quality apps on the Amazon App Store.

The 11-inch display is crisp and nicely saturated, making it a decent bet for media consumption. Outdoor viewing can, however, be hit or miss as maximum brightness levels top off at 410 nits. The Amazon Fire Max 11's utilitarian design isn't going to astonish you, but the upgraded slim bezels and aluminum chassis help make it feel more premium. Other upgrades include a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button for secure payments and access to the tablet. Storage, too, can be enhanced further with a microSD card slot. Amazon claims that the tablet can last up to 14 hours on a single charge.

Powerful and reliable

The iPad Air 5 is powered by an M1 chipset that delivers a snappy and responsive user experience. The extensive app library shines on the high-resolution display and enables a world of stylus-optimized apps that remain unmatched on Android. The iPad Air is hands down, one of the best note-taking tablets, especially when paired with an Apple Pencil 2.

Desktop-class M1 processor enables futureproofed performance
Incredible software ecosystem of tablet-optimized apps
All-day battery life
Limited 64GB of storage on base model
60Hz LCD panel is starting to look dated
Slow charging speeds

The iPad Air sits in the middle of Apple's increasingly packed iPad lineup. The two-year-old model might be due for an upgrade, but the tablet continues to deliver incredible value for money with its desktop-class M1 processor. The processor enables some of the best tablet-optimized experiences, including high-end gaming, a desktop-style multitasking environment, and years of software support. Avid note-takers will appreciate the wealth of stylus-optimized apps that assist productivity.

In fact, the most significant selling point here is the app ecosystem that remains unparalleled. The Apple Pencil 2 doesn’t offer the lowest latency possible, but at 9ms, it's still low enough not to be noticeable when using first-party apps like Apple Notes. The stylus also includes a capacitive button that can be tapped to perform additional functions. A flat side allows it to be magnetically attached to the top of the tablet for charging and easier there's

Elsewhere, there's a good, but not great, 60Hz 10.9-inch LCD screen. The slow refresh rate is starting to feel dated and directly impacts the fluidity of the interface. Peak brightness levels also leave much to be desired, and outdoor visibility can be hit or miss. Users can expect a full day from the iPad Air's battery, but charging speeds are slow, taking about 2.5 hours for a full charge.

Other features include support for Touch ID that enables secure payments and a capable rear-facing 12MP camera. However, the stingy 64GB of storage on the base model might disappoint users planning to load up a lot of offline media or download some of the best tablet apps.

The notebook replacer

The Onyx Boox Note Air3 C isn't the cheapest E Ink tablet, but it's undoubtedly one of the most capable. It acts as an excellent reading device, thanks to its dual display. You'll enjoy reading magazines and comics in full color. But most importantly, Boox's user-friendly stylus might make you ditch paper for good. Your notes and drawings will look great in color or black and white.

Textured screen mimics paper
Stylus is highly responsive for both drawing and note-taking
Color display comes in handy for reading comics and magazines
The color display is nice, but we wish it was sharper

In your quest for the ultimate note-taking companion, you've likely heard of Onyx's excellent Boox range E Ink tablets. We recently reviewed the Onyx Boox's Note Air3 C and it's their best yet. It's not what we'd call a steal, but considering its suite of features, the Air3 C will tick many boxes for the avid note-taker.

First off, the Air3 C is slim and feather-light, even after long reading and writing sessions. There's also an elongated bezel on one side for a more natural grip and to keep your fingers from smudging the screen. Even with its lighter build, the Air3 C packs in a solid battery, a microSD card slot for more storage, and even a decent set of speakers.

The Air3 C doesn't cut corners with the screen either, and it shouldn’t at this price. It uses a dual-format 10.3-inch Kaleido 3 that displays color in 1240 x 930 resolution — a commendable effort for an E Ink device. Comics, pie charts, and anything else you’d like to see in color look good, though not as crisp as on a standard tablet. On the other hand, the tablet’s monochrome displays content in an even sharper 2480 x 1860 resolution.

But let's turn to the star of the show, the Air3 C's stylus. As our review notes, writing on this tablet is pretty awesome, mainly due to the Wacom layer. Whether sketching or writing, you’ll enjoy pen-like precision that you won’t find in many other tablets, E ink or otherwise.

Also, while a thin layer of glass protects the screen, it doesn't inhibit the writing experience. That's because Onyx added a paper-like textured film that we think feels a lot like regular old paper. Writing and drawing come naturally. Artists, in particular, will appreciate the generous selection of brushes and layer options found in the notes. Seriously, the Air3 C might just replace your sketchpad.

Take it anywhere

Supernote’s newest E Ink device may be small, but that’s what’s great about it. It doesn’t offer as many features as some others, but what it does, it does well. The paper-like surface is as close to paper as you can get, and the stylus (sold separately) is incredibly responsive. Most notably, the Nomad features a swappable battery and the option to increase storage to a vast 2TB via microSD.

Small size should fit in most purses, messengers bags, and backpacks
Black and white display accurately displays 16 shades of gray
The display has the look and feel of real paper
Stylus is sold separately

There aren’t a lot of compact tablets out there, at least, not ones that are ideal for note-taking. That’s what drew us to this underdog, the Supernote Nomad. It’s only 7.8 inches, so it easily slips into purses and bags, ensuring you’re ready whenever you feel inspired to write or draw. Plus, there’s more to like about this E Ink tablet than its smaller size.

One such notable feature is the Nomad’s thoughtfully designed modularity. Don’t worry, it’s not like you have to build the tablet yourself or anything. However, you can replace the battery. This only adds to the tablet’s longevity, not to mention sustainability. To a lesser extent, you can also expand your storage (up to 2 TB) via the microSD slot.

Connectivity on the Nomad is also seamless, with file synchronization across Google Drive, Dropbox, or Supernote Cloud, along with calendar integration through Google and Outlook Calendars. Then there’s screen mirroring during video calls using platforms like Zoom or Google Meet — an invaluable feature for collaboration.

The tactile feel of its screen is incredibly similar to paper and is complemented by Supernote’s new painting software, which offers an impressive array of brushes. No, you won’t find any color on this E Ink tablet, but its nuanced 16-level grayscale will be enough for your sketchers.

If you’re wondering how the Nomad keeps its price so low, the truth is, it’s not as cheap as you’d think. As we’ve said before, one of the most important features of a note-taking tablet is the stylus. The problem with the Nomad is that the stylus is sold separately, and you’ll spend anywhere from $60 to $90 on one. Our pick would be the mid-grade option, the Heart of Metal Pen 2 ($75), for its satisfying heft. It’s worth noting that the price reflects the build quality, not the internal workings. Whichever you choose, each stylus model boasts the same 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity.

After shelling out for the stylus, the Nomad packs a price tag of at least $340 — a steep ask for such a small E Ink tablet. But when we factor in features such as the paper-like surface and replaceable battery, we think it’s a justifiable splurge.

When you need it all

Samsung's top-of-the-line Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra tablets feature an expansive 14.6-inch AMOLED display that offers a capable productivity suite when paired with the S Pen stylus and onboard note-taking software.

Massive 14.5-inch AMOLED screen for multitasking and productivity
S Pen stylus offers gesture control, tilt and pressure detection, and a true-to-life scribbling experience
Flagship-performance with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor
Super expensive
Screen might be too big for some

If you need the biggest screen on a tablet, look no further than the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra . Part of the recently updated Galaxy Tab S9 series, the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra elevates the experience with a massive 14.5-inch 120Hz AMOLED screen. The tablet offers an expansive canvas for avid note-takers and digital creatives looking to use the included S Pen stylus for sketching and digital art .

Thanks to its robust support for tilt and pressure detection, Samsung's S Pen is one of the best stylus pen options available. The full-size stylus has a pen-like form factor that makes it easy to grip and use for long hours of note-taking. The S Pen charges magnetically when attached to the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra and supports 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity and just low 2.8ms of latency for a true-to-life writing experience. The stylus can also be used for gesture-based navigation and to perform additional actions like opening the camera or creating a new note when pressing the button on the stylus.

Ample real estate ensures that you can run multiple apps simultaneously, and Samsung's productivity suite shines on the Tab S9 Ultra.

The tablet's design has mostly stayed the same over the years. But there's no denying that the Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra delivers premium build quality, ultra-slim bezels marred only by the dual-camera notch, and some of the best hardware you can get for your money. The tablet is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset alongside 12 or 16GB of RAM and up to 1TB of storage, depending on the variant. The Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra includes a massive 11,200mAh battery to keep pace with the extra-large panel and can easily deliver over a day of productivity.

All of Amazon at your fingertips

The Scribe combines the Kindle E Ink reading interface with impressive note-taking abilities. It annotates on PDFs, creates digital notes with various tools, and has a large display for comfortable dual-page viewing. The Scribe is decent for drawing, too, and its weeks-long battery life means it's great for everyday use.

Smooth note-taking experience
Excellent battery life
Stylus included in the package
On the expensive side

Being the only one to sport note-taking capabilities, our review of the Amazon Kindle Scribe noted that this E Ink tablet stands out from the rest of the Kindle lineup. Thanks to its full-size 10.2-inch, 300ppi Paperwhite display, the Kindle Scribe is as large as most mainstream tablets out there. It is also quite hefty, weighing a hefty 433 grams.

Unlike much of its direct competition, the Kindle Scribe comes with its own stylus, with customers getting the option to get themselves a better, more feature-packed version at extra cost. One thing we particularly like about the Scribe is that it serves up an array of templates and brush options. And with the included stylus, which avoids any noticeable lags, note-taking and sketching should come easy. Beyond the basics, the device is smartly designed with tools like a lasso that allows you to move, resize, cut, and paste your text. What's more, email capabilities are baked right in, and for those needing a stellar word processor, a subscription to Microsoft 365 is just a few taps away.

The Scribe comes in three storage options (16GB, 32GB, and 64GB), and its internal battery can last up to 12 weeks on a single charge. The Kindle Scribe also supports a wide variety of content, including Amazon's own Audible audio format.

Choosing the best tablet for taking notes for you

A note-taking tablet can be a great asset for students, professionals, or even journaling addicts to keep all notes and thoughts in one place. The best tablets offer a seamless blend of productivity software, a quality stylus that can replicate the pen-and-paper experience, sufficient power, and a battery that can last a full day or more.

Our overall best pick, the Lenovo Tab P11 Pro Gen 2, offers all of the above and matches it with great value. The 120Hz OLED display is a joy to use for watching content, reading, and taking notes. The included Precision Pen 3 makes it a breeze to jot down notes and memos on the go, and you can even use the keyboard dock for extended sessions.

The Boogie Board Blackboard, on the other hand, offers the most bang for your buck if your focus is on note-taking. The Blackboard makes for an interesting, affordable choice for anyone looking for a basic, entry-level note-taking device. It's not a true tablet — you can't watch Netflix or play games on here. But for less than $50, you get a digital note-taking tool that lets you digitize your notes and store them in the cloud.

If your budget is bigger, consider stretching to the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9. Updated with one of the fastest Qualcomm Snapdragon chips around, this offers premium performance, a beautiful display, and Samsung's great take on Android. Best of all, the S Pen stylus is included, which goes some way to offsetting the high price.

While most of the picks in our list are full-fledged tablets that also happen to possess note-taking capabilities, you might also consider a dedicated note-taking tablet with an E Ink display. Those include the likes of the Kindle Scribe, Onyx Boox's Air3 C, and Supernote's Nomad. While these E Ink tablets are priced at a premium, they offer a distraction free alternative and double as excellent e-readers.

Durable and beautiful

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 combines class-leading performance with some of the best note-taking software features on an Android tablet. The included S Pen has just 2.8ms of latency, which makes it ideal for jotting down notes. Its excellent AMOLED display makes it a great choice for multimedia consumption too.

The Best Writing Tablets for Making Lists and Taking Notes

One of these tablets can help you boost your productivity and streamline your life.

Gear-obsessed editors choose every product we review. We may earn commission if you buy from a link. Why Trust Us?

Remove the stress of picking out a new notebook every few months with a dedicated writing tablet fit with tools to help you organize, get creative, or take notes on documents. Typically made with E Ink screens for the most paper-like feel, good writing tablets typically have features like glare resistance, palm rejection, built-in calendars, cloud syncing, and ideally, a marketplace for extra apps.

While picking up your writing tablet each time you're ready for a new to-do list might take a bit of getting used to, the trade-off is a streamlined note-taking system that puts your notes in-hand whenever you need them (even if you don't have your tablet on your person). Here are our favorites.

Looking for more productivity tools? Check out our picks for the best Chromebooks , and the best tablets for students .

The Best Writing Tablets of 2024

Most Customizable

Boox note air 2 plus.

Most Affordable E Ink

Amazon kindle scribe.

Best iPad Alternative

Samsung galaxy tab s8 ultra.

Most Versatile

Apple ipad pro (2022).

For A Keyboard Alternative

Astrohaus freewrite traveler.

Best For Professionals

Wacom mobile studio pro 16.

Best For Windows Fans

Microsoft surface pro 7+, what to consider.

Any tablet can serve as a writing tablet, but finding one dedicated to the purpose of note-taking means prioritizing specific features like backlights, stylus feel, and syncing with other devices.

E Ink screens are the best option for dedicated writing tablets because they’re most similar to paper, resist glare, and are easier to configure with palm rejection (as in, the tablet doesn’t register the side of your hand as a touch command). They’re also easier on the eyes compared to the glare of a blue screen. If you intend to draw or sketch on your tablet, look for an E Ink tablet with a high refresh rate that will instantly register your pen strokes. High refresh rates are also helpful if you write quickly or want to use your tablet to read.

Traditional LCD screens are also a good pick if you want a multipurpose tablet for playing games, sending emails, editing photos, and also writing. Some LCD screens don't have palm rejection built in, so make sure to look out for that when shopping.

The best writing tablets have on-device storage as well as the ability to sync with your other devices. We recommend options that sync with an app on your phone or computer so you can access your grocery lists and meeting notes whenever you need them. The file types used on writing tablets are typically very small, so you don't need a ton of storage space—around 32 GB is plenty for most users.

Every tablet uses an operating system to run its software. Some of our picks use open-source software with very few parameters, while others have lock-and-key operating systems that don't offer any extra apps. If you're using your tablet for purposes besides writing and reading documents, pick an option with software that allows downloads from the marketplace, such as the App Store or the Android Store.

Switching from pen and paper to stylus and screen can feel like a betrayal of your writerly sensibilities. That's why prioritizing the feel of writing on your new tablet is so important. During testing, we found that we struggled to integrate writing tablets with poor feel into our daily lives because they didn't remind us enough of notebooks or legal pads. A good stylus and screen combo should glide easily with a touch of resistance or friction to mimic the feel of pencil. Get a comfortable stylus to go with your tablet, or pick up a Bluetooth keyboard for even faster writing (but make sure your tablet is compatible first).

How We Selected

We found the best writing tablets by researching what other publications, like Digital Camera World and CNET had to recommend. We also consulted our product testing, including the iPad Pro and the Surface Pro 7 . We scoured through dozens of writing tablets at retailers like Best Buy, Amazon, and Walmart, and considered user reviews among the bestselling products. This list is compiled with consideration of all budgets, tablet styles, and aesthetic choices.

Using the Boox Note Air 2 Plus is overwhelming in the best way. This tablet is supremely customizable, running on Android so you can download and use apps like Kindle, Kobo, and Google Drive. Whether you want to use it to write a novel or sketch a cube, you can adjust tons of settings, even down to the responsiveness of the stylus. There are plenty of built-in features to help your note-taking process, including a calendar, multiple brush settings for doodling, and a split-screen option for using two apps at once.

Supremely lightweight and responsive, the Note Air 2 Plus also has a microphone for recording memos and a speaker for playing audiobooks on the go. The brand offers users up to 5 GB of cloud storage just in case its built-in 64 GB isn't enough, but we recommend turning the Boox store and cloud syncing off since the company has free rein to share certain data. It's easy to make your tablet more secure, though, with a simple toggle to turn off these features.

The battery life lasts roughly five weeks on a single charge, depending on whether you use the warm and cool backlights and how often you use the device.

With what feels like hundreds of settings and features to make this tablet work for you, after getting our hands dirty with the Boox Note Air 2 Plus, we think it's best enjoyed by people who are relatively tech-savvy since it requires a bit of tweaking to find the best configuration for each user. Unfortunately, it's quite expensive, but it's well worth the extra cash if you want to write, draw, and read all on one device.

Instead of using a Kindle purely for reading, you can write in it, too. The Kindle Scribe marries the look of a Kindle with the functionality of an Amazon Fire tablet. The 300 ppi glare-free Paperwhite display mimics that of real, tangible paper. With Kindle integration, users can make sticky notes directly in their eBooks or on top of PDF files and Microsoft Word documents.

Of course, note-taking is also available through the device’s software. You can create new notebooks, journals, and lists, with templates lined paper, grid paper, and more. An auto-adjustable backlight helps users see in dimly-lit areas, plus, Amazon claims that a single USB-C charge makes the Scribe last up to 3 weeks.

Users love the Kindle Scribe for its user-friendly interface and price point, though many note that they're waiting on software updates to better integrate with Microsoft programs and handwriting-to-text translations.

The Galaxy Tab S8 is a powerful tablet for taking notes and drawing, and at solid processing speeds. With a screen size of just over 14 inches, this device offers a large, beautiful display for students and workers to jot down notes.

The built-in Samsung Notes app can transcribe your handwriting into text, plus compatibility with Windows and Android apps makes it easy to sync files between devices. You can also use it to record notes on the fly.

Though pricey, the tablet comes with a hefty 128 GB of default storage, plus its S Pen stylus comes bundled with its package. Users love the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra for its quick speeds and impressive speaker quality.

The iPad Pro has as much power as a desktop thanks to its M2 Chip, which allows it to perform demanding tasks at brilliant speeds. Its Liquid Retina XDR display offers smooth performance. Whether you’re using your device as a mobile gaming machine, a note-taking app, or for processing video, it can handle it all. For those handwriting notes, the iPadOS can translate your words into basic text instantly, plus the ability to connect to a keyboard lets users type thoughts on the go. Its stylus, the Apple Pencil, is extremely responsive and feels excellent while gliding around the iPad's screen. Note, however, that it's sold separately.

If you want to jot down notes without relying on a stylus, the Freewrite Traveler may be your distraction-free device. This clamshell keyboard opens to a small, 4.75 inch E ink screen where you can draft your thoughts and perhaps edit later on a PC or laptop. The Traveler is designed to limit distractions, so Wi-Fi is only enabled for users to move files.

The device is better on the eyes, as it uses E Ink, but for some users the lag between typing and what appears on the screen is too long. Otherwise, some customers are impressed by this niche device and praise its four-week battery life and minimalist design.

The most powerful tablet in Wacom’s arsenal is the MobileStudio Pro 16. This tablet can be used for professionals who need incredible processing power to edit photos, touch-up illustrations, and even process videos. But of course, at such a high price point, this may be overkill for those who simply need a writing device.

Critical reviews of the tablet note that the MobileStudio Pro 16’s Pro Pen 2 is very responsive and won’t cause any lag. It sports an Ultra HD 4K display, and at 16 inches, it’s large enough to work on major projects without straining the eyes.

An upgradable memory and hard drive offer an expandable creative workspace, but don’t expect it to last long on a single charge if you’re working on something intensive.

Windows fan? When combined with the Surface Pen stylus, the Surface Pro 7+ is an impressive note-taking machine—especially for its price. Thanks to the integrated software of OneNote, you can type, draw, or use your finger to handwrite notes. You can also translate that handwriting into typed text, all in-app. You can resize and organize notes, and sync them between Android and Microsoft devices. A powerful Intel Core processor will maintain peak performance while you’re jotting thoughts, plus a microphone allows you to record audio. The Surface Pro 7+ can also adapt to a laptop or drawing pad as needed with a simple flip of its keyboard shell. Customers rave about this tablet’s ease of use, plus its stability while taking video calls.

Kevin Cortez is an editor for Runner's World, Bicycling, and Popular Mechanics covering reviews. A culture and product journalist for over ten years, he’s an expert in men’s style, technology, gaming, coffee, e-bikes, hiking, gear, and all things outdoors. He most recently worked as the Style Editor for Reviewed, a top product recommendation site owned by USA TODAY. He also helped with the launch of WSJ's Buy Side commerce vertical, and has covered the music and podcast industries for Mass Appeal, Genius, Vulture, Leafly, Input, and The A.V. Club. Equally passionate about leisure as he is his penmanship, Kevin dedicates his spare time to graphic novels, birding, making cold brew, and taking long, meandering walks.

Zoë Hannah is a Deputy Editor, Reviews, at Popular Mechanics , Runner's World , and Bicycling . She has ten years of experience as a journalist covering travel, video games, mental health, and product reviews. When she isn't editing or writing, you can find her hiking wooded trails, reading a fantasy book, or stretching out on her yoga mat. You can find her work right here, on her website , and on outlets like WIRED , Tom's Guide , Insider , Entrepreneur , and more.

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Introducing type folio, experience focused typing on remarkable 2. the convenience of a slim, tactile keyboard. the protection of a stylish cover., combine typing and handwriting.

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The 5 Best Tablets for Note-Taking

Jot down notes with ease

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Home and office based professionals as well as workers on-the-go need devices that can handle almost all of their needs, and note-taking tablets are becoming more and more popular options. These devices are designed to replace traditional notebooks and sticky pads, allowing you to digitize your handwritten notes and organize them for safekeeping and easier searching.

Note-taking tablets also let you save notes across multiple apps and even multiple devices, keeping important info safe from being accidentally thrown away, lost, or even stolen. Many tablets also feature biometric login options via facial recognition software or fingerprint readers as well as drive encryption for added security.

Some tablets, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ come packaged with compatible styluses so you can get to work right away, while others like the Apple iPad Pro require additional purchases for peripherals; the benefit of buying your own stylus is being able to find a model that suits your work style and needs (i.e. multiple button inputs, pressure and tilt sensitivity, and wireless charging), but it's also an added expense that must be considered.

Many tablets offer configurable RAM and internal storage so you can choose a combination that will not only work for your current projects but also be able to handle increased workloads in the future. Some models even support microSD cards for expandable memory storage so you can quickly add more space when you need it.

If you travel a lot for work or your office is wherever you happen to be that day, you'll want to choose a tablet that can connect to the internet via both Wi-Fi and LTE cellular data networks; the latest models may also support 5G LTE, giving you even faster web browsing speeds without a Wi-Fi connection. We've rounded up our top picks for note-taking tablets from brands like Microsoft, Samsung, and Wacom and broken down their features to help you decide which is right for you.

Best Overall: Microsoft Surface Go 2

The Microsoft Surface Go 2 is a versatile 2-in-1 tablet that will fit almost any home or office-based professional's needs. It weighs just 1.2 pounds and measures 6.9 x 9.6 inches, making it perfect for slipping into a backpack or tote for your commute or carry-on bag for business travel. With a battery life of up to 10 hours, you'll be able to work all day; and with USB-C charging, you'll get back up to full battery faster than previous models. The touchscreen allows for using your hands or a Surface Pen stylus for inputs, making it easy to jot down notes in meetings or while editing documents and photos. You can also use this model in tablet, laptop, or studio mode to suit your workstyle.

This tablet is powered by a Pentium Gold processor for plenty of juice to get through typical office tasks. And you can configure the tablet with either 4 or 8GB of RAM and a solid-state storage drive with either 64 or 128GB of space. If you need more storage, the microSD card reader lets you expand the internal memory for more flexibility as your needs change. You can stay connected with work email and collaborative projects with Wi-Fi connectivity and optional LTE data connectivity. To keep your tablet safe from unauthorized access, the front-facing camera uses facial recognition software for password-free logins; this is also helpful for keeping little ones from accidentally deleting important files and documents from your work device.

Best Budget: Amazon Fire HD 10

If you're looking for a note-taking tablet, but have to stick to a budget, the Amazon Fire HD 10 is an excellent option. This tablet may be entry-level, but it still has tons of great features for home and office-based professionals. The 10.1-inch display is great for reading and editing documents, browsing the web, and taking notes during meetings; it also has 1080p HD resolution, so your video calls and virtual meetings will be crisp and clear. The picture-in-picture function is perfect for when you have to take a video call, but still want to work on a project or refer back to specific documents without having to exit out of a program. This tablet also has Alexa built-in for hands-free voice controls, making it a perfect addition to offices that use the Alexa virtual assistant already.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity let you stay connected to work and your peripherals, and the available case keeps your new tablet safe from damage from occasional bumps and drops. The integrated battery gives you up to 12 hours of use on a full charge, and you can reach 100 percent power in as little as 4 hours via USB-C quick-charging. And while the internal memory is on the smaller side, you can expand it with microSD cards when you need a little extra space.

Related: The Best Business Tablets

Best for Creative Professionals: Wacom Cintiq Pro 24-Inch

Wacom Cintiq tablets have been a go-to for creative professionals for over 35 years, and the Cintiq Pro 24-inch tablet is no exception. This model features 4K resolution and can produce over 1 billion colors, giving you a wide range of options to work with and stunning clarity for details. The included pen has over 8,100 pressure levels and can recognize up to 60-degrees of tilt, letting you write, draw, zoom, and pan and more.

The pen and tablet have a 14ms response time, meaning that input lag is virtually nonexistent. This model also includes a remote with 17 programmable buttons that let you create custom inputs for your favorite programs; the on-screen keypad and radial menu also put dozens more one-touch inputs at your control.

The 24-inch screen is made with etched glass to reduce glare, saving you from eye strain; it also features legs that give you 20 degrees of tilt for more comfortable working positions. It's compatible with both Windows and MacOS based computers, and you can connect the screen to your computer via USB-C, HDMI, or DisplayPort cables. You won't have to worry about dead batteries in the middle of an important project either: the tablet's battery gives you a full day of use on a single charge, and the pen's battery lasts up to 5 months on a full charge.

Best Memory Storage: Microsoft Surface Pro X

Internal memory storage is an important factor to consider when buying a note-taking tablet, and the Microsoft Surface Pro X has plenty of storage space to spare. You can configure your model with either 8 or 16 GB of RAM and it supports SSDs up to 512GB; you can either choose your storage or swap out the SSD later when you need more space, letting the Surface Pro X be more flexible for your needs.

Its 2-in-1 form factor lets you use it as both a tablet and laptop when you need to. You can connect the Surface Keyboard and Slim Pen for traditional typing or hand-writing notes. The 13-inch screen gives you an edge-to-edge work surface, meaning you'll have plenty of room to edit documents and photos, take video calls, or update web pages.

You'll stay connected to work via Wi-Fi and Gigabit LTE cellular data, letting you work with or without an internet connection. The Surface Pro X works with Windows Hello facial recognition software as well as BitLocker for biometric logins and data encryption to keep your personal and work information safe. The integrated battery gives you up to 15 hours of use on a full charge, letting you work almost two typical days in the office before you need to plug in.

Related: The Best Business Laptops

Best Expandable Memory: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+

When internal memory isn't enough, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7+ lets you add more. While it can be configured with an SSD up to 512GB, it supports up to 1TB of extra storage via microSD cards, giving you tons more space for documents, photos, and apps for work.

You can also pair it with your Samsung smartphone to instantly transfer files, giving you a dual-monitor experience without a bulky desktop and screens. It comes packaged with an S Pen, which is a welcome step-up from other tablets on the market; you won't have to spend extra to get a decent stylus.

The 12.4-inch screen uses sAMOLED technology to give you crisp, clean 4K resolution so you can easily read text, edit photos, and have clearer video calls and virtual meetings. It also supports up to 8K resolution playback, though unless you're a creative professional, you won't be able to take advantage of that much.

Bluetooth connectivity lets you use wireless keyboards and mice to turn your tablet into a powerful laptop. The battery gives you up to 14 hours of use on a full charge, and with a 45W fast charger, you'll get to full power in as little as two hours; this is perfect for when you need to top up your battery while on lunch or before you start work.

Final Verdict

The Microsoft Surface Go 2 ( view at Amazon ) is a versatile, 2-in-1 tablet that is perfect for home or office based professionals as well as anyone who travels often for work. It connects to the internet via Wi-Fi or LTE cellular data networks so you can stay on top of tasks no matter where you are, and the 10 hour battery life lets you work all day. If you're in the market for a budget-friendly model, the Amazon Fire HD 10 is a great choice ( view at Amazon ). Not only can you tackle almost any project with the powerful Fire operating system and processor, the 12 hour battery gives you all-day performance with fast USB-C charging.

What to Look For When Buying a Note-Taking Tablet

Screen size.

Different sized screens on tablets are suited to different things. If you're a creative professional, you'll want to choose a tablet with a larger screen, around 12 inches or so, to be able to draw, edit photos, or screen videos. If you're a traditional professional, a smaller screen (around 10 inches) will be just fine for reading email and documents, hand writing notes, and browsing the web.

Internal Memory

Internal memory refers to how much storage capacity a tablet has. Many have integrated hard drives, meaning that the storage capacity is a set amount; Apple's iPad is a good example of this, but they have high-capacity options for those who need it. Others, like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 and Microsoft Surface Pro 7 allow you to expand the internal memory with microSD cards, letting the tablet be more flexible for your changing needs.

Connectivity

Connectivity not only refers to how you can connect peripherals like headsets and keyboards, but how a tablet can connect to the internet. If you travel a lot for work, you'll want to choose a tablet that can access LTE cellular data networks as well as Wi-Fi. If you have a lot of wireless peripherals, look for a tablet that has Bluetooth capabilities; this is also great for wirelessly transferring data from the tablet to your laptop or desktop.

Is digital note-taking worth it?

One of the advantages digital note-taking has over traditional pen-and-paper methods is that you can save your notes to multiple devices and even multiple programs. This means that if you take notes on your iPad, you can send the document to iCloud or via email for more permanent storage. Digital notes are also easier to search, making studying or projects easier. It also helps save paper by eliminating the need for multiple notebooks or sticky pads.

Are note-taking tablets only for students?

Not at all! Home and office based professionals can benefit from using a note-taking tablet when in meetings or jotting down ideas for projects and questions for your boss or colleagues. Note-taking tablets allow you to jot down ideas and questions quickly and, most importantly, quietly, meaning you can organize your thoughts without distracting others with noisy keyboards. They also help keep everything in one place so you don't lose important information when a traditional paper notebook or sticky note accidentally ends up in the trash or goes missing.

How do I choose a tablet?

The best place to start is by identifying what you'll be using the tablet for. Then you'll want to look at screen size (bigger screens are better for writing notes or creative professionals), internal memory storage, and connectivity. Some tablets allow for both Wi-Fi and LTE connections so you can choose between internet and cellular data networks to access web-based files and programs; this is a good option for mobile professionals and business travel.

Meet the Expert

Taylor Clemons is a tech writer who has written for IndieHangover, GameSkinny, TechRadar, The Inventory, and The Balance: Small Business. Taylor specializes in PC components, operating systems, and gaming console hardware.

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Amazon. " Fire HD 10 Tablet ."

Wacom. " Cintiq Pro 24 ."

Microsoft. " Surface Pro X ."

Samsung. " Galaxy Tab 7+ ."

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Best E-Ink Tablet 2024: The top paper-like devices

E-Ink tablets offer some incredible functionality that just can’t be achieved on traditional tablets, and we’ve rounded up our top picks.

While the latest iPads and Samsung Galaxy tablets have paved the way for creating a laptop-like experience from these portable slabs, there’s a growing appreciation for tablets that do away with high-end OLED panels in favour of less power-hungry, yet more comforting on the eye, E-Ink displays.

Made popular by e-readers like the Amazon Kindle range, E-Ink screens are able to project images with the same clarity as if reading ink on paper, which makes them great for less intensive tasks. With the surge in E-Ink tablets however, these devices are brilliantly suited for taking notes with bundled styluses, and annotating documents.

If you’re still on the fence over what type of tablet you fancy investing in then you can check out our best tablet and best budget tablet round-ups. Otherwise, just keep reading on to see which E-Ink tablets came out on top.

Best E-Ink Tablets at a glance:

Best overall: Remarkable 2 – check price
Most feature-packed: Onyx Boox Tab Ultra – check price
Best for reading: Kindle Scribe – check price

How we test

Every tablet in this list has been properly tested and used for an extended period of time by one of our product experts. We categorically do not recommend a product unless it has been put through our lab tests and used by the reviewer as their main tablet for at least five days. When a device is sent in for review with optional extras, such as a stylus and keyboard cover, we’ll assess its performance both as a standalone product as well as with any accompanying peripherals.

Distraction free writing experience
Simple but elegant UI
Large screen that’s easy to read in good conditions
Limited feature set compared to the competition
Very expensive when accessories are in the mix
No backlight to speak of

Full access to the Google Play Store
Fast performance in spite of its e-ink technology
Writing is smooth and fluid
The keyboard accessory makes sense here
The UI lacks the simplicity of the Remarkable 2
Accompanying app needs some work

Great to write on
Pen included
Sharp display
The software is lacking
No handwriting recognition
Sharing notes is tricky and limited

Remarkable 2

Best overall.

While newer E-Ink tablets have hit the scene in an attempt to steal the crown, none of them have come close to mirroring the same effortless usability of the Remarkable 2.

Released back in 2020, the Remarkable 2’s popularity has largely spread through word of mouth but when we put it to the test, we found that the device has more than enough to back up the hype.

What the Remarkable 2 does better than any other competing device is the recreation of feeling as if you’re writing on a genuine piece of paper. This might sound a tad dull to some but given that this is the core concept around which E-Ink tablets are built, it’s quite an important feature. At present, the only device that even comes close in this department is the Amazon Kindle Scribe.

What cements the Remarkable’s usability however is its clean and uncluttered UI. The Remarakble knows exactly what it is and more importantly, what’s it’s not. This means that you won’t find a version of Android running on here or the ability to download apps – instead you get to remove yourself from the noise of notifications and incoming emails and just write down what you need to. For formulating ideas, it’s a Godsend.

It’s a very simple menu system but there’s quite a lot of helpful tools when you’re actually jotting something down. For instance, you can choose the template of a given page to suit your needs. If you require a storyboard for content creation, you’ve got it. If you’re a musician and you need to write down some sheet music, that option is here too.

There’s also eight different pen styles to help you express yourself, and a layering system to ensure that crucial parts of a document aren’t accidentally removed. If you want to do some typing on the Remarkable 2, there’s a separate Type Folio case available that’s perfect for offline, distraction-free typing.

Reviewer: Thomas Deehan Full review: Remarkable 2 Review

Onyx Boox Tab Ultra

Most feature-packed.

While the Remarkable 2 might be lacking a fair amount of smart features, the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra suffers from no such problem. By all standards, this is a fully-fledged Android tablet that just happens to feature an E-Ink display.

Running full Android 11, the Tab Ultra has complete access to the Google Play Store and all the apps within it, so in addition to the stock Onyx apps for note-taking and drawing, you also have the ability to read books in the Kindle app, listen to audiobooks via Audible and, if you just want to see what videos looks like on an E-Ink display, dive into a spot of YouTube.

The Tab Ultra is so feature packed that no other E-Ink tablet on this list really comes close, and with the included stylus and optional keyboard case that’s available, the Ultra can be used as a genuine productivity machine that’s easier on the eyes than a laptop.

The accompanying app isn’t quite as intuitive as Remarkable’s, but what’s really impressive is just how fast the screen is able to refresh itself. Handwritten notes appear with unbelievable speed that we previously didn’t think was possible with E-Ink technology, so the Tab Ultra deserves recognition for really pushing the bar on what’s possible here.

For all that power however, the Tab Ultra does come with a hefty price tag that isn’t too far off the price of an iPad Air , so it’s really up to the user to decide if they value an E-Ink screen above all else when deciding which tablet to buy.

Reviewer: Thomas Deehan Full review: Onyx Boox Tab Ultra Review

Amazon Kindle Scribe

Best for reading.

Amazon’s first attempt at an E-Ink tablet might not be as seamless as the Remarkable 2 or as powerful as the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra, but it does have several things going for it, namely its integration with the Amazon Kindle library.

There’s no denying that Amazon’s collection of Kindle books leads the way in terms of e-book retailers, so the Kindle Scribe benefits from having one of the best reading experiences out there on an E-Ink tablet.

What separates the Scribe from other Kindles however is the included stylus which allows you to scribble down whatever your heart desires in the notebook section of the device. The included stylus feels great and Amazon’s absolutely nailed the sensation of pen to paper writing, but there are some limitations at play.

For starters, you can’t write directly on a page in a Kindle book – instead you have to jot down your thoughts in a little sticky note which is then signposted thereafter with a small icon on the page. It feels like such a missed opportunity, particularly as it’s exactly the kind of feature that people would want from this type of device, and one can only hope that Amazon rectifies the issue in a successor or a software update.

Reviewer: Max Parker Full review: Amazon Kindle Scribe Review

We also considered…

The Boox Note Air 2 Plus is an e-reader and tablet rolled into one

We’ve reviewed

Not only are E-Ink screens easier on the eyes than blue-light displays, but they also consume less power when in use.

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Comparison specs.

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The 7 Best Tablets For Note-Taking

We only recommend products we love and that we think you will, too. We may receive a portion of sales from products purchased from this article, which was written by our Commerce team.

While there's plenty to love about writing on paper, keeping track of all your notes isn't exactly simple. Instead of worrying about tearing, staining, or losing your notebook, the best tablets for note-taking help you keep everything handy and organized. There are tons of tablets on the market, but the best options for note-taking in particular will have the right operating system for you, ample storage, a long battery life, and is easy to pair with a stylus.

First, consider if you want a tablet with a particular operating system. Those loyal to Apple products may want to invest in the best iPad for note-taking. But, if you're an Android user or someone who is less particular about their OS, there are plenty of other tablets out there that can do the job well.

Also, consider storage and battery life. Those will be two crucial elements if you're taking your tablet on the go to take notes in classes or meetings at work. All of the tablets below boast at least 8 hours of battery life, but you may want more if you're out and about all day. Most tablets on this list also come in a few different models with different gigabytes of memory. For the most versatility, look for a tablet with at least 100 gigabytes of memory — anything less, and you'll likely have to transfer and delete notes more frequently.

Lastly, look out for models that come with their own stylus . This may cost a bit more, but they'll have everything you need for typing or hand-writing notes. (All of the tablets here are stylus-compatible, but not all of them come with their own.)

If you aren't sure exactly what you need, I've got you covered. Here are some of the best tablets for note-taking that make it easier than ever to get and stay organized.

1. The Best For Apple Users

2021 Apple iPad Pro (11-inch, Wi-Fi, 256GB)

Why it’s great: There's a lot to love about the 2021 11-inch Apple iPad Pro , including how easy it is to track your thoughts. You can choose to type them with the pop-up keyboard right on screen, or use a Bluetooth keyboard to transform your iPad into a mini laptop. If you'd rather write out your notes, it's easier than ever to pair a stylus (ideally the Apple Pencil, sold separately ) with your iPad so you can doodle, make lists, and more. Plus, with iCloud storage, it's super simple to save and organize your files, and you can access them from any Apple device — like the laptop you don't want to drag to class with you, or your iPhone on the go.

Battery life : This does tend to have a shorter battery life than some of the other tablets on this list, and reviewers report it'll last you about 6 hours on one charge.

Storage : This option comes with 256 gigabytes of storage, but you can also opt for 128GB, 512GB, 1T, or 2T

According to one reviewer: “ I bought this iPad to save me some space for notes and to, virtually, have a mobile, all-knowing notebook. And it did just that. I can do almost anything I want to on it, including writing notes in the way I want to. I don’t need to use it for anything else, so if you’re simply looking for a huge, virtual, mobile notebook, this is definitely for you.”

2. The Best For Android Users, According To Redditors

Galaxy Tab S7 FE 2021 (12.4-inch, Wi-Fi, 256GB)

Why it’s great: If you're an Android user, you can't beat this Samsung Galaxy tablet . (In fact, according to Reddit users , it’s the best tablet for taking notes because it comes with an S-pen to complete “the whole package” and it’s “future-proof” thanks to its expanded storage space.) It features a super-fast processing speed so it can keep up with your thoughts, and the battery life is surprisingly powerful despite the large, vivid screen.

Battery life : The product doesn’t provide a specific number of hours, but according to reviewers, the 10,090mAh battery lasts “all day.”

Storage : The option above has a whopping 256 gigabytes of storage, but you can also downgrade to the 64-gigabyte option for a bit of savings.

According to one reviewer: "I'm a freelance writer and was getting overwhelmed with all my notebooks at my desk, so this tablet is helping me organize and be more paper-free. I like physically writing my notes, which can be done digitally on this tablet. I love it! It's fun. I can sync all my Samsung and Google accounts and apps, making it seamless to transition from my laptop to this tablet.”

3. A Compact Option With A Long Battery Life

SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab A (8-Inch, Wi-Fi, 64GB)

Why it’s great: This smaller tablet from Samsung is less than half the price of its larger version, in part because it has a smaller screen and a lot less storage. This means you may need to back up your device more often. That said, if you're using this tablet in conjunction with a computer for work or school, it can be a great option that won't set you back. And like other tablets, you can choose to take notes with a stylus (not included) or your fingertip, or you can type directly on the screen.

Battery life : This boasts one of the longer run times of any tablet on this list, and can operate for 13 hours before you need to charge it.

Storage : Whereas some of the pricier picks above have hundreds of gigabytes of storage, this smaller tablet has 64 gigabytes.

According to one reviewer: "It wasn't expected to be the quality of a more expensive model but it is not a disappointment either. The screen colors aren't as deep and pleasing as Samsung's more expensive machines and this processor is what is call a medium speed. But the product works very well without any problems so far and is definitely worth the price.”

4. The Best Budget Tablet

Lenovo Tab M8 Tablet (8-Inch, Wi-Fi, 16 Gigabytes)

Why it’s great: This Lenovo tablet is a great wallet-friendly tablet that's perfect for jotting down your thoughts. It features an 8-inch high-definition screen with a super sharp image, as well as a sensitive touch screen that's great for quickly typing out your notes or pairing with a stylus (not included). For just over $100, this tablet is a total steal.

Battery life : While Lenovo claims this small tablet only has 8.5 hours of battery life, many reviewers say it lasted a lot longer (up to 16 hours, depending on your settings).

Storage : This does have the least amount of storage of any true tablet on this list, and will only hold 16 gigabytes of memory.

According to one reviewer: “ This tablet is wonderful! Price can't be beaten for the quality you get with this tablet. I'm so thrilled with my order. The picture is really crisp and clear, there is a good weight to it that confirms it was made well. The battery life is fantastic. So glad I took a chance on it!”

5. The Most Durable Tablet

SAMSUNG Galaxy Tab Active2 (8-inch, Wi-Fi, 16GB)

Why it’s great: Maybe you take notes out in the field, maybe you travel a lot for work, or maybe you’re just a bit rough on your devices. Either way, the Samsung Galaxy Tab Active2 can stand up to it all. This ruggedized tablet offers military-grade durability to survive drops, dirt, sand, water, drastic temperatures, and humidity, plus the touch-screen is water-resistant and the included Samsung S-Pen writes in any conditions. Finally, it has a few brilliant survival features that others don’t, including a built-in GPS, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, and a geomagnetic sensor.

Battery life : This tablet lasts up to 11 hours on one charge.

Storage : Unfortunately, the 16GB storage isn’t too robust, but you can also opt for a 32GB version.

According to one reviewer: “ Picked up this tablet to use during my shifts as security because I got tired of carrying a clipboard. Very happy with the investment. I do all my paperwork and note-taking from it. All around happy.”

6. The All-In-One Option

MEBERRY Android 10.0 Tablet (10-inch, Wi-Fi, 64GB)

Why it’s great: If you want the portability of a tablet alongside the benefits of a laptop, the MEBERRY M7 tablet is an incredible value. The 10-inch screen is easy to take with you on the go, but each order also comes with a wireless mouse, a Bluetooth keyboard, a capacitive pen, a screen protector film, and a case that doubles as a stand. Despite its low price, it runs on Android and has a powerful Octa-core processor that’s capable of multitasking. There’s even a study mode that allows you to easily disconnect the mouse and keyboard for seamless writing.

Battery life : According to the brand, this tablet lasts up to eight hours on one charge.

Storage : You’ll get 64GB of storage right off the bat, but it’s expandable up to 256GB.

According to one reviewer: “ It came with the charger, mouse, case, stylus, USB converter, and keyboard. I have not used the charger yet, but it came fully charged. I got this to use for notes for school, and it should work perfectly for that purpose. I'm really happy with this purchase.”

7. The Best Digital Notepad

Why it’s great: If you're looking for a device that's a hybrid of analog and digital, the Boogie Board Blackboard reusable notebook is an excellent choice. The semi-transparent liquid-crystal “paper” is 8.5 by 11 inches and has four templates (lines, planner, dot-grid, and blank) that you can easily swap out depending on your needs. It also comes with a magnetic stylus that has a precise eraser on it — or you can press the Instant-Erase button to start over. Finally, using the Blackboard app for iOS and Android, you can instantly scan your notes so you can store and organize them digitally.

Battery life : The battery life isn’t disclosed, but due to this board’s simplicity, the lithium metal battery will last much longer than a tablet.

Storage : This doesn’t have any on-device storage, but you can scan and upload your notes with the free mobile app.

According to one reviewer: "This little blackboard is the bomb. I didn't even know I needed it until a co-worker shared hers. If you are constantly writing little notes to yourself at work that you don't need to keep long term, this is the solution. No more paper scraps. Need to do quick computations and don't have a calculator handy, here it is. This is not a high-tech toy it's a simple but handy tool. You have to keep an eye on them though, everyone likes to ‘borrow’ it.”

This article was originally published on Oct. 24, 2020

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Best E-ink Tablets of 2024

For some purposes, e-ink tablets are a whole lot better than traditional tablets. In particular, E-ink tablets look more natural and can make it seem like you’re reading from a regular piece of paper. There are many e-ink tablets available, some built specifically for reading e-books, and others meant for activities like note-taking.

An e-ink tablet should have a great-looking screen, solid performance, and the ability to easily load all of the file formats you need. In creating this list of the best e-ink tablets, we consulted a variety of experts and conducted extensive research. You're sure to find one here that's best for you.

Table of Contents

Best E-ink Tablets
Things To Consider When Buying
How We Chose

reMarkable 2 »

Natural feel

Stunning design

Simple interface

Some features require subscription

The best e-ink tablet you can buy right now is the reMarkable 2. The reMarkable 2 boasts a sleek and stylish design, with a thin build that will allow it to easily slot into any backpack or bag. It has a small bezel on the left side that makes it easier to hold the device without accidental touches. Even better is the stunning display with a high refresh rate, allowing it to feel like you’re writing on paper when you use the included stylus. That stylus can be used on PDF and e-book formats, so you can use the device for book annotations, which is handy for students, for example. The device is an excellent choice in particular for note-taking and e-book reading, as long as those e-books are digital rights management (DRM)-free.

ReMarkable offers a subscription called Connect, which features cloud storage that ensures you can access your notes anywhere you have an internet connection, including on a mobile or desktop device. Connect also includes a Protection Plan, which covers defective device replacements for up to three years. It is a little unfortunate that you have to subscribe to access these features, especially considering that the device is a little pricey to begin with. But you don’t have to subscribe to the plan, and you’ll still be getting the best e-ink tablet available right now.

Amazon Kindle (2022) »

Great-looking display

Easy to access Kindle e-books

Great battery life

Not waterproof

Base model has screen ads

If you're on a tight budget, we recommend the Amazon Kindle, especially if you primarily want an e-ink tablet for e-books. The 2022 model of the Kindle is the latest in a long run of e-ink tablets from Amazon, and it offers an excellent-looking display that will make reading e-books a breeze.

As you would expect, the Kindle can read e-books from the Kindle store. There are ways to get other e-book files onto the Kindle, as long as the file is DRM-free. The best part is that it costs less than $100, and having used it personally, our contributor Christian de Looper can attest to the fact that it feels more premium than a $100 device, even if it’s not necessarily made from the highest-end materials.

Note that the low price depends on buying the ad-supported version. With this model, the device will show ads on the lockscreen in lock mode. The good news is that the ad-free model costs just $119.99, which is still a great deal.

Onyx Boox Tab X »

Stunning large screen

Great stylus

Android built in

Very expensive

A little large for some

If you're willing to spend more cash on a much more capable e-ink tablet, buy the Onyx Boox Tab X. The Tab X is much larger than many others, and for some, it may be a little unwieldy. However, if you want an e-ink tablet for tasks other than reading and note-taking, you may prefer the extra screen real estate. Plus, it uses the Android operating system, which means you can install Android apps through the Google Play Store.

The main downside to the device is the price; you’ll have to shell out $879.99 to get the Boox Tab X. But if you want a premium experience and additional productivity features, you may be willing to pay for the privilege.

Amazon Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition »

Stunning display

Huge battery

Sleek design

Best for Amazon books only

A little too large for some

The best Kindle e-ink tablet for reading materials you get from the Kindle store is the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition. It’s not as tech-heavy as the Kindle Scribe, but that model is more geared towards things like note-taking. The Paperwhite works excellently within Amazon’s ecosystem, and it has a stunning display with an auto-adjusting backlight. The device looks sleek and stylish too, and it’s thin enough to be very portable. This is the Kindle that our contributor uses the most, considering the fact that it has such a nice display, and supports the Kindle e-books that he has already invested in.

Like other Kindle devices, the Paperwhite Signature Edition is easiest to use with the Kindle store, but there are ways to load DRM-free content from third parties. The Paperwhite Signature Edition is a bit on the large side, but you'll probably appreciate the larger screen, and it's still easy to hold.

Boox Tab Ultra C Pro »

Color display

Huge, great-looking screen

Runs Android for productivity

Screen backlight could be brighter

E-ink tablets typically don’t support color, but the best of those that do is the Boox Ultra C Pro. This tablet supports a range of colors to help make content pop. The display really does look stunning, and while the backlight could be a little brighter, you'll appreciate the natural look and feel. Additionally, the device runs Android, which makes it a better productivity tool because you can install Android apps.

As you might expect from a higher-tech device like this, the Tab Ultra C Pro is a little more expensive than some of the competition. However, the device supports accessories like an external keyboard. This tablet's productivity chops combined with the color screen make it easy to recommend.

Amazon Kindle Scribe »

Two styluses available

Great display

Dedicated note-taking software

Amazon has started building e-ink tablets with a heavier focus on note-taking, and the Kindle Scribe is a perfect example of this. The Scribe comes with one of two styluses, allowing users to quickly and easily take notes on both e-books and in a dedicated note-taking section of the software. The display looks excellent, and the device supports a range of file formats. Having used the Kindle Scribe extensively, the Scribe feels very natural when drawing and writing, and it’s slim enough to easily fit in a backpack.

So which stylus should you get? The two options are the Basic Pen and Premium Pen, with the Premium Pen offering a dedicated eraser on the back, and a built-in shortcut button. If you plan on using the stylus for regular note-taking, it may be worth upgrading to the Premium Pen.

The Bottom Line

While there are plenty of high-quality e-ink tablets, the best right now is the reMarkable 2, thanks to its stunning display, sleek design, and easy-to-use software. That said, different e-ink tablets serve different purposes. Some, like the Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, are better for accessing the Kindle library of e-books, while others, like the Boox Tab Ultra C Pro, are better for viewing color content. All e-ink tablets are a little easier on the eyes than traditional tablets, and no matter which device you get, you’ll find it makes reading over long periods much easier.

Things To Consider When Buying E-Ink Tablets

Display Quality and Resolution: Perhaps the most important aspect of an e-ink tablet is its display. After all, the display is the main differentiating factor between an e-ink tablet and a traditional tablet. The main metrics that dictate e-ink tablet display quality are the display size and resolution. The vast majority of e-ink tablets have a display pixel density of around 300 pixels per inch, so resolution is more or less uniform across devices.

In other words, you should mainly consider display size rather than resolution. E-ink tablets range from around 6 to 14 inches. If you just want a device for reading e-books, then perhaps a smaller, more portable tablet is the way to go. However, if you want a device for productivity, more screen real estate may come in handy.

Battery Life: One of the benefits of an e-ink tablet over a traditional tablet is the much longer battery life. E-ink displays are much easier on a battery than LED displays, and as such, e-ink tablets come sometimes last months on a single charge. Battery life can vary from a few weeks to a few months, with a few hours of daily use.

Supported File Formats: If you only really plan on buying e-books from the Kindle store, you won’t need to worry much about file formats; simply set up your Kindle with your Amazon account, and you can access all of your e-books. If, however, you buy a device that’s not a Kindle and plan on transferring files to it to read, you’ll need to consider the kinds of files that can be opened on the device. The majority of e-ink tablets can open the most common file formats like PDF and EPUB, but if your needs are a little more niche, double-check with the manufacturer before purchasing.

Stylus Pen Compatibility: E-ink tablets can be useful for more than just reading; they serve as great writing tools, too. Many e-ink tablets work with a variety of styluses, and if you want a device to take notes on, we suggest getting a stylus with your device. Some e-ink tablets come with styluses out of the box, but many of them work with styluses that are sold separately. Factor the price of a stylus into your budget if your chosen device doesn’t come with one. Note that some styluses are simply writing tools, while others have programmable buttons for shortcuts and erasers on the back of the device to help you correct mistakes.

Operating System and Software: Most e-ink tablets come with a proprietary operating system that’s built by the manufacturer of the device. For the most part, these operating systems work just fine. They’ll display your content front and center, and offer additional features and functions that some might find handy. Some e-ink tablets come with Android, meaning you can download and install Android apps from the Google Play Store. This seriously improves the productivity of the device, as it means that you can download apps like Google Docs and access information from the web. If you plan on largely using your e-ink tablet for productivity, then buying a device with Android may be worth it.

How We Chose The Best E-Ink Tablets

Our contributor Christian de Looper consulted a range of professionals intimately familiar with mobile devices and e-ink. These included Tim O’Malley of the U.S. Regional Business unit at E-ink, and Ron Mertens, CEO and founder of Metalgrass, which operates the E-Ink Info blog.

He then narrowed down his selections based on the most important features available in an e-ink tablet, especially design, display quality, software and operating system, and available accessories. These all have a major impact on day-to-day use. Christian found that while at first glance, you might assume that e-ink tablets are largely for reading e-books, they can also serve as excellent note-taking and productivity devices, and there should be a device here for all kinds of users.

WHY YOU SHOULD TRUST US

Christian de Looper is a consumer technology expert and has spent the last decade reviewing all kinds of different mobile devices, including e-ink tablets. Christian has personally used many recent e-ink tablets, including all of the most recent Kindles, and has a deep understanding of what makes a great e-ink device.

E-ink tablets are much easier on the eyes than traditional tablets, making tasks like reading books for long periods more comfortable. They have other advantages, too. For example, they use much less power than traditional tablets, and as such, their battery can last for weeks or months rather than hours or days, like tablets with LED displays.

E-ink displays don’t actually emit light; they reflect it, just like normal paper and ink. This means you can’t see them in the dark without a built-in backlight (which many e-ink tablets have), but it also means they don’t strain your eyes in the same way that most displays do. If you’ve ever noticed a difference between staring at a screen for hours or reading a book for hours, you’ll know how using an e-ink device might feel. “E-ink tablets can be up to three times healthier for the eyes than LCD screens," O’Malley says. "As we continue to navigate this digital world, e-ink devices offer a healthier alternative while providing a true, paperlike experience."

Look for a battery life that’s rated in terms of weeks or months, rather than hours or days (this includes most new e-ink tablets on the market). If you want a device with a really good battery, look for something that’s rated to last at least eight weeks. Durability really comes down to personal preference, but the extent of durability on an e-ink tablet often pertains to waterproofing or water resistance. It’s a good idea to read reviews of a device that talk about durability.

Kindle devices work with Amazon’s ecosystem of services, making it easy to buy Kindle e-books on a desktop or mobile device and start reading them on your tablet. Other devices that have Android can use a variety of cloud services and apps to sync data. For example, they’ll work with Google apps and services like Gmail, Google Drive, and so on.

This largely depends on the device itself and the operating system. Some e-ink tablets support all kinds of different media and writing experiences, while others prioritize media like e-books. The majority of e-ink tablets support a range of different files. That said, keep in mind that given the nature of e-ink tablets, they can’t display images in the same way as LED displays – so don’t expect to be able to view photos with much detail. “Many e-ink devices are purpose-built. They provide a focus-ready environment, free from distractions of social media and text messages,” O’Malley says.

About Our Team

Christian de looper.

Contributor

Jeff Kinney

Senior Editor

U.S. News 360 Reviews takes an unbiased approach to our recommendations. When you use our links to buy products, we may earn a commission but that in no way affects our editorial independence.

The Best Tablets for Note-Taking in 2023

Make handwritten notes a breeze with the best note-taking tablets that are compatible with a stylus.

Writing on paper is fun, but notebooks don’t have longevity and are prone to staining and tearing. The best tablets for note-taking help you keep everything organized and safe, which is critical for anyone, from students to professionals.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9

Lenovo tab p11 2nd gen, samsung galaxy tab s9 ultra, ipad air 5th gen, ipad mini 6th gen, best note-taking tablet overall: microsoft surface pro 9.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is our favorite tablet for note-taking. It’s a versatile tablet that you can convert into a 2-in-1 device by purchasing the Signature Keyboard . It’s also compatible with the excellent Slim Pen 2 for a complete note-taking setup.

Its vibrant, sharp display is a 13-inch PixelSense touchscreen that is responsive and accurate. This model has a fast Intel Evo i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD storage. These are solid specs for note-takers, but more powerful options are available with more significant price tags, should you prefer.

Another option is the Microsoft SQ3 model, which offers continuous 5G connectivity and extra-long battery life.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is a versatile choice if you want a tablet you can convert into a laptop. It has an immersive and responsive touchscreen and ample power for serious note-takers. With its outstanding battery life and Full HD webcam, professionals and students have everything they need.

Solid kickstand
Slim and lightweight
All-day battery life
Excellent webcam
120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling and writing
The keyboard and stylus are sold separately
Not much of an upgrade on the Surface Pro 8
Limited ports

Best Budget Note-taking Tablet: Lenovo Tab P11 2nd Gen

With subtle upgrades on the previous iteration, the Lenovo Tab P11 2nd Gen offers an improved processor and a better display. It’s also terrific value, but you could consider this tablet plus pen and keyboard bundle as the ultimate bargain.

The 11.5-inch touchscreen has ample room for scribbling notes and delivers accurate color with a high contrast ratio contributing to sharp, bold text. The display also features a 120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling and fluid note-taking.

You can split the screen when working with two different applications, and the battery life is good for a full day. The 4GB of RAM and 128GB SSD storage could be better, but it’s sufficient for essential note-taking apps like OneNote and Squid.

If you want a note-taking tablet on the more affordable side, consider the Lenovo Tab P11 2nd Gen. It updates on the previous generation with a faster processor and a display more befitting of a serious note-taker.

Good battery life
Big and sharp display for note-taking
Good speakers
Bundles available with pen and keyboard
Middling cameras
Not designed for heavy multitasking

Best Note-Taking Tablet With Stylus: Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra fully justifies its premium price with its latest and greatest features that keep the competition at bay. As a bonus, note-takers and artists will be seriously impressed with the included S-Pen stylus that even beats the Apple Pencil for latency.

This model has 12GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD storage capacity with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, and you can double the storage if you need it. The 14.6-inch AMOLED screen is enormous, and you’ll enjoy watching media content and admiring your photos when you’re not scribbling notes.

To top it off, you can enjoy note-taking at the beach or pool without worry, thanks to this tablet’s solid dust and water resistance.

As the hefty price tag might suggest, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra is a bit of a beast. With a huge 14.6-inch touchscreen displaying dazzling visuals and an S-Pen stylus that keeps the competition at bay, it’s a tablet for multitasking note-takers who need a bit of power.

Good productivity software
IP68 rating
Accurate and responsive S-Pen stylus included
Speedy performance
Stunning display
Its size makes it less portable than other options

Best iPad for Taking Notes: iPad Air 5th Gen

While the iPad Air 5th Gen doesn’t offer the most power an iPad can, it does deliver plenty for note-takers and balances value and performance. The 5th Gen is driven by the mighty Apple M1 chip and features 256GB of storage. If you don’t need as much as this, you can save a few more bucks with the 64GB option . If it’s even more power you need for tasks beyond note-taking, you can opt for the even-mightier M2-driven iPad Pro .

The battery provides a full day of power, and the tablet is easily portable due to its slim and lightweight build. You also get options for Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi plus cellular data, which will allow you to work and edit while commuting to and from school or the office.

The iPad Air 5th Gen offers an excellent balance between cost and performance and is driven by the powerful M1 chip. With good battery life, easy portability, and Wi-Fi and cellular data options, it’s an excellent note-taking choice for students and working professionals.

Wi-Fi 6 support
Good camera and 4K video
Liquid Retina display
Choice of five colors
Compatible with Apple Pencil 2nd Gen USB-C
Apple Pencil not included

Most Portable Note-taking Tablet: iPad Mini (6th Generation)

While it’s difficult to fit a tablet into a front jeans pocket, the iPad Mini 6th Gen is more compact than regular tablets and will fit into many inside jacket pockets. It’s also one of the slimmest and lightest tablets you can buy. However, don’t let its size put you off; the iPad Mini still packs a punch with its A15 Bionic chip.

It’s compatible with the Apple Pencil Gen 2 USB-C stylus for some of the best precision a stylus can offer, and there is a massive range of note-taking apps you can download and use from the Apple Store. And, while not as long as larger iPads, the battery life is still an all-day affair with at least six hours of power to get you through the day.

The 6th Generation of the iPad Mini is one of the most compact and lightest tablets you can find. It’s available at a lighter price than regular-sized iPads, too. However, it is still a powerful little machine and is an excellent choice for note-takers seeking a compact option.

256GB and 64GB storage options
8.3-inch Liquid Retina display
Wi-Fi 6 support with Wi-Fi + cellular option
Good 12MP camera with 4K video captures
Apple Pencil sold separately
Battery life doesn't match iPad Air or iPad Pro

Q: What should I look for in a tablet for taking notes?

If your selected note-taking tablet doesn’t come with a stylus, ensure it is compatible with a generic stylus. A stylus gives you a fast and reliable way to record notes and sketch ideas for future reference while on the go. For the best experience, picking a tablet that comes with first-party stylus support is your best bet since these styluses usually have a wealth of features that complement the tablet perfectly.

The operating system, Android or iOS, are both good options for note-taking tablets since you'll find a slew of excellent apps for notes on the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. You'll also likely need a tablet with solid battery life to ensure it doesn't run out of juice while you're writing away.

Q: Do I need an Apple Pencil to take notes on an iPad?

It’s unnecessary to use the Apple Pencil with an iPad. While it will give you the absolute best performance, especially if you are an artist or a serious note-taker, the Apple Pencil is expensive.

The good news is that there are many Apple Pencil alternatives to suit all budgets. These include sophisticated options with pressure and tilt sensitivity or palm rejection to basic capacitive options that work on any touchscreen.

Q: What are some of the best note-taking apps on Android?

There’s a vast range of quality note-taking apps for Android, and some even let you write notes directly on your Android device's home screen . Some excellent options from Google, such as Google Docs and Google Keep, are free. Other standout choices, like Microsoft OneNote, offer free options and subscriptions with additional features. If you’re in school, you might want to consider one of these note-taking apps for students .

Q: What are some of the best note-taking apps on iOS?

Apple Notes offers the best integration with iOS , especially because it’s free and easily syncs across all your Apple devices.

However, it isn’t the only good app for iOS. There are many other options, and the best handwriting apps for note-taking on iOS tend to also have Android and desktop versions, letting you easily sync and store your notes across multiple platforms and devices.

Q: How do I connect my stylus to my tablet?

If it is a Bluetooth stylus, pairing is straightforward. The exact steps may differ from device to device, but if you have an Android tablet, first make sure Bluetooth is on. Then open the Settings app and navigate to “Bluetooth.” Put your stylus in pairing mode, which usually involves holding down a button and waiting for an LED indicator or an audible beep. Return to Bluetooth settings, where you should find the stylus’ name. Tap to pair the stylus with your tablet.

If you have an iPad, follow the same instructions you would for Android. However, if you have a First-Gen Apple Pencil, simply plug it into the iPad with the Lightning cable and follow the prompts. With a 2nd-Gen Apple Pencil, you can pair it automatically by attaching the stylus to the iPad using the built-in magnets. Some third-party Apple Pencil alternatives, like the Logitech Crayon , also pair automatically with many iPads but check for compatibility with your model.

If you have a passive stylus, it won't require any sort of pairing or connection and will work on any touchscreen.

4 Best E-Ink Digital Paper Tablets of 2023

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Introduction

Tablets that use electronic ink (or “e-ink”) displays win big over the sort of screens used in iPads or other multi-use tablets, especially when it comes to reading and writing.

Studies have suggested that, because reading on an e-ink screen is more like reading on paper, heavy use causes significantly lower levels of eye strain, as well as better levels of recall for the information being read!

This is because e-ink displays work differently than traditional screens. Rather than individual glowing pixels that beam light to your eyes, an e-ink screen uses special bubble-like capsules that have different micro-particles within them, of different colors on different sides of the capsule sphere.

By applying an electrical charge, the capsule flips, and the color it displays can be switched. This technology means that an e-ink display reads like ordinary paper by reflecting ambient light, uses zero power when not updating, and can hold an image more or less indefinitely!

Because of these features, e-ink devices generally have incredible battery life and work far better than devices like iPads for extensive reading or note-taking. With the latest designs improving on e-ink technology, with increased durability and greatly reduced cost, it seems likely that this technology will be the way of the future for many types of devices across the market.

What matters

What matters most to me when I’m looking at buying a new piece of tech is how well it functions for daily use. It doesn’t really matter how awesome the hardware is if the design and the implementation don’t follow through. I try to focus on the specifics that matter most to me, offering a user-eye view of the products on the market.

1 – Supernote A5X & A6X

The Supernote products by Ratta have remained at the top of my list for two simple reasons: communication and innovation. Supernote provides extremely robust community interaction through their Reddit community, and their devices are extremely solid both in physical design and in terms of the feature progression of the software.

Ratta has continued to develop new software features for its older, Linux-based Supernote series at the same time as they’ve forged ahead with the more powerful and feature-dense products in the “X” line, such as the Supernote A5X and Supernote A6X (which feature their own Android build). What I want, when I buy a device, is to know that the company stands behind that device, and that’s what Ratta has shown they can do.

Main features

The Supernote offers a plethora of powerful features, but the highlights are the following:

“Paperlike” sensation while writing. There’s a special film on the screen that creates resistance and really gives a pleasant writing experience. It’s not really like writing on paper, but it’s a thousand times better than writing on an iPad screen.
Ceramic pens, which means that the pen nib never runs down.
Physical page refresh bar that clears ghosting with a flick of your thumb.
Full support for Dropbox integration (with manual syncing).
Advanced features like handwritten note searching, bookmarking, and more.
Supports Amazon Kindle (and also has its own in-built eReader software). This is cool because you can read library books through Kindle’s Overdrive and Libby integration.
Supports Microsoft Word documents! What originally sold me on the Supernote. It’s great being able to work on important documents wherever I am, then I can quickly sync when I get home and keep working on my desktop. Even more exciting is that Word Documents can be proofread using pen strokes!
Bluetooth keyboards are supported (just make sure to get a higher-end one that supports low-latency BT 5.0.
Pressure-sensitivity, low-latency writing and drawing, and layers for drawing .
Full PDF support and good annotation features, including functional highlighting (that is colored when transferred out).
Handwriting to type conversion.
4+ days of battery life with moderate to heavy usage.

Honestly, the feature list is superb, and their team is still actively working to improve and expand what this little device can do.

Differences between the Supernote A6X and Supernote A5X

The biggest difference between the two models is size: the A6X is 7.8 inches and the A5X is 10.3. But the technology behind the A5X screen is also better, using a more modern plastic screen design that dramatically increases the durability of the device. This isn’t to say that I fear for the well-being of my A6X — it’s a sturdy build, with a strong plastic frame that feels robust, especially inside its leather folio. This is an important thing to be aware of, however. For both ease of access to larger documents and better device longevity, I recommend grabbing the A5X. If you really want the smaller A6X, you’ll be happy, as long as smaller really is what you want.

There are only a few cons to this device from my perspective. – It’s not cheap, coming in at around $400 for the A6X and $600 for the A5X. That’s a bit pricey. And since the return policy doesn’t allow for open returns there is no way to send it back if you try it and find that you don’t like it. – Some features need improvement, especially the Anti-aliasing (how smooth the drawing looks) and further filtering. It’s fine on the device but printed out the edges look blocky. As of July 2021, the team was aware of this and had major updates planned to fix this in the future. – It would be nice if the device had an unlimited canvas feature. – More Android apps will be supported in the future, but aren’t yet integrated.

2 – Quirklogic Papyr

The Quirklogic Papyr is an absolutely brilliant device by a company that has long had its feet in the e-ink industry, albeit with a professional-scale product that, at 44 inches, isn’t going to be finding a home outside of a business.

The Papyr, however, at a perfect 13 inches, is ideal for anyone who needs a digital canvas on which to work and collaborate. And that’s where Papyr shines; collaboration.

The Papyr utilizes innovative software to bring the collaborative experience to life through the following major features: – Unlimited canvas. Documents in the Papyr can be placed onto an endless canvas that’s perfect for large-scale collaboration. Toss in whatever you want, write, draw, add images and documents, and see it all on one gigantic whiteboard. This space can be a collaborative project as well, viewable by others through the Papyr app. – Cross-platform real-time annotation that functions forwards and backwards . You can add a comment (or drawing, or whatever) in the Papyr and anyone with access to the document will see it instantly. They can also add to the document and their additions will be instantly viewable. This is a multi-platform option, so users with an iPad, for instance, can collaborate with the Papyr user. – Linked to Google Drive. With easy syncing options, it’s possible to maintain your workflow through the Google suite without having to deal with proprietary roadblocks. This is a huge win for modern teams. – Claims that it offers up to four weeks of battery life, actual under heavy usage is a lower, but still impressive.

How does it hold up?

This is absolutely my recommendation if you’re working on collaboration-specific projects, where the need to interface with teams and work on shared documents is paramount. If you don’t need to prioritize that, you should probably go for either the Supernote if you want something better for e-reading as well as writing, or the reMarkable if you basically want a digital paper replacement.

The Quirklogic Papyr also has incredible quality when it comes to exporting drawings and text, something you don’t get from the Supernote (at least not yet).

3 – reMarkable 2

The reMarkable made huge waves for being an e-ink device that gave buyers an experience that really felt like writing on paper.

With the reMarkable 2, major design updates provide a writing experience that is so crisp it’s hard to believe and a slowly evolving feature set that makes this one of the best paper journal replacements on the market.

The main thing to be aware of with the reMarkable 2 is that “paper journal replacement” is the most accurate descriptor. reMarkable wanted to create a note-taking experience that provided the benefits of technology without any of technology’s normal distractions. That means that it does what it was designed to do very, very well, but it doesn’t really do that much else.

The reMarkable 2 is a great device for writing but its reading features lag behind, and so far it only supports PDF files that are manually imported into the device. With no other connectivity features to speak of, it’s aiming to be the top of a very select and specialty market, ruling the roost of its own small kingdom.

The big takeaway?

I wanted to love the reMarkable 2 so much when I first learned about it, but the steep price tag doesn’t come with an equally steep feature list, nor does it come with the sort of interaction from the company that you see from Ratta with Supernote or with QuirkLogic for the Paypr.

There was also a suggestion a while ago, documented by My Deep Guide, that the company might be moving to a subscription model for some features , which is a major downside.

I’d still highly recommend this product for those who want the specific writing experience that reMarkable 2 offers which is, pardon the pun, remarkable. It’s about as close to actually writing on paper as you can get, and the response time and incredibly slick physical design are a treat.

It is, certainly, not a tablet replacement, and it’s hard to say how likely it is to take off since it necessitates carrying around yet another object on top of the normal electronics, but it does represent the current peak in digital paper technology.

4 – BOOX Nova 3 Color

BOOX is known for creating excellent e-readers and e-notebooks, but they’re the first modern company to release a colorized e-ink tablet that allows for writing. It’s incredibly exciting because the color screen is the future of e-ink devices since most devices on the market are grayscale only.

The pros of the BOOX Nova 3 Color are obvious: – Color e-ink screen – Wide range of features and apps. BOOX has consistently tried to offer a traditional tablet replacement, with this color model being their largest step toward that goal.

But the cons are clear as well. The pen is somewhat simplistic and the overall experience of drawing and writing isn’t that special. It’s definitely not a paper-like writing experience, offering little to recommend it over more traditional tablets. Some of the physical design elements are likewise behind the curve of modern e-ink devices. There are also some general issues with the way the new screen functions and how well it works with its underlying hardware.

But should I buy it?

It depends. Do you really want a color screen? If that’s what matters most to you, and you need it now, this is worthwhile. But if it’s that important, looking outside e-ink is still probably your best bet. The BOOX Nova 3 (non-color) is a more solid option that handles the resources of the hardware better than its colorized cousin.

But, that said, what BOOX has done is offer the first step in revolutionizing modern e-ink expectations, and this device isn’t “bad”. I wouldn’t go for it necessarily on the fact that it’s color alone, but it does seem to promise the color screen may become a more normal part of this industry in the near future.

How to Set Up Quick Connect on a Synology NAS

Synology is one of the most popular creators of Network Attached Storage devices on the market today, and for great reason — they’re really good at what they do. They consistently make devices that stand the test of time and feature top-notch software that makes the process of running a home server as easy as

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Our Favorite Digital Notebooks and Smart Pens

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Do You Need a Digital Note Device? The Pros and Cons

Image may contain Book Human Person Text and Sitting

Our Favorite reMarkable 2 Read more

A Close Runner-Up Supernote A5 X Read more

A Pricey Upgrade Boox Tab Ultra Read more

Do you take a lot of notes? Whether you're in school or working in a job that requires lots of jotting down ideas, you may opt for typing notes on a laptop, but physically writing something down helps you remember and learn more. Putting real pen to paper also just feels good. However, having a digital backup is convenient for on-the-go organization and studying.

There are E Ink tablets, smart pens, and notebooks made to save digital files of your handwritten notes or drawings. You can save files as PDFs, images, and Word Docs, or transcribe them to a text file in Google Docs to make all your notes searchable. Some of these devices can record too, which is great for lectures and interviews. If your notes need an upgrade, we recommend giving these a try. Be sure to check out our Best Dorm Essentials guide , as well as our Best Tablets , Best Laptop Backpacks , and Best Totes guides .

Updated September 2023: We've added the ReMarkable 2, Supernote A5 X, and Boox Tab Ultra.

Do You Need a Digital Note Device?

The short answer is no. These devices are expensive, usually costing several hundred dollars when you can simply buy a notebook and pen for a few bucks. But if you like the physical act of writing over typing but need to have digital copies, they're worth considering.

Digital notebooks are thin and light but hold hundreds of notes.
You can transcribe your notes into text files, making them easier to read and manipulate.
Depending on the device, you can export files as PDFs, Google Docs, Evernote files, and more.
Instantly digitizes your art too.
Need to be charged.
Has a learning curve.
Most smart pens need to be paired with an accompanying notebook. At CES 2023 , we saw the Nuwa Pen that promises smart notes on any paper. We'll try it as soon as it's available.

Our Favorite

This is one of the most well-known names in the category and WIRED reviews editor Julian Chokkattu has been using the ReMarkable 2 for more than a year. He says the matte screen feels like paper, writing on it is quick and responsive, and battery life is exemplary. It can last for several weeks on a charge, and you never have to recharge the stylus, which also magnetically sticks to the side of the tablet. There is also a new keyboard attachment if you want to get some typing done (we haven't tried it yet). The tablet is $299, but you'll need to pay for a pen, which is an additional $79, or $129 if you want the one with an eraser on the other end.

There are many ways to organize your work into different notebooks or quick sheets, and you can sort them with tags and folders. You also upload PDFs and ebooks to the slate via the company's app or website, and ReMarkable has a Chrome extension that lets you send any webpage to read on the tablet. You can integrate your notes into Google Drive, Dropbox, or Microsoft OneDrive. However, you may need a Connect subscription ($3 per month) to access syncing and unlimited cloud storage.

When WIRED writer Louryn Strampe reviewed it in 2020 , she noted that other features were lacking and that's still mostly the case. There is no waterproofing, no page-turn buttons, and no backlight. The company has added new capabilities since and the price has come down, but it's still best for the simple task of jotting notes.

A Close Runner-Up

Supernote's A5 X also felt similar to putting actual pen to paper, and it's very responsive. It has a few extra features but isn't packed with unnecessary things you need to navigate through just to take notes. You can export to Google Drive, Dropbox, or the Supernote cloud via its app or web browser . I recommend reading through the user manual because there are functions and gestures you can learn to make the process easier.

The Kindle app is a bit more clunky than on a Kindle device itself, but once you're actually in an ebook, it's a similar experience. The $415 price is for the tablet only, so you'll have to purchase a pen separately. I tried the Heart of Metal Pen 2 ($75) and the cheapest standard pen ($44) . Depending on which you go for, some have ceramic “NeverReplace” nibs, while others have nibs that do need replacing eventually.

A Pricey Upgrade

Boox makes great E Ink tablets for taking notes. They're much more expensive, though, and heavier to carry around. Writing with a stylus on the Tab Ultra was similar to the above two picks—it feels natural. You can create multiple notebooks and save them to Google Docs or Dropbox. I also tested the Note Air 2 Plus , but the Tab Ultra is a bit faster, with more storage and a 16-MP camera for scanning physical documents to your device. I also tried the keyboard case , which I really liked using when I needed to take more notes or my hand started to cramp.

There are a bunch of apps available so you can read ebooks, check your emails, or browse your favorite newspaper. If you want all the capabilities of a tablet but prefer writing on E Ink screens, consider this upgrade.

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Person using Koba Elipsa 3 writing tablet

Best for Books

Kobo makes some of our favorite e-readers and this combines reading with note-taking. The Elipsa is pricey, but it comes with a stylus that allows you to mark up ebooks and compatible PDFs. If you're an English major who has to read multiple books a semester, this might be a great option for you to easily keep track of notes. Plus you can create numerous notebooks like the other tablets here. Pro tip: You can check out ebooks from your local library for free if you have a library card.

★ A Kindle alternative: The Kindle Scribe ($340) ( 8/10, WIRED Recommends ) is slightly cheaper than the Kobo, but they work basically the same, with easy-to-use notebook options. We prefer Kindle interfaces, but marking books is actually simpler on the Kobo—with the Kindle, you have to use sticky notes instead of writing directly on the page.

Person's hand drawing on the Iskn Repaper Graphic Tablet

For Beginner Artists

You can take notes with Repaper as easily as with the other items on this list, but I think artists will enjoy easily digitizing their work, especially those just getting started (it's cheaper than an iPad). Repaper uses a tablet and magnetized rings to automatically digitize notes as you work on real, physical paper. Any properly sized paper will work—if it's bigger than the tablet, you won't get an accurate digital version—as will any writing utensil that fits a Repaper Ring (it comes with a pencil).

The Repaper Studio app shows your work in real time if you want it to. That's especially handy if you want to draw directly on the tablet with the included stylus and not use paper or if you're sharing your screen via Zoom for class. If not, you can finish and upload your creation later. You can download sharable time-lapse videos too. It's not without its faults, and I occasionally found it to be buggy when switching between pens, but overall I was impressed.

You May Prefer an iPad

E Ink notebooks are easier on the eyes and feel closer to paper than a glass-screened tablet. But in some cases, you might spend less getting an iPad and an Apple Pencil (and a keyboard if you also want to type sometimes). You can also do more on them thanks to the thousands of apps in the App Store, but still take notes and draw. An iPad is typically more intuitive to use than many of these digital notebooks too. WIRED writer Jaina Grey uses her 11-inch iPad Pro with the GoodNotes and Notability apps for her writing, but there are other models that should work fine.

Read our Best iPads guide to learn about the differences, and check out our Best Tablets guide for other Android offerings.

Our Favorite Smart Pen

Skip the tablet and write directly on paper with a smart pen instead. The Neo Smartpen M1+ is the thinnest and lightest of all the pens I tried, which makes it feel a bit more like your standard pen. Importantly, it's comfortable to hold and use. You should be able to find whatever size and style of notebook you need as well as planners .

The Neo Studio app (available on iPhone and Android ) is nice, with an easy-to-navigate notebook system and the ability to search for pages by page number or date. You can change the color of the ink and thickness of the lines right on the page as you go, or you can switch them up later and edit the colors of what you've written. This pen doesn't record audio, but if that's something you want, Neo sells a separate recorder that pairs with the pen.

★ Alternative: The Neo Smartpen Dimo ($59) is the cheapest and uses replaceable batteries. It isn't compatible with Google Calendar, iCal, or Outlook like our other picks.

A Runner-Up Smart Pen

Moleskine has garnered a devoted following for its classic notebooks and journals, but it has also moved into smart territory . The Smart Writing Set gets you a notebook and pen bundle, so this is the best option for most people starting out. Write in the notebook and it'll appear in the companion app! But you can buy the pen on its own, as well as the smart notebooks and planners in various sizes.

The Moleskine Notes 2.0 app (available on iPhone and Android ) was easy to use once I settled into it. An older version of the app is available for download, but the 2.0 version is more streamlined. A pop-up let me know that 2.0 is still a work in progress and I might need to switch back to the older version if my device is having trouble, but my iPhone 11 didn't have any issues.

Note: I tried the $149 2018 version of the Smart Writing Set, which is no longer available. I haven't tried the 2022 version. They seem identical, but the price has jumped dramatically to $279. There's also a 2016 version still selling for $100 on Amazon, but it's too old.

This Pen Prioritizes Audio

The Livescribe Symphony has all the features you'd expect from a smart pen, but it places a heavier emphasis on the ability to record. There are Record, Pause, and Stop labels at the bottom of the notebook pages that you can activate just by pressing with your pen—a feature I really liked. However, the app is a bit clunky, and its transcription tool isn't as good as the other picks on this list. It's still available from Walmart, but no longer for sale on Livescribe's website so it may not have a long life left.

The Symphony doesn't have a power button. Instead, it turns on when the cap is removed and off when the cap is replaced. This is a nice feature, in theory, to make sure you don't forget to turn it on before you start writing. However, the cap easily pops off, which means you risk leaving it turned on and draining the battery.

A Reusable Notebook

I find a lot of joy in brand-new notebooks, but there's no doubt that they can be wasteful. Rocketbook makes several reusable notebooks , planners , and accessories like flashcards . Take notes with an erasable Pilot Frixion Pen (one should come with whichever item you buy), scan photos to the Rocketbook app, and erase the whole thing with the damp microfiber cloth. The app is designed to keep everything organized and easily send things off to Google Drive, Evernote, OneNote, and a handful of other options.

The paper isn't as nice to write on as regular paper, but it's made to withstand a damp cloth. If I took a ton of notes every day, I'd probably want really good paper, but I like that one notebook can last as long as you take care of it. I stuck with the black pen it came with, but some people buy colorful Frixions for more organized notes.

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Onyx Boox Note Air 3 review: A large e-reader that's terrific at taking notes

The boox note air 3 is just as great at reading e-books as it is at taking notes, and you even get the play store..

Android Central Verdict

The Boox Note Air 3 does a terrific job as an e-reader thanks to the large E Ink screen, but where it truly shines is as a digital note-taking device. It is also much more extensible than other devices in this segment as it comes with Android out of the box, giving you access to the Play Store. Combine that with a large battery that lasts a week between charges, a bundled stylus that's great for sketching as well as taking notes, and a metal chassis that's built to last, and you have a standout e-reader.

Standout build quality

Glare-free 10.3-inch E Ink screen

Bundled stylus is great to sketch and take notes

Multi-day battery life

Play Store installed out of the box

MicroSD slot

No ingress protection

No physical page turn buttons

Why you can trust Android Central Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test .

Pricing and release date
Display and hardware
Performance
The competition
Should you buy it?

Onyx has managed to carving out a niche in the e-reader category on the back of exciting launches, with devices like the Boox Palma serving a unique use case. It's aiming to do something similar with the Boox Note Air 3, a large e-reader that has several differentiating features.

The Boox Note Air 3 is designed to take notes, and it does a great job in that area. But you also get a full-fledged version of Android, and that lets you install apps from the Play Store and use it as a tablet. While I'm testing the monochrome version of the device, Onyx sells the Boox Note Air 3 with a color screen as well.

Clearly, there's a lot on offer with the Boox Note Air 3, and after using it for two months, I'm convinced that this is one of the best e-readers if you want a large screen.

Onyx Boox Note Air 3: Pricing and release date

Onyx unveiled the Boox Note Air 3 in October 2023, and the e-reader is now available in all global markets where the brand has an official presence. The standard variant of the Boox Note Air 3 comes with a stylus and magnetic case (which is really good), and it costs $399. There's a stylus bundle that includes a better-quality stylus in addition to the standard one, and this variant is available for $447 at Boox's website .

Onyx makes a variant of the Boox Note Air 3 with a color screen, and this is called the Boox Note Air 3C. This costs $499 for the standard model that includes the stylus and magnetic case, and the stylus model is $547.

Onyx Boox Note Air 3: Design

The Boox Note Air 3 looks every bit as premium as its price tag suggests, with the e-reader featuring an aluminum chassis that's great to hold and use. The brushed metal design is elegant, the rounded edges make it comfortable to hold the e-reader, and while it is quite heavy at 450g, the weight is balanced well.

I like the orange accents at the back and around the USB-C charging port, and this adds some vibrancy. The Boox Note Air 3 has an asymmetrical design — similar to the Kindle Oasis — and this makes a big difference in daily use. That said, there are no physical page turn buttons, and that lack of tactility when turning pages makes reading books on the e-reader a little less fun.

Another feature that's missing is ingress protection; the Boox Note Air 3 isn't resistant to dust or water, and that limits its versatility to a great extent. That said, the sheer size of the e-reader means it isn't exactly practical to carry it to the pool — like you would a Kindle — but it is still a letdown.

You get sizeable bezels around the 10.3-inch screen, and while it is more than double the weight of the Kindle Oasis, you get a considerably larger screen. The USB-C port is mounted on the left, along with two speakers. While they have large drivers, the sound quality isn't particularly detailed, and they don't get loud. They're serviceable for podcasts, but if you want to listen to music, you should really use earbuds.

What I particularly like is that there's a case bundled in the package, and it is of a good quality. It attaches magnetically to the e-reader, folds into two different configurations, and offers adequate protection when the Boox Note Air 3 isn't in use.

Onyx Boox Note Air 3: Display and hardware

I used over a dozen e-readers up to this point, but they've all had medium-sized screens. The Boox Note Air 3, on the other hand, has a 10.3-inch panel, and the difference was absolutely evident from the moment I started using the e-reader.

The panel itself is an E Ink Carta 1200, and with a resolution of 1872 x 1404, you get an effective pixel density of 227PPI. That's more than adequate for an e-reader, and in the two months I used the Boox Note Air 3, I didn't notice any issues with the panel.

Switching over to the hardware, the Boox Note Air 3 is powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 680, and while you won't find it on any phone, it does a good job on the e-reader. You also get 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, Wi-Fi ac, and Bluetooth 5.0. There's an accelerometer that switches the orientation of the screen based on what hand you're holding the e-reader, but it isn't as smooth as the Kindle Oasis. You also get a MicroSD slot if you want to extend the storage.

The Boox Note Air 3 has a 3,700mAh battery, and the e-reader lasts a week between charges even with heavy use. I read two books over the course of a week and took notes daily, and the battery was still a very reasonable 30%. The e-reader charges at 15W, and it takes well over 90 minutes to charge the battery.

Onyx Boox Note Air 3: Performance

Reading on the Boox Note Air 3 is an absolute joy; the large 10.3-inch screen is terrific in this regard. It doesn't have the same pixel density as the Kindle Oasis, but that doesn't really make a huge difference in daily use, and text is clear. There is some ghosting at times, but it isn't noticeable, and this is an issue with all e-readers that use E Ink panels anyway.

The e-reader has a built-in NeoReader utility that works with all major formats — including EPUB, MOBI, PDF, AZW3, CBR, and so on — and you can change the font size, choose from a selection of fonts or install your own, and so much more.

NeoReader has a tabbed interface that's ideal if you're switching between documents, and you can easily annotate via the bundled stylus. On that note, the stylus has 4,096 level of pressure sensitivity, and it is outstanding at taking notes. I normally use a Lamy Safari and Leuchtturm1917 notebooks to journal and take notes, and while the e-reader doesn't quite match the feeling of a fountain pen, it comes mighty close.

It's also particularly good at sketching. My wife is an artist, and she uses an iPad Air along with an Apple Pencil to paint digitally. She mentioned that the Boox Note Air 3's stylus has a slight delay when creating strokes, and that there's no way to duplicate a layer of copy large drawings.

On the whole, the Boox Note Air 3 is a great choice if you're looking for a large e-reader that doubles as a note-taking device.

Onyx Boox Note Air 3: Software

Onyx offers a custom version of Android on the Boox Note Air 3, and while Android 12 is outdated at this point, the device will get three platform updates. While it's great that the e-reader runs Android, you can't do much with it outside of reading, note-taking, and sketching. The E Ink tech just doesn't play well with video content, and even scrolling through web pages, you can make out distinct afterimages.

You get 10GB of cloud storage as standard with an Onyx account, giving you plenty of storage for all of your books and notes. Onyx has a lot of pre-installed utilities — including a clock, recorder, calculator, and so on — but the fact that you get the Play Store means you can install just about anything you want.

Onyx Boox Note Air 3: The competition

The Kindle Scribe is a great alternative if you need a large e-reader to take notes. It gives you easy access to Amazon's ecosystem, comes with plenty of useful features, and at $255, it is affordable.

Then there's the reMarkable 2 . It is the definitive note-taking device, and while it is costlier, it is lighter, has a sleeker design, and does an even better job at taking notes.

Onyx Boox Note Air 3: Should you buy it?

You should buy this if:

You want a large e-reader that's great for reading and taking notes
You need the extensibility of Android
You want an e-reader that lasts a week between charges
You need a bundled stylus

You shouldn't buy this if:

You want physical page turn buttons
You need ingress protection

Other than the lack of ingress protection and physical page turn buttons, I can't really find any faults. Onyx clearly knows what it's doing, and the Boox Note Air 3 is one of the best e-readers currently available. The large 10.3-inch screen is great for reading e-books and browsing, and it doubles as a fantastic digital note-taking device— all thanks to that bundled stylus.

The fact that you have full access to the Play Store is an added bonus; you just don't get that versatility with many other e-readers. Battery life is outstanding, the metallic chassis is durable, and there's plenty of customizability — much more so than what you get with other e-readers.

The Boox Note Air 3 is a great choice if you want a large e-reader that's great for going through e-books and documents as well as taking notes.

Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor overseeing Asia at Android Central. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone brands, contributing to reviews, features, and buying guides. He also writes about storage servers, audio products, and the semiconductor industry. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd .

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Alastair Onyx Boox' develop bugs over time, that cause apps to crash increasingly frequently. Probably something eating up memory, or dereferencing null pointers. They're not very good. Buy from some other vendor instead. Reply
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The best e-ink tablet

Enjoy e-books and get the feel of real pen on paper, with the best e-ink tablet chosen by our experts.

1. Best for notes
2. Best for writing
3. Best colour
4. Best large
5. Best budget
6. Best student
How to choose

How we test

E-ink tablets offer you something normal tablets can't provide: the look and feel of a paper product. So when you read an e-book, it'll feel more like reading an actual physical book. And if you want to make notes, with a pressure-sensitive stylus, so it'll feel more like you're writing on paper too. The same goes for writing, sketching, or making notes directly onto PDFs and other documents.

Be warned, though: many e-ink tablets don't run Android or iOS , so you won't be able to do all the things you're used to doing on a standard tablet, such as download apps, play games, listen to music and so on. Some do, but even then, the e-ink screen will mean that websites, apps and videos will look quite different from what you're used to, especially on a black-and-white e-tablet.

With all that in mind, we've gathered together the best e-ink tablets on the market today, to suit a range of budgets and uses. So read on to find which is the best e-ink tablet for your specific needs.

The best e-ink tablet for note-taking

Product shot of Onyx Note Air 2 Plus, one of the best e-ink tablets

01. Onyx Note Air 2 Plus

Specifications, reasons to buy, reasons to avoid.

Want an e-reader that you can also take notes on? Then our top recommendation is the Onyx Note Air 2 Plus. With a fabulous 10.3-inch display, it works brilliantly for notetaking. It has a definite paper-like feel, making it more like writing on real notepad, and can turn your handwriting into text pretty accurately. It comes with a battery-free stylus, and the rechargeable 3,700mAh battery keeps the tablet itself going for weeks on a single charge.

This tablet boasts a USB-C port for charging, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and it doubles as a full-blown tablet, running Android 11. That means you can use apps from the Google Play Store, and while that's not always a great experience on an e-ink screen, it does give you a broader range of notetaking apps than the (admittedly very good) onboard one.

The best e-ink tablet for writing

Product shot of ReMarkable 2, one of the best e-ink tablets

02. ReMarkable 2

This 10.3-inch tablet is quite expensive, but it offers the best writing experience on our list. You get zero lag, tilt detection and overall it feels very close to writing on paper. Your handwriting can be digitised, and you can also scan handwriting on paper. You can even make notes on PDFs, which is handy if you need to annotate lots of documents.

The interface is clean and minimal, and the screen is bright and easy to read in daylight, making for pleasant, distraction-free writing. It works with the Marker or Marker Plus styluses, which are pressure- and tilt-senstive, although note that you'll have to buy these separately.

The ReMarkable 2 claims to be the world's thinnest tablet, at just 4.7mm thick, and it's certainly nice and portable. It promises two weeks' battery life on a single charge, and offers some nifty integrations with Google Drive, Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive.

The best colour e-ink tablet

Hand holding stylus and drawing on the screen of the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C

03. Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C

Our expert review:

If you're looking for colour, you won't find finer than this 10.3-inch tablet. In my Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C review , I found it did great job of reproducing graphic novels, comics and manga.

The screen offers a maximum resolution of 2480 x 1860 pixels (300ppi) in black and white, the highest on our list. This drops down to 1240 x 930 (150ppi) in colour, but you're still getting a lot of picture detail. And overall, publications look great even in sunlight, thanks to the anti-glare coating on the screen. I also appreciated being able to adjust brightness and colour temperature between -15°C and 65°C.

Like the other Onyx tablets on this list, this doubles as an Android tablet, albeit with Android 11 rather than the latest version (12). Other highlights include the generous 128GB of internal storage, the ability to add a microSD up to 1TB, and a document camera which lets you photograph documents and turn them into digital text.

While e-ink tablets are far from the best drawing tablets , the presence of colour, a lovely stylus and a decent onboard app means that the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C is, technically speaking, the best e-ink tablet for drawing you'll find today.

On the downside, the speakers aren't great, there's no audio jack for headphones, and it's quite expensive. But if you're looking for a colour e-ink tablet, this is the best in show right now. And if you choose to buy the keyboard cover separately, you can even turn it into an e-ink laptop; a category I didn't previously know existed!

The best large e-ink tablet

04. Onyx Boox Tab X

Is size important to you? Then the Onyx Boox Tab X has a 13.3-inch display that will give you ample space to read, write, take notes and doodle on. And that's not all: it also has by far the best specs of any e-ink tablet on the market today.

So why doesn't it top our list? Quite simply, because it's so darned expensive, coming in at around a grand at time of writing. If you have money to spare, though, it's well worth considering. As I explain in my Onyx Boox Tab X review , this e-ink tablet pretty much has it all.

The big, beautiful screen means it's great for reading large-format publications like reference books, newspapers and magazines. And the size also makes a huge difference when you're annotating PDFs, especially if you're using the split-screen features.

More generally, the included stylus offers an authentically paper-like experience. The Qualcomm Snapdragon processor combined with 6GB of RAM means everything happens quickly and smoothly, with zero lag. And the 6300mAh battery is claimed to be the biggest on any e-ink device, keeping you going for weeks on end. Overall, then, this is the Rolls Royce of e-ink tablets: a premium product at a premium price.

The best budget e-ink tablet

Product shot of PocketBook e-Book Reader, one of the best e-ink tablets

05. PocketBook e-Book Reader

Short on cash? At a fraction of the cost of the Onyx Boox Tab X, the PocketBook e-Book Reader is the cheapest on our list. But it still boasts some impressive specs for the price, including 16GB of storage, a high screen resolution of 300dpi and a colour screen. You also get Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, Dropbox integration and support for a wide variety of e-pub files.

On the downside, the 1,900mAH battery won't last you many days, and it takes some time to charge via micro-USB. It's not a full Android tablet, although there are onboard apps for things like notetaking, text-to-speech and a calculator. And that screen is pretty small, at just six inches in diameter; although at the same time this does make the device wonderfully light (at just 159g) and portable. So given the low price, overall I'd say this e-ink tablet represents excellent value.

The best e-ink tablet for students

Product shot of Kindle Scribe, one of the best e-ink tablets

06. Amazon Kindle Scribe

Most students will want an e-ink tablet primarily for reading, with the option of taking notes related to the book, essay or research paper in question. If that sound like you, then we recommend the Kindle Scribe.

As you'd expect from the iconic Kindle brand, the Scribe has an evenly lit, 300dpi display with crisp, clear text that's perfect for reading. Of course, it's beautifully integrated with the Kindle library. Plus it also offers a decent paper-like experience when note-taking with the included stylus, with 18 notebook templates.

On the downside, the features and functionality here are pretty limited compared to other tablets on this list. Most significantly, the Kindle Scribe can't turn handwriting into text. Also, while you can write directly onto PDFs, you can't write directly onto books and documents: you have to add a digital equivalent of a sticky note instead.

In short, if you want to take a LOT of notes, we'd recommend the first entry on our list. However, if your primary focus is reading, with the option to write the odd note or two when inspiration strikes, then this is a great option.

How to choose an e-ink tablet

When choosing an e-ink tablet, there are a few key factors to consider. First think about screen size . E-ink tablets come in a variety of screen sizes, from around 6 inches to 13 inches. If you plan on using your e-ink tablet for note-taking, you may want to choose a larger screen size. However, you have to balance that with portability and what's comfortable for you to hold and read from.

Secondly, look at resolution , which determines how sharp and clear the text and images will appear. Higher resolution tablets will have sharper text and images, but they will also be more expensive.

If you want to do more than read and write on your tablet, it's also worth paying attention to its operating system . Some e-ink tablets run a proprietary operating system, but if you want to be able to install apps on your e-ink tablet, you will need to choose a tablet that runs Android. Beyond that e-ink tablets come with a variety of features , such as front-lit screens, stylus support, and handwriting recognition.

To compile this list, we've compared reviews of e-ink tablets from our own experts, along with those at our sister titles at Future Publishing. When we test tablets, we don't just look at technical specifications but focus on what most people want from an e-ink tablet and whether a particular device delivers. Is it easy to understand and operate? Does it perform consistently, and are there any lags, slowdown or crashes over time? We perform rigorous tests to put all the tablet's features and functionality through its paces, and assess the quality of its display, the speed of operation, battery life, and practical things like what it's like to hold and how easy it is to carry.

What is an e-ink tablet?

An E-ink tablet is a type of electronic device that uses E-ink technology to display content on its screen. E-ink (short for "electronic ink") provides a paper-like, glare-free reading experience, making it suitable for reading digital books, documents, and more.

E-ink displays work by using tiny microcapsules filled with black and white particles that respond to electrical charges. When a charge is applied, the particles move to the front or back of the microcapsules, creating the text and images on the screen.

Why would I buy an e-ink tablet?

E-ink tablets offer several specific things that normal Android, iOS or Amazon tablets don't. Most importantly, they provide a reading experience close to ink on paper, which feels more comfortable on the eyes for long reading sessions.

They also tend to have much longer battery life, making them great for travel, and anti-glare displays that are easy to read in sunlight or other bright environments. Also, because these devices are primarily designed for reading, you're less likely to get distracted by email, messages, notifications and other interruptions common on normal tablets.

Many models offer reading-specific features like adjustable font sizes, customisable reading settings, and built-in dictionaries for enhanced convenience. And some e-ink tablets, including those on our list above, go further and offer features for note-taking, handwriting, sketching and drawing with a stylus, with a more paper-like feel than most standard tablets.

How long does an e-ink tablet last?

With proper care, an e-ink tablet should last for several years. That's because unlike traditional LCD or OLED screens, e-ink displays do not have a backlight and do not emit light continuously. Instead, they rely on small electric charges to rearrange particles within the display to create text and images. This means that e-ink screens consume power only during transitions, such as flipping a page on an e-reader. Your e-ink tablet's life will, however, shorten if it sustains physical damage, such as drops or impacts, or is subject to excessive moisture or extreme temperatures. Conversely, if you keep it safe from such harm, by taking care and storing it in a protective case, it will probably last longer. Performing regular software updates and maintaining a stable power source can also help prolong its lifespan.

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Tom May is an award-winning journalist and editor specialising in design, photography and technology. Author of the Amazon #1 bestseller Great TED Talks: Creativity , published by Pavilion Books, Tom was previously editor of Professional Photography magazine, associate editor at Creative Bloq, and deputy editor at net magazine. Today, he is a regular contributor to Creative Bloq and its sister sites Digital Camera World , T3.com and Tech Radar . He also writes for Creative Boom and works on content marketing projects.

Ingenious 'Macintosh Studio' iPad dock almost makes me want to buy a 3D printer

Electronics

The Best Tablets

A 9th-generation iPad, shown on an orange background with a stylus and books shown to the side.

After hundreds of hours of research and testing over the past seven years, we think Apple’s 9th-generation iPad is the best all-around tablet, with all the performance and features most people need for watching video, browsing the internet, and staying on top of email and social media feeds. But we also have recommendations for people who want an Android tablet, a basic ebook reader, or a more powerful tablet for gaming, for handling design and creative tasks, or for replacing a laptop computer.

The research

The best all-around tablet: apple ipad (9th generation), an upgrade for multitaskers and creatives: apple ipad pro (m2), the best android tablet: google pixel tablet, a budget tablet for media: amazon fire hd 8, the best ebook reader: amazon kindle, what about the microsoft surface (and other windows tablets and convertibles).

Apple iPad (9th generation)

The best tablet for most people.

The standard iPad is fast, easy to use, and compatible with the Apple Pencil and Smart Keyboard, and it offers the features most tablet users need.

Buying Options

Who this is for: You want a great all-around tablet that can handle pretty much any task.

Why we like it: Although this isn’t the newest version of the Apple iPad, it’s still the best tablet for most people thanks to great hardware, an easy-to-use operating system, and a huge library of quality apps, even if you normally use Android on your phone or Windows on your computer. iOS also receives frequent updates—including prompt security updates—which isn’t something you can say of any modern Android tablet.

In 2022, Apple released the 10th-generation iPad, but it costs $120 more for an experience that’s very similar to what you get from the 9th-generation version. The 9th-generation 10.2-inch iPad is still the best tablet for most people because it offers the best balance of price and performance, it has a large screen, and it’s compatible with the first-generation Apple Pencil stylus and Apple Smart Keyboard. The standard 64 GB model should be good enough if you plan to use your iPad mostly for streaming music and video, reading, browsing the internet, and playing casual games, but you may want to upgrade to the 256 GB model if you plan to use yours to play graphically intense games or download lots of media.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The 9th-generation iPad is built with a gap between the LCD panel and the front glass, making interactions with the Apple Pencil slightly less responsive. You have to upgrade to the iPad Air if you want an iPad with a faster M1 processor and support for the second-gen Apple Pencil.

For more on the 9th-generation iPad and how it compares to other iPad models, read our full guide to Apple’s iPad lineup .

The Apple iPad Pro (11-inch, M2) connected to a compatible keyboard and displaying the home screen.

Apple iPad Pro (11-inch, M2, 256 GB)

For pro-level performance and a massive screen.

This iPad has a bright, sharp screen with accurate color that’s better for multitasking or serious creative work such as digital illustration, writing, or editing photos, audio, and video.

Who this is for: You want the best possible performance for viewing and editing photos and video, multitasking, and other tasks you’d normally do with a laptop.

Why we like it: For most multitasking and serious creative work, the iPad Pro is the best option. It has a slim, uniform bezel that wraps around the entire screen, making it feel equally natural whether you use it in landscape or portrait orientation—a design choice that makes it stand out from competitors. It’s great for working with photos and as a canvas for artists who frequently make use of the second-generation Apple Pencil.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: Apple advertises the iPad Pro as a replacement for a traditional PC, but whether it can serve that purpose depends on what you do, how you work, and what apps you use. In general, iPad Pro keyboard cases and covers aren’t as nice as standalone Bluetooth keyboards or the keyboards on the best laptops. But drawing and photo-editing apps are well suited to touchscreen and Apple Pencil controls, and they benefit from the iPad Pro’s large, color-accurate screen.

For more on the iPad Pro, read our full guide to pro tablets .

Google Pixel Tablet

Best android tablet for most people.

Google’s tablet has a vivid screen for viewing content and dock that transforms it into a smart-home hub.

You save $100 (18%)

Who this is for: You’re already invested in or partial to Google’s version of Android, and you want an affordable tablet with a good display, excellent performance, and useful smart-home controls.

Why we like it: The Google Pixel Tablet has a bright and vivid 11-inch display and is powerful enough to handle high-end gaming along with multitasking and split-screen apps. It offers our favorite Google features, like hands-free Google Assistant, voice typing, live translation, multi-profile support, and more. The 5,000 mAh battery lasted 12 hours in our testing. The included dock boosts the bass and enables Hub mode, which transforms the Pixel Tablet into a smart-home hub that allows you to control smart-home devices such as smart lights, video doorbells, security cameras, and thermostats.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: If you want a tablet that supports a stylus, your options for the Pixel Tablet are limited; the Lenovo USI Pen 2 and Penoval USI 2.0 styluses are among the few that are compatible. Those who want a tablet for drawing or writing may want to seek out a different option.

Visit our full guide to the best Android tablets to read more about the Pixel Tablet and other Android tablets we’ve tested.

Our pick for best android tablet on a budget, the Amazon Fire HD 8 (12th generation).

Budget pick

Amazon Fire HD 8 (12th generation)

A cheap tablet for streaming media.

The Fire HD 8 has a smaller, lower-resolution screen than the Galaxy Tab S8, but it’s a great cheap tablet for reading or watching video, especially if you get that content from Amazon’s store.

Who this is for: You want the cheapest tablet that’s good for reading and watching video, with access to a big library of video, ebooks, and music.

Why we like it: The Amazon Fire HD 8 (12th generation) costs less than $100 and is an excellent value. It lets you stream video from Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, and other popular services, and you can also read your Kindle ebooks. It offers built-in support for the Alexa voice assistant used by Amazon’s popular Echo devices, which makes ordering products and media from Amazon easier. In addition, Amazon Prime members get access to a selection of no-extra-cost movies, TV shows, and ebooks (though Amazon’s apps for iOS and other Android tablets all work similarly).

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The Fire HD 8 is slower and has a lower-resolution screen than any of our other picks, so text isn’t as crisp—the Kindle Paperwhite is better for reading ebooks—and its performance is optimized for watching videos and reading rather than getting work done. It’s also limited to Amazon’s Android app store, which has a smaller selection of games and apps than the regular Google Play store (which in turn lags behind Apple’s App Store when it comes to great tablet apps). Although it’s possible to install the Google Play store on the Fire HD 8 , doing so requires a workaround, and we don’t recommend it. Unlike our other tablet picks, which offer a solid selection of apps and productivity tools, the Fire HD 8 is best used only as a media-consumption device.

To find out how the Fire HD 8 stacks up against other Android tablets, see our guide to the best Android tablets .

The Amazon Kindle with a page of a book on the screen, sitting on a green background.

Amazon Kindle (2022)

The best e-reader for most people.

Amazon’s most affordable Kindle is also its most portable, with a 6-inch screen that has finally been upgraded with a higher pixel density for sharper text and support for USB-C charging. Access to Amazon’s huge ebook library makes the Kindle the best dedicated device for reading.

Who this is for: You don’t care about apps or browsing—you just want to read books.

Why we like it: The cheapest Kindle is also the best one. Its 6-inch E Ink screen offers 300 pixels per inch, which makes text sharp and easy to read, and the portable size makes it convenient for toting it wherever you go—it even fits in a small purse. Amazon finally switched from Micro-USB to USB-C charging for the entry-level Kindle, meaning you don’t need to hunt down a special cable to juice it up. It lasts weeks on a charge, so it’s better than an iPad or Android tablet for reading. And the Kindle comes with 16 GB of storage, which is plenty of room for your library of ebooks.

Flaws but not dealbreakers: The entry-level Kindle isn’t waterproof, so if you plan to read by the pool or in the bathtub, you might want to splurge for the pricier Kindle Paperwhite.

If you’re interested in Amazon’s more expensive Kindles or non-Amazon options, read our full guide to ebook readers .

We also have a guide to pro tablets , where we recommend the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 as a capable laptop replacement, but you need $300 in accessories to make the most of it. Our tablet picks are much better for tablet-focused tasks like watching videos, browsing the web, and using tablet apps than getting a lot of work done—if you need a productivity-focused device, an ultrabook (or a MacBook ) might be a better bet.

Meet your guide

Wirecutter Staff

Getting Work Done on an iPad

by Haley Perry

You can do a surprising amount of work on an iPad with the right gear. These are the best accessories for turning your iPad into a mobile work space.

A drawing tablet sitting to the right of an open MacBook Pro, showing a drawing of a person, with a stylus next to the drawing tablet.

The Best Drawing Tablets

by Arthur Gies

Drawing tablets are nearly indispensable for creating art on a PC or laptop, and models such as the Huion Inspiroy 2 M are great for beginners and veteran artists alike.

A kid using an Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Edition tablet.

The Best Tablet for Kids

by Ryan Whitwam and Andrew Cunningham

The best tablet for your kid is the old one you aren’t using anymore. If you’re buying new, Apple’s 9th-generation iPad has the best app selection.

iPad Pro tablet open with a keyboard against a blue background.

The Best Pro Tablets

by Dave Gershgorn

If you’re looking to replace or supplement your laptop with a tablet, you have great options but also tough choices ahead of you.

10 Best Writing Tablets 2023 (Latest Models)

A good writing tablet comes in handy when inspiration strikes. However, If you’re not sure which tablet you should go for, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Some tablets are designed specifically to meet the needs of writers.

A tablet is a computing solution falling somewhere between a smartphone and a pc. From graphic designing to working in extreme weather conditions, there are all sorts of suitable tablets available. So when choosing a tab, you should be specific about your primary requirements.

Writing tablets should have a fast processor and a good refresh rate for a smooth writing experience. This is quite important because any kind of lag while writing will ruin your creative mood and you will end up being more frustrated. In short, the tablet should be able to match the swiftness of your fingers.

Compatibility with the keyboard is another feature it should have. Earlier, tablets used to support a keyboard through OTG, but nowadays new tablets attach to keyboards through magnetic touch contact featuring NFC. Some tablets also have a pogo pin for attaching the keyboard to the tab. All in all, it’s up to you what works better for you.

The keyboards of tablets are smaller in size compared to those of laptops or computers. That said, you should consider the form factor of the keyboard when purchasing a writing tablet. More or less, the keyboards are the same but if you do not like something in particular with any keyboard, you shouldn’t ignore that.

Another crucial feature is a stylus and related functionality. If you want to take quick handwritten notes, the tablet should come with a stylus or at least compatible with it so that you can buy a stylus separately.

The tablets that have made it to our recommendations are compatible with a stylus, and better yet, come with a stylus included. But again, not all styluses are equal. Some need to be charged, some don’t; some attach with the tablet via magnetic contact for charging while some don’t. It completely depends on your preferences as to what to choose.

A few styluses have replaceable pen tips for better writing and drawing experience. So, you might want to consider this fact while choosing a writing tablet. Tilt angle, response rate, pressure sensitivity, programmable buttons, palm detection, eraser tip are some other features of a stylus you might want to consider before buying a writing tablet.

While writing and keeping your notes safe in a tablet, it is crucial to ensure that the tablet has enough storage that matches your requirement and has fingerprint or facial recognition features for security. Tablets these days have improved battery performance for long-lasting use on a single charge. This way, you can write endless stories on your tablet without interruption.

If you’re not sure what you need to look for, don’t worry, we have considered all the factors and have made a list of recommendations for you. Just go through all of them and choose the one which matches your budget and needs the most.

Best Writing Tablets For 2023

What’s a more joyous and satisfactory feeling than pouring your heart out on paper without even the slightest discomfort? The tablets we have chosen for you have all you need for your writing needs.

However, you shouldn’t overlook other features as well. See which additional features can fulfill your needs and wants, and fits your budget as well. That’s the writing tablet you should buy.

We have gathered the best picks for writing tabs for you and shared our reviews. At the end of the article, I’ll tell you which tablet I’d select if I needed a writing tablet.

1. Kindle Scribe

Wouldn’t it be so nice to have a tablet that supports e-reading and writing? Well, that’s what the Kindle Scribe is designed for.

It allows users to read and write as naturally as you want without any hassle. It is equipped with a responsive 10.2” 300 ppi glare-free Paperwhite display that makes you feel like you are reading directly from a book.

With easy access to the Kindle Store, taking notes on the Kindle Scribe is effortless and uninterrupted. Also, the written notes in the device are automatically organized for easy access in the future.

Not just that, the Kindle Scribe also comes with pre-programmed templates like lined paper, checklists, grid paper, etc. that are here to streamline your life and user experience like no other. You can also take notes and review varying documents digitally and in real-time with easy access to the Kindle app.

The large and high-resolution display also supports adjustable warm light and auto-adjusting front light for a personalized reading experience. It also comes with a USB-C charging port that support months of reading and writing.

2. Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 | S8 Plus | S8 Ultra

Android tablets have a bad rep to them but the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 series could change that for good.

A successor to the Tab S7 series, the models are a breakthrough, especially for users on the hunt for a tablet with larger display. This is one of the best competitors for the staple 5th Gen. iPad Air.

The largest of the three, S8 Ultra is equipped with a 14.6” display, which overshadows a lot of the other available tablets in the similar price range. Integrated with a responsive AMOLED display in the S8 Ultra, the Tab S8 is equipped with an LCD display panel, which is equally bright and responsive.

Featuring a combination of high processing power with the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and up to 16GB RAM that supports elegant and power-efficient functioning of the device. The model is powered by the Android 12 OS for access to all the latest applications and functionalities.

If you are looking for a premium writing tablet that streamlines creativity and content creation, the Galaxy Tab S8 series is hands down the best pick in the market.

3. Onyx BOOX Note Air 2 Plus

A leading e-book reader and writing tablet in the market, the Onyx BOOX Note Air 2 Plus is a great choice for extensive readers who don’t want to avail a Kindle.

Featuring a large and high-resolution 10.3” display , the model is built with a thin metal case and supports dual-touch control.

The stunning E Ink Carta display comes with color-temperature adjustment to accommodate the visuals according to the surroundings. It runs on Android 11 OS, and is upgradeable. So, not only can you use the basic reading and writing functions, the tablet has access to Google Play to download any app of choice.

With the additional Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, data transfer and export has never been easier. Also, the battery life in the writing tablet is quite extensive, further adding to the benefits. The body of the tablet is made with amazing quality aluminum-magnesium alloy that ensures durability but also keeps the device lightweight.

Additionally, the display is covered in an Asahi protective glass that prevents scratches and any prominent damage on the display.

4. Huion Note

When it comes to writing tablets, Huion is a brand that stands out on the top. Huion Note is a leading bestseller that supports writing synchronization, one-click PDF share, and document management – all packed into one device.

This smart digital notebook is like no other. This delicate A5 notebook comes with 50 pages of replaceable inner papers, much like what you’d find in a standard notebook. The outer cover of the notebook is made with a high-quality and tensile spunlace leather material for extra durability.

But, the best part about using Huion Note is the real-time writing synchronization. Everything you write on the Huion Note can be directly synced on the app on the smartphone for digital copy. Once synced, users can share their handwritten notes to team members and other users in real-time.

Huion Note also supports voice and note recording, especially when you are taking consistent notes without a break. These make a good investment for business professionals and students who want to record their meetings and classes digitally.

5. Onyx BOOX Tab Ultra C

With productivity being a priority, looking for comprehensive and useful devices is the need of the hour.

Among them, one that stands out is the Onyx BOOX Tab Ultra C.

Integrated with the new Kaleido 3 screen, the soft and soothing color tones and resolution of the device makes the whole user experience stand out for the better.

The highlight of this device is the combination of GPU and BOOX Super Refresh Technology that offers an immersive ePaper screen and improved efficiency. Every tap, swipe and pinch are responsive and backed with multiple refresh modes that offer improved productivity with reduced latency.

Coming to the screen, the BOOX Tab Ultra C features an HD color ePaper screen that lets you highlight and pinpoint different key points in your document for a more organized workflow. Integrated with 4GB + 128GB storage configuration, your documents can be stored in one place and without any compromise.

Furthermore, the writing tablet from Onyx supports 24 digital formats, spanning from PDF to HTML. This ensures that you can engage in any kind of document without any compromise.

The extent of in-build features for annotation is also diverse. Also, the tablet runs on Android 11 OS and an octa-core CPU for the ultimate performance.

6. Kobo Elipsa 2E

Priced under $400, the Kobo Elipsa 2E is another popular and functional writing tablet that deserves a special mention.

Designed for creators and professionals that prioritize productivity and focus. The tablet is bundled with the Kobo Stylus 2 that offers an improved note-taking experience.

As for the display, the tablet is equipped with a 10.3” touchscreen display with ComfortLight PRO, ensuring that the visuals are comfortable on the eye. It also reduces the Blue light emission. Integrated with 32GB storage configuration, you can carry this tablet with ease and store all your favorite documents in one place.

When it comes to the build, the Kobo Elipsa 2E is made with ocean-bound plastic, prioritizing sustainability in the long run. The Notebook feature in the tablet mimics that of original pen and paper, streamlining your note-taking experience.

Coming to the Kobo Stylus 2, this wireless stylus is ergonomically designed for a faster writing experience and is rechargeable so you can use it anywhere that you take the device.

The stylus is integrated with all the relevant functionalities, including an eraser on the top and a separate highlighter button for annotating the notes.

7. Boogie Board Blackboard Writing Tablet

Blackboard tab by Boogie Board is a tablet just for your writing needs. It actually is a semi-transparent surface that allows you to write on it and erase.

When you’re done writing or drawing, you can simply scan it using the Blackboard app on iOS and Android and store it.

You can clear the entire screen by just pressing a single button and features a real erasing experience. You have to press and hold the erasing button while erasing so that you do not accidentally erase anything.

It works on a replaceable battery that lasts about 5 years so that you won’t have to worry about charging it. You can use Blackboard for drawing and tracing as well due to its semi-transparent surface. Blackboard also features lines and grid templates for a better writing experience.

8. Apple iPad Air (5th Gen)

apple ipad air 5th gen with new smart keyboard folio

All-rounder tablets are hard to get your hands on. However, the Apple iPad Air 5th Gen makes it a reality, especially with the refreshed design and the list of specifications that the model features.

The tablet is powered by the 8-core M1 chipset that streamlines writing and content creation experience for the users.

Available in five stunning colors, the model comes in four variants with varying RAM and storage configurations. The 64GB and 256GB variants are no doubt the bestsellers, especially with the 5G connectivity options. The model is equipped with a 10.9” Liquid Retina display with True Tone technology for crisp and vivid visuals.

Another highlight in this model is the combination of the 12MP front-facing camera with Center Stage that works with the subject’s movement to keep them in the frame. The tab runs on the iPad OS 15 and is upgradable to the 15.3 version, which is a bonus. Featuring an all-aluminum build, the model is lightweight but durable at the same time.

9. reMarkable 2

reMarkable 2 is a paper tablet that works on a completely different concept. It has a canvas display unlike LED or LCD displays of general-purpose tablets.

The canvas display is similar to the display of kindle tablets. The digital ink simply reflects the light instead of illuminating a zillion minuscule pixels.

Simply put, reMarkable 2 is a paper given some superior digital powers. The tablet is twice as fast as its predecessor. That said, it responds quicker to the strokes of the stylus. When you write on it, it gives the same feeling as writing on real paper with a pen.

With reMarkable 2, you can also write on any pre-existing document. Meaning, you can edit any PDF documents or put your signature on any important documents without needing to print them out. It can also convert your handwritten notes to text.

All in all, if you’re looking for a distraction-free writing tablet, reMarkable 2 is the best choice for you. Moreover, you can also use it as an E-reading tablet.

10. Onyx BOOX Tab Ultra

With hybrid work life and mobile workflow becoming more and more mainstream, there is a steep demand for writing tablets.

If you are considering buying one in 2023, the Onyx BOOX Tab Ultra is no doubt one of the absolute best options in the market.

Programmed with Android 11 OS, this tablet offers faster refresh, clearer screen and powerful and responsive performance. The highlight of this writing tablet is the stunning crystal clear ePaper screen, which is backed by the BOOX Super Refresh technology for a comfortable viewing experience without straining your eyes.

The functionalities don’t stop there at all. The tablet is integrated with a 16MP rear camera for clear and faster document scanning in no time at all.

Gesture and button support streamline navigation in the tablet as well. Additionally, the tablet comes with a magnetic stylus and a keyboard for convenient performance. Overall, this 10.3” writing tablet in phantom black color and thinner bezels never disappoint.

I hope our list has helped you out with selecting the writing tablet perfect for you. If I want an iOS device, I’d surely go with an iPad Pro. It features the best combination of features and specifications of Apple that makes the tablet perfect for any needs including writing.

However, if you don’t need such a high-end device but still want an iOS tablet, you can go with 5th Gen. iPad Air. The same goes for Android tablets . The best writing tablet working on Android interface, Samsung Galaxy S7/S7+ is the ultimate device. And if you don’t want and need the extra features you can always save money by choosing the Blackboard by Boogie Board.

Microsoft Surface tablets are suitable for workaholic people. Its convenient design lets you work immersively. If you prefer to work on the Windows platform, you should choose any of the two Surface tabs we added to our list.

Lastly, if you do not need an Internet connection to research-and-write and want a distraction-free creative writing tablet, Blackboard, BOOX Note Air 2, reMarkable 2, and Royole RoWrite 2 are the best bet for you. This digital ink and paper technology is new and innovative, and RoWrite 2 has nailed it with creating digital documents from writing on real A5 papers.

Conclusively, all tablets we have included are currently the best writing tablets on the market. So choose a tablet that matches your needs without hesitation!

1 thought on “10 Best Writing Tablets 2023 (Latest Models)”

A tablet and a stylus has significantly improved my work flow for note taking and productivity. But if you don’t want to spend that much money. I would say the XP-Pen drawing tablet and a laptop are also a good solution.

Best Tablets For Taking Notes 2023

Even though laptops are getting slimmer and lighter than ever before – tablets are getting more advanced than ever before. Therefore, we don’t blame you for having interest in tablets that could help you perform some of the simple tasks such as note-taking.

In fact, it’s quite a smart idea since there are plenty of college tablets that are almost ready to replace laptops in the most basic tasks.

In this post, you won’t only find best tablets for everyday use, but you will find the best ones that will allow you to take notes in school & other useful things to do in the classroom in the most simple way.

In return, you won’t even feel any of these tablets weighing your backpack down. Therefore, keep on reading to not only find some of the best models, but also to learn how to choose an ideal tablet that will meet all of your needs.

More: How To Take Better Notes On IPad

Royole RoWrite

Apple ipad pro, remarkable paper digital tablet – best tablet for taking handwritten notes, microsoft surface pro 7, sony dpt-cp1/b digital paper tablet, samsung galaxy tab a, lenovo yoga tab 3 pro, size & weight, compatible pen, processing power, best note-taking tablets in 2022.

Royole might not be the most known brand among the tablets – but it’s the brand that specializes in producing note-taking tablets and this product is a high on our list, taking the number one spot.

Real ink usage
Pressure sensitivity pen
Real-time conversion of notes to digital files
It’s a bit hard to continue writing where you left off after leaving the tablet on the entire time

Pressure Sensitive Pen

You can think of a Royole RoWrite as a notebook that will never run out of pages. It comes with a pressure sensitivity pen that uses real ink so the written notes are actually written on a real paper and then are scanned digitally for easier notes sharing.

This enables you to write anything and anywhere, yet still get the opportunity to create real-time digital notes you can edit, share, and read later.

Inside the RoWrite app that comes integrated within this tablet, you can choose various writing instruments, thickness levels, and over 80 colors.

Work Offline – Share Later Online

This tablet doesn’t require internet connection in order to write. This means that you can work offline and then share your notes and do any necessary edits when you come online.

Pin Point Accuracy

You won’t even feel like you’re writing on a tablet since RoWrite has a built-in sensor that tracks pressure, sensitivity, and accuracy.

With the number of easy-to-access combinations within the tablet, real ink, and even easier way to add symbols – you can achieve faster writing speeds while keeping the pretty writing.

Needless to say it, these couple of features make this one of the best tablets for this need since they’re built with a purpose.

Apple has been leading the tablet’s market with iPad and they’re still one of the best tablet manufacturers out there. If you are looking for a traditional tablet that can help you take notes in an easy way – look no further.

Liquid Retina display with the latest technology
Long-lasting battery life
Thin and ultra-lightweight design
Apple Pen has to be purchased in addition to the tablet

Liquid Retina Display

Display is one of the most important aspects of tablets that can allow you smooth note taking experience. Luckily, Apple integrated one of their most innovative display technologies called Liquid Retina display.

It’s a display equipped with a Promotion True Color technology and a Wide Color design. You’ll be able to take notes in the dark, light, and even under the brightest sun.

Combine this with the Apple Pencil and you won’t know whether you’re writing on an actual paper or a smooth display.

Our favorite thing about Apple’s Retina display in the iPad is the ability to avoid fingerprints, dust, and debris which makes writing or drawing on their tablets a lot easier. Also, you won’t find yourself cleaning the iPad on a daily basis just to be able to write without distractions.

Face ID Security & Battery Life

All of your notes will stay secure thanks to the Face ID technology that allows you to unlock Apple iPad Pro with your face.

Up to 10 hours of battery life is more than enough to keep you through your day without having to carry a charger to every class you go to. Simple task as note taking might not even consume as much battery as doing heavy-processing tasks so you will be able to get a full battery life every single day.

If 10 hours of battery life isn’t decent enough for you – there’s nothing to worry about. Apple iPad has one of the biggest advantages not many users think about. It’s the ability to charge the iPad using a power bank.

Most of the time, you won’t find a free plug to charge your tablet – yet a slim and lightweight power bank can help you out no matter where you take your tablet with you.

Powerful Performance

The latest Apple iPad Pro is based on the most powerful A12X Bionic chip that uses Neural Engine to offer the most powerful & smooth performance.

You will never end up waiting for the notes to open. In fact, you’ll always be the first one in the class to be ready to take some notes.

With that being said, you can also rest assured in your free time because the latest iPad has the ability to run a lot more demanding apps and games. This means you will never be bored with an iPad next to you.

reMarkable specializes in producing paper digital tablets that are made for note-taking and it’s one of the best tablets so find out down below how it could help you out.

226 DPI Canvas display
Paper-like writing experience
Thin and easily portable design
Not being able to sync with Evernote, Dropbox, and a couple of other software

Experience so Close to Paper

Note taking experience is taken to another level since these digital notes offer a paper like feel. You won’t have trouble writing down everything you need to know or organizing your notes even during your classes.

If you’re looking for a way to replace your notes without feeling the feel of a regular display – this is one of the best choices you can make.

Low Latency Canva Display

Writing down on some tablets might feel dreadful, and yet other tablets like Apple iPad offer a pretty amazing experience.

When it comes down to reMarkable digital notepad, its Canva display offers low-latency which enables quick and effortless writing. You won’t even notice you’re writing on a digital display.

Notes Conversion

Once you’re done writing down notes from your class, you can convert all your notes into digital written text that is nicely formatted.

In case you have to share your notes – this would help people easily understand your writing. We also find this feature to be ideal for people who don’t really like their handwriting yet are used to taking notes by hand.

This simple yet efficient feature allows for a quick & easier notes checking after the class

Among the best tablets for taking notes – you’ll find Microsoft Surface Pro since it is one of the tablets considered to be fully ready to replace a laptop experience.

Decently-sized thin-bezel display
Great responsiveness
Highly versatile design
Surface Pen is sold separately

Tablet with a Versatility of a Laptop

As mentioned earlier, you are able to ditch your laptop and replace it with a Surface Pro 7 tablet. You will still have the same versatility style of being able to use this tablet along with the keyboard, mouse, or in a studio mode.

However, one of the biggest benefits is the portability which is increased by 10 times in comparison to the most modern regular laptops.

Standout Design

12” is a great size to take notes without feeling like you’re writing on a digital screen and yet you’ll still have enough of space to rest your wrist while writing.

How about when you’re not working? You can enjoy the studio laptop that allows you to read your notes hands-free.

All-Day Battery Life & Thin-Bezel Display

You won’t have to worry about the battery life. Charge it overnight and use it throughout the day without carrying your charger with you.

Thin bezel display enhances the paper-feel experience but also increases focus during the class.

We’ve also noticed that no matter which Microsoft Surface you go for – you’ll most likely always end up with an all-day battery that will keep you pushing even when other tablets can’t.

If you’d like to replace handwritten notes with digital writing and yet you’d like to stay away from a number of operating systems – Sony introduces an ideal digital paper tablet for this situation.

Paper-like large display
Super-long lasting battery
WiFi capability
Transferring files is made out to be a bit complex

High-Quality Display

10.3” display offers a high contrast level along with the low-glare feature to ensure comfortable writing experience with plenty of comfort.

Of course, the whole experience is going to have you thinking that you’re writing on a paper-like texture. Whether you’re reading or writing notes – this display won’t cause headaches and instead, it’s going to offer comfort throughout the day.

Paper-Like Texture

Technically, this is a regular display. On the other hand, it’s a paper-like texture that is going to make highlighting, annotations, and erasing a lot easier than it already is on the paper.

Pressure sensitivity is just right and you won’t even feel like you’re pressing the pen against the display. When in reality, you will be doing the same thing you’ve been doing for a long time now, just with the ability to have all your notes stored digitally with easier access.

Therefore, when you consider the price of this Sony digital paper tablet – it offers true value considering everything it offers and the change it can help you make.

Amazing Battery Life

Unlike other tablets that are made for entertainment and plenty of other options – Sony dedicated this tablet to everyone who decided to turn notes into the digital form.

Therefore, battery life is up to a week on a single charge which means you will have to charge it only 3 or 4 times a month.

If you’re looking for an android tablet that will help you turn your notes into digital notes – this is probably the best android tablet you’ll find on our list, and you’ll find out why down below

Large Full HD display
Lightweight and durable design
Compatible with almost any pen
No biometric security included

Full HD Minimal Bezel Display

Galaxy Tab A offers a 10.1-inch screen which utilizes a narrow bezel that maximizes viewing space.

With that being said, on this android tablet, everything looks great because of the full HD display that responds well to a touch. Most importantly – any pen is suitable with this screen!

Expandable Memory

It’s not likely that your notes will ever take up the whole space this 10.1-inch tablet offers, but it’s good to know that you will be able to expand the memory by inserting an additional microSD card.

However, it’s likely that you’ll be using this laptop for entertainment as well, so this is a great feature to have around. One thing we are sure of is that you will never lack space on a Samsung Galaxy Tab thanks to their smart implementation of an additional microSD slot.

Binge-Worthy Battery

The initial battery life advertised is 13 hours, however, if you only use this tablet for note-taking, we predict that you could get a lot longer battery life.

And with an operating system such as Android, you won’t have to worry that the tasks in the background are consuming a lot of your battery.

From all Android tablets we’ve tested, we can confirm that Samsung Galaxy Tab is one of the rare tablets that runs the official Android software (including updates) very smoothly. And then when you add up to this fact a binge-worthy battery, you’ll love doing everything on a tablet of this quality.

Lenovo introduces another great android tablet which can serve a great purpose for handwritten notes but also can be used with any pen which offers a great versatility for any type of a student.

Incredible 2K IPS display
Withdrawable side stand for better support
Suitable with any pen
There are very few accessories available for Tab 3

Even though Lenovo developed this quality 2K display for entertainment purposes – it’s perfectly suitable for anyone who needs a way to turn their notes into a digital format.

It’s a big IPS screen (10.1”) with crystal-clear image that makes responsiveness a top-notch. We can thank Lenovo for the development of this display, but also the Android operating system.

Such a combination offers incredible smoothness with an ideal viewing experience. You will love looking at this tablet no matter what you’re up to.

Multi-mode Position

This tablet is very well designed and we really like its side hinge which allows you to lift up the tablet during the table use so you can achieve even better comfort than you have when you write in the notebook.

Such type of design has been around for a long time now but Lenovo did really improve this design to another level. They’re one of the most innovative brands when it comes down to design so the users like you can experience their tablets in the best ways possible.

And we can guarantee that such combination of passion and product quality results in the production of the best tablets that can last for years before you even think about getting an upgrade.

Splash Proof

No matter where you use this tablet to take your notes – it’s not going to stop you from doing so even in the light rain.

This quality display is splash proof which is ideal for even cleaning it from fingerprints with a water-based solution.

Of course, this tablet won’t survive heavy rain or submerging into water – but splash proof is a simple yet overlooked feature that’s hard to find nowadays in the modern tablets.

Picking the Best Tablets for Taking Notes 2024

Even though most people start looking into the battery life, pen or level of pressure sensitivity a pen can produce – it’s all about the display.

Handwritten notes on a tablet are the best when they’re written on a high-quality display. Size of the display isn’t necessarily important as much as the type of a display, brightness, and overall responsiveness.

Most of the best tablets featured here such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab and iPad Pro provide some of the best displays you could want for note taking.

On the other hand, tables specifically made for handwritten notes such as the Royole RoWrite are a great way to get another type of display that’s perfect for this purpose.

If you have a look at tablets such as the Apple iPad Pro, Samsung Galaxy Tab, or even Microsoft Surface – what’s the one thing they all have in common?

It’s a very lightweight, thin, yet durable body design. They all feature a different operating system, but we would like to take an iPad Pro as a great example. It’s an extremely powerful tablet with one of the best yet the thinnest displays on the market.

However, it’s still featuring a design that you can take anywhere you go without feeling it weighing you down. That’s exactly what we think is important for someone who decides to find the best tablet to help them simplify their school or work tasks.

Without a pen, you won’t be able to do any writing – and even though most tablets don’t come with a pen, how do you know which pen do you need?

Not any pen will do and we highly recommend checking out the level of pressure sensitivity as this will let you know how sensitive the pen is and how responsive it will be.

Pens produced by the official tablet manufacturers such as the Surface Pen or Apple Pencil don’t come included. However, if you choose a tablet of these brands – we highly recommend purchasing the official accessory, if possible.

If you decide to purchase a third-party pen, levels of pressure is one of the main features to look out for, no matter which one of the best tablets we recommended you might have.

The last thing you want is a tablet that will slow you down or even become unresponsive in the most important moments.

Chances are, you will be taking notes at work or in school and processing power is one of the main 4 things you should look into every tablet you check out.

At least a dual-core processor is required, along with at least 4 GB of RAM, and at least 64 GB of memory. Anything better than this will offer better performance, for both writing and personal/entertainment use of the tablet.

We’ve listed some of the best tablets for handwritten notes so you don’t have to spend hours researching.

But even though we guarantee that any of these 7 tablets will make an ideal choice for the purpose – you should wisely inspect each one of them to find an ideal fit for your personal needs.

Now, not only you know how to choose a tablet whether it’s an Android or iOS tablet – but you also know how to choose a pen or an ideal screen.

What is your favorite tablet from the list? And what do you think is the most important feature of such a tablet?

Feel free to leave a comment down below, but also feel free to ask questions and we will do our best to help you out!

Kenny Trinh is a seasoned expert in the field of laptops and technology, boasting an extensive background enriched by years of hands-on experience and in-depth research. With a keen eye for innovation and a passion for staying ahead of the technological curve, Kenny has established himself as a trusted voice in the tech community. Holding a prestigious degree in Computer Science, he combines his academic insights with practical expertise to deliver valuable insights and recommendations to his readers and followers. Through his work, Kenny aims to demystify complex tech concepts, empowering individuals to make informed decisions and optimize their digital experiences.

Kenny Trinh

Best Reading Tablets: Get the Right Tablet for Your Books and Comics

Get reading done, but without a book.

Reading your favorite books on the go can be a difficult thing to do, especially if you’re already carrying about a million things with you, so turning to e-books may end up saving you from a backache. Whether you prefer an actual e-reader, like one of the best kindles or if you'd rather just read on one of the best tablets , that’s up to you – there are advantages to either.

TL;DR - These are the best tablets to read on:

Kindle Paperwhite 2021
Kindle Fire HD 8
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite
Boox Note Air3

To have a great experience when reading an e-book, you need a tablet with a good screen that's easy to handle. While dedicated e-readers are fantastic, you can simply install apps to read your e-books on a regular tablet as well.

1. Kindle Paperwhite

The best kindle and best reading tablet.

Great illuminated display and battery life
Water-resistant
No wireless charging

The Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is king among e-book readers. It's small enough that you can carry it anywhere, with battery that'll last for days. The Kindle Paperwhite features a 6.8-inch e-Ink screen with a 300 ppi resolution, which is ideal for reading since there’s no glare to speak of and little to no blue light. Even better, the Paperwhite has 17 LEDs to light up the display from the sides, making it super comfortable to read in any condition.

The Kindle Paperwhite is one of the best ways to read books, allowing us to focus on the book and eliminating all outside distractions such as app notifications, emails, calls, and so on. It’s just you and your book. If necessary, the Kindle’s browser gives you access to anything you need to research.

2. iPad Mini

Best ipad for reading.

Fantastic display
Compact and portable
Screen glare due to glossy screen

If you’re caught in the Apple universe, then you’re going to want an iPad mini to read your books. It’s a smaller tablet, measuring just 8.3 inches, but it’s still an iPad. It has a Liquid Retina display, which is gorgeous and you can adjust the screen brightness to match whatever you need when reading. Thanks to the True Tone technology, the iPad will automatically adjust the display’s color temperature based on the ambient light conditions, which is always great.

At the same time, the iPad mini features Apple’s A15 chipset, which means it’s quite a powerful device, being able to run any app you want, from social media to streaming to games. This is also a super light tablet so you can easily carry it with you anywhere you go while also holding it in a single hand when lying in bed and trying to get through another chapter. The only downside is battery life – at least when compared to an e-reader – because you’ll need to charge the iPad mini pretty frequently. Apple boasts that it has battery life of about 10 hours, but if you watch videos and so on, you’ll get much less than that.

3. Kindle Fire HD 8

Best tablet for reading comics.

Long battery life
Lower resolution

If you’re looking for a budget-friendly tablet that will also serve as a great platform to read comics on, then the Fire HD 8 may be a solid option. Not only is this Amazon tablet compact enough to carry anywhere you want to go or to hold in one hand when you’re trying to finish another issue, but it’s also super affordable. Since you can get this one for as low as $65 during sale events, you can’t expect it to be a speed devil with a fantastic screen and fabulous battery.

So, while it may not be the best tablet out there, you can launch the Kindle app to read your books or comics, use Alexa to control various smart home devices or scroll through TikTok while still reeling from that one scene you just finished reading. The Fire HD 8 even has a decent battery life, so you’ll do just fine using this tablet for reading.

4. Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite

Best Android Tablet for Reading

Large and bright display
Comes with an S-Pen for note-taking
LCD screens could tire your eyes easily

If you want an Android tablet, then the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is a great option. While it’s slightly larger than other tablets on our list, we picked it over other models for its screen quality. With a resolution of 2000 x 1200 pixels, you’ll get crisp and clear letters even if you do go for a smaller font size.

The Tab S6 Lite also comes with an S Pen, so you can easily take notes based on what you read. What’s more, since this is an Android tablet, you can do everything you do on your phone – watch movies, doomscroll through social media, play games, and so on. You also get a wide range of e-book and audiobook apps to choose from.

5. Boox Note Air3

Best Reading and Writing Tablet

Large E-Ink display
Allows note-taking

The Boox Note Air3 is a bit more expensive than other tablets for reading, but it will easily cover all your reading and writing needs. This is an Android tablet with an E-Ink screen, meaning you get the same fantastic reading experience as a Kindle. There’s no glare and your eyes will be less tired than when reading on an LCD screen since there’s no blue light to speak of.

The Boox Note Air 3 will also replace your notebooks because you can use the stylus to write down your thoughts, make lists, and so on. You can install whatever Android apps you want to, but keep in mind that the E-Ink screen has loads of limitations when it comes to watching videos or playing games. So, while the tablet does have the power to do everything else an Android tablet can do, not even setting the maximum refresh rate available will help this screen deliver a decent video.

How to Choose the Best Reading Tablet

Choosing the best reading tablet requires careful consideration of several factors to ensure that the device meets your specific needs. Whether you're an avid reader delving into novels, a student reviewing textbooks, or a professional keeping up with all the files your boss keeps sending, selecting the right tablet can significantly enhance your reading experience.

One of the main things you have to look into is the display's quality. The screen is where your eyes will spend most of their time, making display quality paramount. Eye comfort is also crucial, especially for extended reading sessions. Tablets with blue light reduction features or e-ink technology, which mimics the appearance of paper, can help reduce eye strain. E-Ink screens are easier on the eyes, but LCDs are more versatile if you want to use the same tablet for multiple purposes.

Long battery life is essential for uninterrupted reading, especially when on the move. Looking into tablets with a solid battery life will ensure that you can enjoy your books, magazines, or documents without constantly worrying about finding the next power outlet.

Lastly, size and weight affect how comfortably you can hold the tablet for long periods. While larger screens provide more immersive reading experiences, they should not compromise the device's portability. A lightweight, slim design makes it easier to carry your tablet in a bag or even hold it with one hand.

Best Tablets for Reading FAQ

What is the best tablet for reading?

If you want a device that’s fantastic for reading, then the Kindle Paperwhite is the one to choose. It has a great screen, it’s comfortable to use for long hours, has a great battery life and it’s even IPX8 waterproof. If you’re looking for a device that can help you multitask, then you’re going to want to get the iPad Mini or the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, depending if you prefer iOS or Android.

Are tablets good for reading books?

Sure they are, but you’re going to be well aware that regular LCD screens will tire your eyes much faster than an e-Ink model. Battery life is also something you’ll want to keep in mind because tablets don’t last as long as a Kindle, for instance, since their hardware is more demanding.

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The 5 best ReMarkable alternatives in 2024

G enerally ruling the roost when it comes to offering one of the best smart notebook experiences, the ReMarkable isn’t the only smart notebook you can check out. There are plenty of alternatives around and if you’re keen to try something new, we’re here to help with some guidance as to what to buy if you want the smart notebook experience but not a ReMarkable.

There are many different options around so we’ve narrowed things down to the very best alternatives including some great budget choices if you’re trying to keep costs down or you haven’t entirely thrown yourself into the smart notebook world and want to try something out. Check out the list below to see what suits your needs, including some major brands and popular smart notebooks.

The best ReMarkable alternatives in 2024

Buy the Kindle Scribe if you want a great ebook reading experience.
Buy the Kobo Elipsa if you want a big screen writing experience.
Buy the Boox Note Air 3 if you want an Android tablet as well as smart notebook.
Buy the Supernote X if you want the best note-taking experience.
Buy the Rocketbook Mini if you want a cheap solution.

Kindle Scribe

Best for a great ebook solution.

Also one of the best Kindles , the Kindle Scribe is easily one of the most accessible smart notebooks around. It combines all the functionality of a Kindle with the benefits of writing too. Its 10.2-inch, 300ppi display looks great being front-lit and glare-free, so you gain a more paper-like experience.

If you’re reading, you can take handwritten notes as you go along, while you can also mark up directly on PDFs or create sticky notes in Microsoft Word. Supremely flexible, it also offers plenty of brush types depending on how you want to emphasize things while a lasso tool helps you control things and gather notes together. It all works well to make a highly comprehensive smart notebook experience.

Check Price

Kobo Elipsa 2E

Best for a big screen writing experience.

For the largest screen experience, the Kobo Elipsa 2E is great if you want to see things easily, have vision issues, or simply want to go big. It also offers plenty of flexibility as you can write notes in the margins, as well as underline and circle key segments. Choices extend to being able to write like a standard notebook or switch over to inserting diagrams or converting your handwriting to text.

The only true downside to the Kobo Elipsa 2E is that it can be ever so slightly more sluggish than others to react to your writing or drawing. Still, it’s worth the minor hassle given how well it works elsewhere, right down to its huge ebook marketplace that actually rivals the Kindle store. Handy if you have more ambitions than just writing with your smart notebook.

Boox Note Air 3

Best android tablet hybrid.

Highly flexible, the Boox Note Air 3 is the device for when you can’t decide whether to buy a tablet or smart notebook. It comes with Android 12 preinstalled so you can download apps as well as watch videos and do everything else you’d expect from a tablet. While we wouldn’t recommend using the Boox Note Air 3 exclusively for video watching given its e-ink screen won’t compete with ‘proper’ tablets, it’s still tempting as a form of middle ground.

When writing, you get to enjoy very low latency with a number of brush options giving you plenty of flexibility. It offers many page templates or you can import PDFs and other documents to add to your options. Manually transferring documents is simple enough. Other useful features include AI recondition which translates a whole page’s handwriting into typed text and proves to be mostly accurate. It’s a well-rounded package that is really useful throughout your daily use.

Supernote X

Best note-taking experience.

The Supernote X is a fantastic replacement to a regular notebook. It has a FeelWrite screen protector that feels different to use compared to a regular e-paper screen while it comes with a pen that feels weighty and like a ‘proper’ pen. Thanks to those things, the Supernote X is a great writing experience but it goes further still.

It has some pretty great extras like extensive page templates, easy ways to import new ones, vast file format support, and more. It’s simple to translate handwritten notes into typed text, while you can bookmark key phrases to find easily later on. It lacks much app support outside of the very basics and there’s no backlight, but its writing experience is second to none.

Rocketbook Mini

Best budget smart notebook.

Far cheaper than other options here, the Rocketbook Mini is great for a basic smart notebook experience. While it isn’t a tablet, it provides a traditional pen-and-paper experience that can be easily reused as much as you need to. Just write in it with the Pilot FriXion pen and your notes are soon stored digitally. You can scan them directly with your smartphone or send them to one of many cloud storage services as needed.

The advantage here is that once you’ve done that, you wipe the page clean and start over so effectively, the Rocketbook Mini is never going to expire and fail to work again. It’s also very small so you can easily fit it in your pocket or bag, rather than the bulky situation of some of the tablet-based smart notebooks above. Sure, it’s limited but it’s also perfect in its simplicity and a good starting point to the smart notebook world.

How we chose these best ReMarkable alternatives

Finding the right smart notebook for you that isn’t a ReMarkable can feel overwhelming. There are a lot of different smart notebooks around but the quality can change drastically depending on the brand and price. Below, we’ve listed how we picked out the best ReMarkable alternatives along with some further insight into what to consider before buying a new smart notebook.

The writing experience

Ultimately, you’ll be writing a lot with your smart notebook so you want the experience to feel good. You want the pen to feel comfortable against ‘paper’ and you also want latency to be pretty low so there’s no stuttering getting in the way of your experience. While all the smart notebooks listed above include a pen or stylus, not all do so make sure you don’t have to pay extra for a vital addition.

How does it look?

As well as writing, you’ll also be doing a fair amount of reading and studying of your smart notebook screen. You want the experience to feel good on your eyes and generally comfortable. That’s where a large display can help but also check resolution levels and pixel density. Don’t go too low on any of these otherwise, the display might look pretty lousy.

Check how well it plays with others

You want a smart notebook that supports many different file types as well as makes it simple to import new content from other devices, as well as just as easy to export documents too. Cloud syncing can be a major bonus as well although it isn’t always essential. Make sure that whichever smart notebook you buy plays nicely with your other devices so you’re not stuck with your notes trapped on one device.

This article is managed and created separately from the Digital Trends Editorial team.

The 5 best ReMarkable alternatives in 2024

IMAGES

The Top 10 Best E-Notes and Writing Tablets for 2021 (2022)
Best Tablets for Note-Taking 2023
Best Tablet for Note Taking 2019 (Windows · Android · Apple)
Best Tablets for Note-Taking in 2022
reMarkable 2 review: A ‘paper tablet’ that can replace notebooks
reMarkable 2 review: A ‘paper tablet’ that can replace notebooks

VIDEO

paper note
Samsung Tablet is the best Android Tablet to take Handwriting notes
paper note
Paper note #note #papernotes
The best tablets in 2023: top 11 tablets you can buy now
Perfect Tablet for Note-taking? Check out the Huawei MatePad 11 PaperMatte! #shorts

COMMENTS

Best Writing Tablets 2024
Best Writing Tablet Overall: Remarkable 2. Best Writing Tablet For Annotating Books: Kobo Elipsa 2E. Best E-Ink E-reader And Writing Tablet Combo: Amazon Kindle Scribe. Best Color E Ink Writing ...
Best E Ink Tablets for 2024: Devices Made for Reading and Writing
ReMarkable 2. The ReMarkable 2 is the best E Ink tablet for students who love to take lots of handwritten notes. It is only 0.19 inches thick and 0.88 pounds, which makes it light and easy to ...
The best note-taking tablets of 2024: Tested and reviewed
Reviewed by Nina Raemont. Apple iPad Air (5th generation) Best note-taking tablet overall. View at Amazon. Microsoft Surface Go 3. Best lightweight note-taking tablet. View at Best Buy. Amazon ...
Best note-taking tablets in 2024
Expensive. $650 at Amazon $650 at Best Buy. If you're considering the Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C Pro, it's probably because of its color E Ink display. Where most electrophoretic displays are ...
The best E Ink tablets for 2024
Amazon Kindle Scribe (16 GB) the first Kindle and digital notebook, all in one, with a 10.2" 300 ppi Paperwhite display, includes Premium Pen. Best e-reader E Ink tablet. $370 at Amazon ...
Best tablets for taking notes in 2024
The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 combines class-leading performance with some of the best note-taking software features on an Android tablet. The included S-Pen has just 2.8ms of latency, which makes it ...
The Best Writing Tablets for 2024
Cons. Pricey. The Galaxy Tab S8 is a powerful tablet for taking notes and drawing, and at solid processing speeds. With a screen size of just over 14 inches, this device offers a large, beautiful ...
Home
A paper-like surface. Incredible responsiveness. Minimal pen-to-ink distance. Crisp black ink. reMarkable 2 looks and feels like paper. A combination of cutting edge digital paper technology and ultra-thin high-friction surface materials, allows the second-generation CANVAS display to deliver an unprecedented paper experience.
The 5 Best Tablets for Note-Taking
Best Budget: Amazon Fire HD 10. Amazon. Buy on Amazon. If you're looking for a note-taking tablet, but have to stick to a budget, the Amazon Fire HD 10 is an excellent option. This tablet may be entry-level, but it still has tons of great features for home and office-based professionals. The 10.1-inch display is great for reading and editing ...
Best E-Ink Tablet 2024: The top paper-like devices
Full access to the Google Play Store. Fast performance in spite of its e-ink technology. Writing is smooth and fluid. The keyboard accessory makes sense here. Cons. The UI lacks the simplicity of ...
Review: ReMarkable 2 Tablet
The $399 price is for the tablet alone, and doesn't include the Marker stylus ($49) or the Folio ($69) case, though the company is currently bundling those two accessories with the reMarkable 2 ...
The 7 Best Tablets For Note-Taking In 2022
Here are some of the best tablets for note-taking that make it easier than ever to get and stay organized. 1. The Best For Apple Users. 2021 Apple iPad Pro (11-inch, Wi-Fi, 256GB) $849. See On Amazon.
Best E-ink Tablets of 2024
The best e-ink tablet you can buy right now is the reMarkable 2. The reMarkable 2 boasts a sleek and stylish design, with a thin build that will allow it to easily slot into any backpack or bag ...
The Best Tablets for Note-Taking in 2023
Best Note-Taking Tablet Overall: Microsoft Surface Pro 9. Microsoft. The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is our favorite tablet for note-taking. It's a versatile tablet that you can convert into a 2-in-1 device by purchasing the Signature Keyboard. It's also compatible with the excellent Slim Pen 2 for a complete note-taking setup.
The Best Tablets for Taking Notes
If you want a note taking tablet that has the flexibility of a Windows 10 laptop and an excellent pen, the best choice is the 10.5-inch Surface Go 2. The Surface Go 2 is easy to carry, weighing in ...
4 Best E-Ink Digital Paper Tablets of 2023
4 - BOOX Nova 3 Color. Boox is a trusted designer and the Nova 3 Color is sure to pave the way for more color devices! BOOX is known for creating excellent e-readers and e-notebooks, but they're the first modern company to release a colorized e-ink tablet that allows for writing.
10 Best Smart Notebooks and Smart Pens (2023): Tablets, Digital Pens
Skip the tablet and write directly on paper with a smart pen instead. The Neo Smartpen M1+ is the thinnest and lightest of all the pens I tried, which makes it feel a bit more like your standard pen.
Which ePaper Tablet Is Best for Digital Notes?
It's format agnostic. The Nova3 works with PDF files as you'd expect, but also MOBI and EPUB files and Word documents. The Nova3 wins on versatility, but it does come at a cost. While the ...
Onyx Boox Note Air 3 review: A large e-reader that's terrific at taking
The Boox Note Air 3 has a 3,700mAh battery, and the e-reader lasts a week between charges even with heavy use. I read two books over the course of a week and took notes daily, and the battery was ...
The best e-ink tablet
Enjoy e-books and get the feel of real pen on paper, with the best e-ink tablet chosen by our experts. (Image credit: Onyx/Note-Air) Jump To: 1. Best for notes 2. Best for writing 3. Best colour 4. Best large 5. Best budget ... The best e-ink tablet for note-taking (Image credit: Onyx) 01. Onyx Note Air 2 Plus. The best e-ink tablet for ...
The 5 Best Tablets for 2024
An upgrade for multitaskers and creatives: Apple iPad Pro (M2) The best Android tablet: Google Pixel Tablet. A budget tablet for media: Amazon Fire HD 8. The best ebook reader: Amazon Kindle.
10 Best Writing Tablets 2023 (Latest Models)
The Notebook feature in the tablet mimics that of original pen and paper, streamlining your note-taking experience. Coming to the Kobo Stylus 2, this wireless stylus is ergonomically designed for a faster writing experience and is rechargeable so you can use it anywhere that you take the device. ... The best writing tablet working on Android ...
Best note-taking tablet in 2024
Lenovo Tab P11 (2nd Gen) - 2023. If you were scouring the market for the best mid-range tablet for note-taking, then look no further than the Lenovo Tab P11. To begin with, it features a powerful MediaTek octa-core processor with 4GB RAM.
The 5 best digital notepads in 2024 will free you from paper ...
Best digital notepad and e-reader combo: Amazon Kindle Scribe. Best compact digital notepad: Moleskine Smart Writing Set. Best digital notepad with a color display: Boox Note Air3 C. Best digital ...
Best Note Taking Tablets 2024
Microsoft Surface Pro 7. Among the best tablets for taking notes - you'll find Microsoft Surface Pro since it is one of the tablets considered to be fully ready to replace a laptop experience. Decently-sized thin-bezel display. Great responsiveness. Highly versatile design.
Best Reading Tablets: Get the Right Tablet for Your Books and Comics
Boox Note Air3. Best Reading and Writing Tablet. ... Tablets with blue light reduction features or e-ink technology, which mimics the appearance of paper, can help reduce eye strain. E-Ink screens ...
The 5 best ReMarkable alternatives in 2024
Buy the Kindle Scribe if you want a great ebook reading experience. Buy the Kobo Elipsa if you want a big screen writing experience. Buy the Boox Note Air 3 if you want an Android tablet as well ...

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The best note-taking tablets: Expert tested

The best note-taking tablets of 2024

Microsoft Surface Go 3

Amazon Kindle Scribe

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Amazon Fire Max 11

What is the best note-taking tablet?

Which note-taking tablet is right for you?

How did we choose these note-taking tablets?

Do I need a stylus for a note-taking tablet?

What are the best note-taking apps?

Does the Apple Pencil convert handwriting to text?

Are there alternative note-taking tablets worth considering?

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ReMarkable 2: You'll never need paper notebooks again

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Amazon Fire Max 11: Amazon's best tablet yet

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Microsoft Surface Pro 9: A master of versatility

The bottom line: best note-taking tablet

How did we choose the best note-taking tablets?

Q: Are there any advantages to E Ink over a color screen?

Q: Do styli for note-taking need replacing or refills over time?

The best E Ink tablets for 2024

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What to look for in an E Ink tablet

Search functionality

Sharing and connectivity

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