We may earn compensation from reviewed products. Learn about our editorial policies.
-
Design8
-
Display8
-
Features6.5
-
Battery life8
-
Accessories6
-
Value for Money7
The reMarkable 2 remains one of the most niche products I’ve reviewed. It’s expensive, earmarked by a questionable monthly subscription, and doesn’t do 95% of the stuff of which its nearest tablet rivals are capable.
If you’re wondering whether the reMarkable 2 is worth it now it’s cheaper – it is. It’s a brilliant gadget, and for serious digital notetakers, it offers loads of bang for the buck in the long run.
Now, we have a new version – the reMarkable Paper Pro. It’s got some interesting features above and beyond the reMarkable 2, but has an even higher price point, and, therefore, presents an even tougher buying decision.
I think I’ve figured it out, though.
Specs and pricing
The reMarkable Paper Pro is roughly A4 size (10.8 x 7.8 x 0.20 inches, to be exact) and has an 11.8-inch Canvas Color display with a 2160 x 1620 resolution.
Powering proceedings is the 1.8GHz quad-core Cortex A53 and 2GB of RAM. There’s 64GB of storage for all of your fancy notes, and a 5,030mAh battery which promises up to two weeks of use. It also comes with either the Marker or Marker Plus (depending on your budget), and you can add a regular folio or keyboard folio to the basket too if you wish.
The reMarkable Paper Pro is £559 (£210 more than the reMarkable 2), but there is a “risk-free” 100-day trial on offer, where you’ll receive a full refund if you’re not satisfied with it during that time.
The addition of the Marker Plus adds £40, the folios are either £79 or £219, respectively, and then we have the Connect subscription. Without it, your notes are only backed up online if they’ve been synced within the last 50 days. With Connect, you get automatic, unlimited cloud storage, the ability to view your notes across devices, and a three-year Protection Plan which is basically an extended warranty for the tablet.
When you buy the reMarkable Paper Pro, you get a 100-day trial of Connect, after which it’s either £2.99 per month or 12 months for the price of 10 if you pay annually.
So, if you spec up your reMarkable Paper Pro fully with the fancy extras and take into account the annual price of the Connect subscription after your free trial, you’re looking at about £850. For a tablet that isn’t a tablet but which is a digital A4 notepad.
This had better be good, eh?
What is the reMarkable Paper Pro like to use?
If you haven’t used a reMarkable before, I can confirm that the paper-like feel is top-notch. Put simply, it’s very satisfying to use – addictive, even. The sound the marker makes on that display plays a big role in this, too. It’s not quite pencil-like, but it’s not far off.
It is the best digital handwriting note-taking device on the market – hands down.
As for the display, it’s best described as a massive Kindle you can write on. The Paper Pro benefits from two things over the reMarkable 2 – colour and a backlight. The latter is genuinely useful if you work in dimly lit environments, and the addition of colour is useful, if not game-changing.
The colours look good on screen and there’s just enough to choose from. The only thing that’s a little disconcerting is the fact your coloured scribblings initially appear in black – the reMarkable fills in the colour a second afterwards. I assume this must be due to the screen tech in use, but it still catches me out each time I switch colours.
The operating system is as simple as you’d expect, but for good reason – it doesn’t need to be any more complicated than giving you the option to organise your notes and export them if required. There’s a shedload of template sheets to choose from that include everything from standard lined and dotted paper to grids, storyboards, music scoring, planners, and calligraphy.
You can convert your handwriting to text on the reMarkable Paper Pro, too. It works well, although this tablet best excels in the arena it’s meant for – handwriting; I feel that if you stray too far into the realm of typed notes, you’ll want your reMarkable to do more than what it’s capable of (which is why I think the keyboard folio accessory is a questionable option).
In terms of build quality, the reMarkable Paper Pro delivers plenty of value for money. It’s not going to win any design awards, but it’s relatively light and thin enough to not prove problematic during transport. It also feels solid; this is a very well-made piece of kit.
Who is the reMarkable Paper Pro for?
I’ve always struggled with this question. Despite this, I’ve seen a fair few reMarkables on my travels. I’m also acutely aware that in my girlfriend’s industry (acupuncture), it’s a common tool for patient journalling. The aforementioned wide array of note templates also provides a hint as to the kind of use cases for which the Paper Pro is built.
I appreciate my slightly skewed view of reMarkable usage (observing users at tech press events and my partner’s choice of work isn’t exactly exhaustive consumer research), but the fact reMarkable still exists at all suggests that there is a market for this very expensive digital notepad.
I think the user base falls into four categories.
The first is serious digital note-takers. I don’t number amongst that crowd at all, but I know it exists. Put simply, if digital note-taking is something you get up for in the morning, you’re going to love the reMarkable Paper Pro.
The second is the ‘gadget fiend’. That’s not a derogatory term, I promise (arguably, I’m one) – it just refers to someone who wants the latest and greatest everything and the reMarkable Paper Pro does fit into that category for note-taking.
The third is high rollers for whom a regular notepad a pen aren’t enough. If you’ve got the budget for a very expensive handwritten note-taking device, why wouldn’t you head into your next airport lounge armed with a reMarkable Paper Pro?
The last category is people who want to take handwritten notes digitally but find tablets distracting due to the constant threat of incoming notifications and the ever-present availability of far more exciting apps and media consumption platforms.
The problem with the reMarkable Paper Pro
The biggest problem with the reMarkable Paper Pro is that the iPad exists. More specifically – the iPad mini, which is now in its seventh generation and, despite what many feel is a tepid update, remains Apple’s best tablet. You can read my iPad Mini 7 review here if you’re interested.
The iPad mini 7 is cheaper than the reMarkable Paper Pro, and it’s a full-blown tablet, which means you can do loads more with it, beyond note-taking. You can also attach a Paperlike screen protector and get almost the same level of paper-ish feel as the reMarkable.
I’m also a bigger fan of the iPad mini’s form factor and size for note-taking. It’s lighter and thinner than the reMarkable Paper Pro, too, and there’s no monthly subscription if you want to back up all of your stuff and device settings forever.
The iPad mini is a tablet, though, and for some people, as noted earlier, that might mean it’s just one magical box of distractions too far to be of use to serious digital note-taking experts. I get that. But I’d also go for the iPad mini over the reMarkable, personally.
reMarkable 2 vs reMarkable Paper Pro
A fairer comparison for the reMarkable Paper Pro is against its older and cheaper sibling, the reMarkable 2.
For £210 less, the reMarkable 2 is slightly smaller (both in terms of the tablet and the display) – but it’s also lighter and thinner, which might be preferable for some buyers. There’s no colour display – nor is the display backlit on the reMarkable 2.
You also get a lot less storage – 8GB vs 64GB, to be exact, and there’s a smaller battery (although the same usage duration is quoted) that takes longer to charge.
Lastly, the reMarkable 2 has a higher latency for the Marker than the Paper Pro, but it’s pretty hard to spot the difference when you get down to the business of taking notes on either tablet.
If the price of the Paper Pro is too much to bear but you’re very keen on the distraction-free note-taking on offer, the reMarkable 2 is a far easier purchase.
Conclusion
The reMarkable Paper Pro is still a very expensive way to take digital handwritten notes. However, it is technically very impressive and, if you’ve got the budget and inclination, it’ll be something you fall in love with pretty quickly.
Just please keep in mind that this is solely a digital notebook. That’s one of its greatest strengths, arguably, but it also places a huge degree of importance on the person using it; you have to be the sort of person who gets this kind of gadget, immediately. It’ll become an expensive drawer item, otherwise.
The fact reMarkable offers a risk-free 100-day returns policy demonstrates that they’re confident you’re going to enjoy the Paper Pro. I certainly am enjoying it, but I didn’t buy it, and if asked, I’d still opt for the iPad mini instead.
Before you go
Join my newsletter list for a weekly behind-the-scenes video of a tech content creator!
This post includes affiliate links
Some images courtesy of reMarkable.
