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Never have I gone back and forth more on if I think a product is 150% worth its price tag to why anyone would need this than this reMarkable Paper Pro. With the accessories and tablet that the brand gave me, this has a price tag north of $1000 ($1008 to be exact). So, is it worth giving up a web browser, camera, applications, email, and so much more for a simplistic device that strictly replaces your paper notebook? That’s what I wanted to see.
Now, I’m no foreigner to these digital notebooks, and I also had a chance to test out the Supernote Manta and Nomad over here. However, reMarkable stands out as a much more dedicated unit, with no way to sideload Android apps or email, and is restricted to just what reMarkable allows.
This slightly reminds me of the Light Phone 2 that I also removed. The goal is to give simplicity, quality, and distraction-free writing (whether it be typed or handwritten).
What is the reMarkable Paper Pro?
I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
- The writing (drawing) experience is the best I've used
- Fantastic templates, with more possibilities
- The large display works well
- The front light is a welcome feature
- No access to the Kindle App
- This thing is a heavyweight
- It's incredibly expensive
The reMarkable Paper Pro tablet is the brand’s top-of-the-line minimalist digital tablet. This includes things like an 11.8″ Canvas Color display (yes, it is color e-ink) that weighs 1.16 pounds. It has a NXP iMX8 Mini processor with 2GB of RAM and 64GB of onboard storage. The whole thing is powered by a 5,030 mAh battery, which gets it around 2 weeks of battery life (depending on what you do with it and if you use the front light).
As for actually writing, it uses a “market,” which is essentially a stylus. I have the Marker Plus (which gives it an eraser on the back of the marker), and it has the standard 4,096 levels of pressure detection that just about everyone has nowadays.
reMarkable also offers desktop and phone apps that allow you to sync files across your devices.
What do I like about the reMarkable Paper Pro?
1. The writing (drawing) experience is the best I’ve used
If your #1 goal with your next digital notebook is to get a true-to-life pencil-like writing experience, I haven’t seen a better one than the reMarkable Paper Pro. The marker feels much like a pencil, is comfortable in the hand, and works well. However, I think the display and software behind the writing experience are what take the cake.
First off, the way the marker and the texture of the display work together truly does feel like a pencil moving along on the display (unlike the more ballpoint pen-like display of the Manta). So, if you want the pencil feel, this is it.
As for the software side, I haven’t seen a tablet that acts more like a pencil (which is my personal favorite setting, as you can choose plenty of others). The thing that stands out for me is that if you hold the marker at a 90-degree angle, it produces a thin and dark line. However, as you start to tilt the marker to the side while drawing, you start to see a wider mark with a more sketch-like appearance. It really is impressive seeing it at work.
2. Fantastic templates, with more possibilities
Now, one of the best things about a digital notebook is the templates. These templates allow you to do just about anything with your device. No more hunting down physical notebooks that allow for your style of to-do lists, your productivity graphs, drawing in perspective, and more.
With a reMarkable like this one (Paid Link), you have all of those in one device and an infinite amount of pages (of which all have infinite scroll downward as well). That said, reMarkable has the most onboard templates I’ve seen, but they also have something called reMarkable Methods, which is part of their paid service (which the brand also gave me free access to) and gives you so many more templates that are easy to import to your device.
If you like to have tons of different types of notebooks lying around, all for different purposes and styles, this could replace just about all of them better than any others.
3. The large display works well
The 11.8″ display (from corner to corner) of this unit is definitely the ideal size for note-taking, as it gives you plenty of space for note-taking and is even better for drawing (if that’s what you call what I scribble anyways). Compound that with the fact that it offers color eInk (which is a bigger deal than it sounds).
4. The front light is a welcome feature
While most people will likely not need the front light on the Paper Pro, it does make it one of the few digital notebooks that does offer this feature. You can easily change the brightness of the display, which is helpful not only at night but also in giving you a bit better visibility in any situation that isn’t direct sunlight, as the surface of the tablet isn’t perfectly light and sometimes can be a bit dark without the backlight.
What do I not like about the Paper Pro?
1. No access to the Kindle App
Alright, there’s something about this tablet that just infuriates me, and that is access to the Kindle App. All of my ebooks are on Kindle, and for good reason! It’s a massive marketplace with millions of books, and it syncs across all of my devices… except this one.
reMarkable (unlike tablets like Supernote) is not based on Android. This means all of the Android apps can’t be sideloaded or used in any way on the reMarkable. So there’s absolutely no way to make it happen, and it annoys me. This is by far the main reason I find myself switching back and forth between this and my Manta (of which I have a full comparison of these two tablets here), as it annoys me having to carry my Kindle Paperwhite whenever I’m daily driving the Paper Pro (especially considering the Paper Pro’s weight).
2. This thing is a heavyweight
As I just mentioned, this digital notebook is hefty. At 1.16 pounds, it is significantly heavier than the competition. However, this gets even heavier when you add on things like a folio, and even more so with the typing folio that I also tested out.
I definitely noticed the tablet in my backpack (this is the one I normally use right now), and it’s a bit of a bummer. It also becomes a bit more cumbersome to carry it around my home, and I find I use it less than the competitors primarily because of this.
Sure, the Paper Pro has iPad Pro levels of build quality… but it comes at the cost of weight.
3. It’s incredibly expensive
As tested and reviewed, my reMarkable Paper Pro’s cost is $1008 (Paid Link) (and it sounds like it will be going up here shortly due to tariffs). That’s the same cost as a base model Macbook Air, an iPhone Pro model, or an 11″ iPad Pro, all of which can do similar things to this tablet. Its high price means it is going to be difficult for most people to justify.
However, if you are someone who is looking for digital minimalism and wants to cut back on their screen time while not losing out on build quality, this might be well worth it, just not quite as many people as you’d like to think.
So who is the Paper Pro for?
The Paper Pro is perfect for someone who is truly looking to cut back on their screen time while still being able to be digitally productive. It does an amazing job at keeping you on track, off of social media or the news, and on task.
I’ve found that people like me (a blogger and content creator), web developers, office workers, and artists would do well with this tablet. I specifically say for artists, as its different marker functions and realism are top-notch, and no one else comes close.
Who’s it not for? Someone who isn’t on the hunt for digital minimalism. You will quickly find shortcomings left and right when compared to something like an iPad Pro. If you feel like you’re good with a normal, full-fledged tablet, you won’t be happy with this one.
Where should you buy the reMarkable Paper Pro?
I get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.
- The writing (drawing) experience is the best I've used
- Fantastic templates, with more possibilities
- The large display works well
- The front light is a welcome feature
- No access to the Kindle App
- This thing is a heavyweight
- It's incredibly expensive
