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I'm always super intrigued by the reMarkable 2, but I think it's because it paints an image of the type of person I think it'd be cool to be, someone who can ju

I'm always super intrigued by the reMarkable 2, but I think it's because it paints an image of the type of person I think it'd be cool to be, someone who can just write down notes and draw stuff with a really cool, slim device. Someone who carries around moleskines and uses them, instead of just buying so many of them in different shapes and leaving them in a drawer packed to the brim with notebooks. The problem keeps coming back to the fact that I'm absolutely not the type of person who wants to carry that thing around everywhere and who likes or is good at hand writing or drawing. I realize I won't base all my life and processes around this one device that is also supposedly hard to get info off of easily into things like OneNote. If I was somewhere without a computer, then I wouldn't be carrying this big tablet on me. I've bought enough tablets and laptops with writable screens and MS surfaces over the years to know that I still never drew or took notes with the pen, but I still keep buying them hoping I will. The thing is still so cool and I want it, but maybe I'll wait for version 3 or 4 and extra disposable income that will go to waste on it!

edmundsauto 5y ago
This is pretty accurate, from someone who just got one as a gift. They are useful devices, however your criticism is spot on. That said, a couple big advantages I haven’t seen advertised: - I don’t have a dozen notebooks around, just one - easy to start a new notebook, plus the centralization, is sort of an “organized by default” mode - I can’t take notes on my computer, so it’s either this or paper - distraction free is good, and the physicality of the pen and screen is a much better experience than an iPad Your other criticisms are valid and a little too accurate. It’s still a useful device, there’s just a bit of a premium price because of the fancy factors you discussed.
- sork_hn 5y ago
  One of the things I love about mine - I never realized that I get 'anxiety' about wasting paper or space on paper. Being able to write and keep a few lines per page has been great.
  - edmundsauto 5y ago
    And being able to move text around once you write it!
DenisM 5y ago
Put a stack of 3x4 index cards in you back pocket, and write thing down as needed. In the evening, (eg when you pull keys/wallet out of the pocket) review the cards briefly and toss the used once into trash unless you really need to keep one. This is a low-commitment device that still achieves half the benefits of really writing things down.
- nemosaltat 5y ago
  When I was in the Navy I carried a little memoranda pad in my left breast pocket. I’d take notes each day, at the beginning of each new day, I’d carry any necessary information from the previous day to the next page and then fold the previous page along the diagonal, alternating the folds right and left each day. The effects of pulling out a notepad and jotting notes are markedly different than pulling out a phone or tablet- especially in a conversation or meeting. IME a phone signals disengagement, while a notepad signals the opposite. When I pulled out my pad, I could see body language and word choices change almost immediately. If it was a positive or neutral conversation, people tended to show appreciation for my interest in what was being said. If it was a negative interaction, people started to be much more careful about what they were saying. Now I carry an attaché case and use larger, more professional looking, notebooks. Even in the age of Zoom, I angle my camera to ensure it’s obvious I’m taking notes. Sure, it’s an extra step to digitize the important stuff, but I think it’s worth it.
  - NikolaNovak 5y ago
    I've noticed that early on; 15 years ago, I was keeping notes on a "feature phone with sliding keyboard". I was pulled by my manager for being disrespectful after the meeting; I showed him the notes and demonstrated that I was by far the most attention / had the best retention / was most involved in the meeting, but still... the message was - it looks unprofessional, stop it. Thing is: * My handwriting sucks (I literally can't read my own; I'm 42yo - don't tell me to practice / it'll improve, just don't be that arrogant ignoramus ;). * I'll never be organized on paper. Ever. My circles are potatoes, my lines are squiggles, and everything is all over the place and disheartening to read (I love whiteboards but it's a whole other thing, somehow) * I love love love my typed notes. I can type fast and asynchronously while I listen and look at the speaker. I can search them, retain them, review them, summarize them. But I'm aware that I'll always look disengaged on my laptop compared to somebody with their notebook :-/
musingsole 5y ago
The remarkable tablet allows me to go sit under a tree and design system diagrams or draw mindmaps. And then recover them for reference later. It's particularly helpful for work-thinking. For personal thoughts, having written/drawn them is often enough to cement them and I'll reference them months/years later as a novelty. But the core of all this is that the sitting-under-a-tree-habit came after the device. Before, it was a bit of a romantic idea I'd tried with moleskines, but it didn't really scratch my itches.
- samstave 5y ago
  You know what would be a dope addition to something like the remarkable: Voice memos, so you can add some audible context to each diagram
  - jeremyleach 5y ago
    Great idea.
samstave 5y ago
Omg, I am the king of moleskin unused notebooks. What was awesome though was when my then 3 year old daughter found one of the moleskins and a pen and did a bunch of scribbles on every 10 pages or so. I truly love that little moleskin. I just recently (last week) bought an outdoor log with graph paper and some other logs.... Your comment makes me want to prove you (myself) wrong and actually use it. I've always been impressed with the. Various engineers I have worked with, like John Blair of nerflix... he is really fn today keeping a solid tech journal
- CosmicShadow 5y ago
  I literally have this comic on my wall: https://poorlydrawnstore.com/products/nice-notebook-print https://poorlydrawnstore.com/products/nice-notebook-print I also just bought a super mini and thick notebook for $10 that I haven't used, but was just so cool looking. I still feel like an idiot for buying it, but maybe I will use it someday.
  - cstejerean 5y ago
    That’s perfect. That’s exactly how I felt about nice notebooks and that’s why the digital version is so much better for me. The freedom to erase and reorganize removes that anxiety.
  - deckard1 5y ago
    I have a $2 notebook from Muji sitting in my drawer but it's too nice to write in. It's $2!! Japan is on a whole other level with writing and stationary. Go to a Tokyo Hands or Muji and you'll feel like the type of person that should be writing constantly. I can't imagine we would fetishize writing so much if computers didn't exist.
    - nicbou 5y ago
      Those Muji notebooks are treat to write in. Do yourself a favour and start using yours. Once I finish my Moleskine I'm going back to those.
cstejerean 5y ago
For comparison I rarely use the pen on my iPad Pro. I think partially because of all the distractions, as soon as I grab my iPad there’s lots of other stuff I could be doing other than taking notes. And partially because the writing on glass never felt right. So it’s been more of an occasional use when I really need to sketch something. I was on the fence for the RM2 for a while for the same reasons you mentioned. Would I really use it? Well I got it recently after trying a friend’s and I’ve surprised myself by using it daily. We’ll see if the habit sticks but so far the killer feature for me compared to a notebook is being able to erase, move text around and insert pages. This makes me much more likely to just start jotting stuff down without being worried about “wasting” pages in a notebook. By the way the device I hear comes with a 30 day trial period for this very reason. Lots of people don’t know whether they would really use it. So you can order it, find out how it fits into your life and return it if it doesn’t.
- CoolGuySteve 5y ago
  The writing/drawing/painting experience of the Apple Pencil would be massively improved if it had a small high resolution haptic speaker similar to the Switch Joycons or Steam Controller to emulate different drawing tools and surfaces.
- CosmicShadow 5y ago
  I've looked at it seriously a while back when it was on presale, but it's definitely a heavy chunk of change, especially since I'm Canadian and have to pay the exchange rate prices. I do like the idea of no distractions and being able to move stuff around and organize it, unlike with paper, but most of my life is at home (since I'm self-employed) and I already have a computer on all 3 floors of my house that I'm usually at with OneNote and Notepad++ with a ton of tabs on each, so I'm worried that I'll never really use it unless I want to sit on the couch and focus, but then will I be wishing I had all my subsequent notes and such already on OneNote and in my various notepad++ tabs? What happens when I go back and sit at my computer for the majority of the day where I do work, play, research, side businesses etc.? Do I need some stand and will I just be cross copying notes back and forth? Is it something I can comfortably hold and write on while sitting on a couch, or on some random chair or while leaning against a wall? Or am I going to be doing weird grips and being forced to counterbalance my writing on a floating pad if it's not sitting on a desk? I find writing in a small notebook way harder if it's not just on a table, so even that already worries me. Will I get less legible or not be able to as effectively write on the entire surface area of the device while holding it if not on a desk or having it setup on my lap (which may not even be that feasible without some cushion or stand)? A 30 day trial could definitely help me figure this out, but I'm leaning towards the fact that it probably won't work out, at least not with the current version and I'm always afraid I won't commit the time I need to really test it in those first 30 days, haha!
colecut 5y ago
I purchased one a couple months ago, and it has definitely helped to 'become a different person' in that I have found a joy in both handwriting notes and sketching that I never had before. I downloaded some PDFs on how to sketch, and I can sketch right there in the PDF along side the examples.. The futility of hand-written note taking was always my lack of organization, but the auto syncing of this really helps in that department. I can't say it is for everyone, but while I was definitely not the target consumer for this device, I am more that person now after buying it. I appreciate anything that pushes any of my time from consumption to production, and this helps me to do that.
- canoebuilder 5y ago
  Links or recommendations for the sketching PDFs?
  - colecut 5y ago
    The book I am using and liking right now is How to Draw: Sketch and Draw Anything, Anywhere with This Inspiring and Practical Handbook, by Jake Spicer
    - colecut 5y ago
      I will add, it probably isn't the ideal device to learn how to sketch, because it isn't as expressive via pressure as normal pencils, or able to do different levels of shading, but at least I am trying now.
      - codethief 5y ago
        Having used the RM2 for a month, I would actually say the RM2 comes very close to a regular pencil and is actually more flexible than one, as it comes with additional brushes.
        colecut 5y ago
        Yes, with a Remarkable you get a several different "tools" (Pen, Pencil, Mechanical Pencil, Marker, Paint Brush etc). However I think each of these is much less expressive than actually having the Pencil, Marker, Paint brush etc.. These don't provide nearly the versatility, such as levels of shading, that the real tools do, but the convenience of having some form of all of them in one small "pencil" is extremely nice. If your end goal is to produce good art on paper, I would probably not start here, but for having fun and developing an interest it's been fantastic. Now that I think about it, maybe it is the "Undo" feature that sells me =)
plutonorm 5y ago
You have different selves working at different time scales. Your problem is that your short term self is winning out against your long term self. The remedy is to learn to hold your attention where you want it, so when the short term self directs your attention to the line of cocaine you can keep it on the long term goal instead. To get better at directing your attention... meditate, particularly deeply focusing on a sensation. Practice practice practice.
- d0mine 5y ago
  You can meditate (it possible that it works for somebody). It is easier to create an environment where you don’t have to exercise the control most of the time e.g., don’t buy/put cookies on the kitchen table unless you intend to eat them. Though one doesn’t exclude another one. Make it easy for your “short-term” self to do the right (from the “long-term” self point of view) thing.
ip26 5y ago
Great comment that also gets right to the appeal of the moleskines (and GoPros). Everyone wants to be this person who is so flooded with genius insight every thought must be transcribed, or whose athletic prowess is so unmatched every minute should be recorded. Of course in reality, that's mostly not how either one works. For my part, all my best ideas are incredibly simple, abstract, and writing it down is both incredibly difficult and also worthless. Sometimes I doodle to work through an issue, but that takes little more than a napkin and a crayon. All that said I really, really love eink. I could almost buy an RM2 just to support eink development.
xsmasher 5y ago
Voice commands like "Hey Siri, add X to my [grocery/hardware/project] list" and "Hey Siri, remind me [tomorrow at 10] to do X" have made me more effective at pretty much everything.
nxpnsv 5y ago
Are you me, you sound like me. I feel the pain.
- CosmicShadow 5y ago
  They say don't sell a product, sell a lifestyle, a future, possible version of one's self that they want to be. These guys nailed it!
ChuckMcM 5y ago
I've got a ReMarkable 2 and love it. I also have written and sketched in notebooks so there is that habit. But a couple of things in your comment made me say "hmm". This stood out "... and who likes or is good at hand writing or drawing." Over the years many folks have seen me writing in my notebook and said, "Wow I wish I could make notes like that." It motivated me for a time to carry around copies of pages from my early notebook notes which compare unfavorably to cro-magnon cave drawings :-). I would explain to them they are written for an audience of one (me) and serve to help me recall details that I might otherwise forget, so there isn't anyone judging or evaluating them. At the same time, the more you write and draw, you tend to get more capable (this is especially true if you're somewhat self critical of your own results). So I would agree that something like the ReMarkable is a big chunk of change to spend on something you don't feel you would use, but consider that a 5 pack of quadrule or lined composition notebooks is a couple of dollars/euros when school starts and can be thrown away. A stack of those, a variety of writing instruments (I like 1mm gel pens or the BIC 4 color pens, but others like mechanical pencils or roller ball type pens) And be intentional about writing things down for a few weeks (the various habit books suggest six as a minimum number of weeks but its an experiment right?) Then at the end of your experiment go back and review your notebook(s) and compare your awareness and "presence" in that time with a time where you were not taking notes. My guess is that either you will say, "this is a good thing, I should do this more" or you will say "interesting but not my cup of tea." Either way, you have a good understanding of yourself and how note taking and notebooks fit into your life. At which point the decision to buy something expensive or not has the backing of your lived experience of whether or not you find it useful.
eloisant 5y ago
I'm actually using my moleskine quite a bit, but it's frustrating because everything is chronological, all mixed up. I'm not using it enough to justify having different ones for all activities. And when it's full and I get a new one I never have have my older one at hand, it stays at home. So this kind of tablet looks really nice... The reason I prefer to write on my moleskin rather than my laptop is because if I have my laptop, I get distracted and I do stuff I'm not supposed to. Additionally I find it rude to be on your laptop when you're in a meeting, because people might think you're doing other stuff, and also because having your screen between you and other people creates a kind of "barrier".
- nicbou 5y ago
  I actually like that it's chronological and mixed up. It's a nice little time machine. Mine have meeting notes next to drawings of birds and measurements from the garage.
tomc1985 5y ago
I keep mine at my desk and use it for relatively germaine note-taking and ideation... Why you gotta be a hipster about it?
jmspring 5y ago
I'm in no way cool or carry moleskins, but for some dumb reason I thought doing a second Masters in an area unrelated to anything I do - my first is in computer engineering, this new one is GeoEngineering - would be a good idea. I'm someone that needs to write thoughts and notes on paper and then construct a doc around such. I have a Remarkable2 and it was great for note taking, it was also great for hand writing out some advanced math courses / problems I had to revisit. In some classes where we used Excel, I would do a mix of an iPad Pro (with pencil) and on the computer excel. I like the simplicity of the Remarkable2, but it doesn't handle all my needs, but it does many.
vogon_laureate 5y ago
You described my problem so well. I have aspirations to be the sort of person that makes stuff like this: https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniecristea/14-study-notes-that-should-be-framed-as-art-2kw2v?utm_term=.mjowNdeno https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniecristea/14-study-notes-tha... But I don't and I won't because that's just not how I work however much I'd like to. And that's OK. In fact, it's good to accept that about one's self. Now that I know I have ADHD, I at least have an explanation why my desire to be something I'm not has always failed, but even without the diagnosis, we all have our personality quirks that mean that certain things just won't work for us. It's nice to have beautiful notebooks to give away as presents for other people though. :-)
Sanguinaire 5y ago
I'm somewhat like you (aspiration-based notebook purchaser), but I actually did buy a remarkable - both the original and V2. Bizarrely, I've ended up using the RM exclusively for work-related notes, and still keep all my personal ideas in a paper notebook. Aside from a subconscious desire to work through my stationery backlog, I have no idea why. RM is nice to use and I'd definitely recommend to note-taking gadget lovers, but the software quality prevents me from calling it a more general must-buy device.
sergiomattei 5y ago
Wow, I feel as if I wrote this. This is exactly how I feel: I've tried doing this many times and always fail at the note taking thing. Lately I'm using Notion though for journaling and I really enjoy it. I'm keeping up a journaling streak.
jamra 5y ago
There is a book called Visual Thinking by Williemien Brand which goes over drawing basic things. I love it because the author did amazing research into how to draw things with the least effort. I use it to supplement my notes. The beautiful part of the remarkable 2 is that you can erase and redraw. You can also copy and paste. When making diagrams, the arrows will look identical. Recently, they added zooming in. I used to take notes on paper. I bought thick, quality paper. I used a nice Japanese made fountain pen. I loved taking notes that way. I still miss parts of it. When I started, my writing was not very beautiful, but I used a couple of cheats that helped. I write in all caps and I write quite small so that there is some padding above and below my letters. I write slowly so as to have consistent lettering. Even if they are imperfect, they look consistent. The focus should be on letter spacing. Before covid, people used to come up to my desk and say it was the most beautiful writing they have ever seen. It wasn't, but the techniques do work. As far as the feel of the notebook. I let my kids play with it. They love it.
ed_elliott_asc 5y ago
I bought one and work from home and it suits me really well. I have never been more organised, I used to scribble notes on random bits of paper that would get lost - now o can refer back to meetings weeks ago.
erickhill 5y ago
Might I recommend an Apple Newton? ;) Small(ish), syncable (bit of a learning curve to do so, but it is possible), and even comes with a physical keyboard if you want to really type things out rather than just use a stylus. In my experience its OCR software is on-par with the Remarkable, if not better. Good times.
patrickdavey 5y ago
Like you I'd wanted a remarkable but could never justify it. Then a friend told me about the handshake crypto that was given away to GitHub users back in 2019 https://handshake.org/claim/ https://handshake.org/claim/ and how it was worth real money now. Anyway, I claimed the coins, transferred them into dollars (just before the recent crash) and bought a remarkable for "free". Honestly, it's a nice tablet, but, I'm glad I got it for free ;)
chevill 5y ago
>hand writing or drawing. A few weeks of practicing 10 minutes a day or so will give you good handwriting. A few weeks of a basic drawing course with a small amount of practice will give you decent enough skills to get your ideas down on paper. People naturally do the things they like to do. I actually enjoy the process of writing with fountain pens, calligraphy, taking notes, etc. Strangely, I also really enjoy the experience of typing. Taking notes and drawing don't make me cool. Carrying a notebook and a fountain pen made people think I was kind of eccentric more than anything. Carrying an iPad Pro 12.9 with a stylus made people think I was a geek. No one was mean about it or anything, but it definitely doesn't make a person cool. Just be who you are and do the things you enjoy. If you think you would enjoy writing/drawing, put a little bit of effort into it and you will have pretty good results. As far as the e-ink tablets go, I'm hoping the large format ones become more affordable and more polished. I would love to have one but the value proposition vs an Ipad is terrible. Single-purpose devices can frequently be better than a more generalized device, but in the case of these E-ink tablets the few things they do (reading, writing, drawing) generally offer a worse experience than doing that same thing on an Ipad. The only upsides are battery life and the e-ink screen.
- immrammc 5y ago
  Any drawing courses you’d recommend?
  - chevill 5y ago
    There's tons of free ones on youtube so there's no need to spend a bunch of money. Proko has some good stuff on his channel. He does a lot of comic book stuff but he's a classically trained artist. Pretty sure he's got a beginner's section. He also has some videos giving advice on learning resources. There are lots of others that are really good too. Drawabox.com has some good free stuff too. If you'd prefer books I think Andrew Loomis books might be public domain. Fun with a Pencil is a good one. If they aren't public domain you can get them for $10-15 on Amazon because they started reprinting them. How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way is also a really good introduction to drawing. Don't let the title fool you though because its one of the best beginner's drawing books regardless of the genre. Those are just examples though, there's tons and tons of great resources and everyone has their favorites.
lifeisstillgood 5y ago
I have put Working Copy (a git client with a half decent editor - ie it does not do autocorrection) on my phone and if the moment strikes I put a note into one or two books that I Promise To Publish Real Soon now. was out jogging today and had a thought and popped it in. is in gthub right now so i think of it as safe. But yes. I completely understand - i too want to be one of those people. in fact watching this i thought there is a market for business pads - that look like your are taking notes and updating tickets not thumbing thorugh facebook in a meeting. Slap a specialised JIRA client on this and I think you have a package winner.
kabdib 5y ago
I've used a number of gadgets over the years (starting with an Apple Newton), and none of my notes on them have survived. On the other hand, I've got boxes and boxes of notebooks (Strathmore sketchpads and Moleskine-equivalents) that will outlast me -- to say nothing about cloud providers, backup media or outdated file formats -- unless I suffer a house fire or natural disaster. Notebooks are cheap, and even terrible ones will last decades with little or no care. You can toss them into backpacks, lend them, get them (a little) wet, leave them in the sun, sit on them, forget them at the coffee shop, and even lose them permanently and basically not worry too much. If I was using a $400 gadget instead, I'd never carry it to the places I currently carry paper. My note-taking and scribbling would go down. I'm not even going to talk about battery capacity anxiety. The gadget-lover in me would probably be happy with one of these things. My practical side and experience tells me that in the long run they are more trouble than they're worth.
99_00 5y ago
>instead of just buying so many of them in different shapes and leaving them in a drawer packed to the brim with notebooks. That was me until I started bullet journaling. My notebook becomes whatever I need at the time. Todo list, calendar, journal. Flexibility with structure.
Johnny555 5y ago
I've been thinking of getting one (or something similar) since I tend to write short-term notes on stickies and leave them on my desk or monitor. I haven't found a computer based equivalent that I like using as much as writing. This works well when I'm working 100% at home or at the office, my notes are where I work, but my company plans to have a hybrid workplace with employees working from the office 2 or 3 days a week, now my notes will be scattered between home and office. (well, worse, the office might move to a "hoteling" desk format where no one has a permanent desk, so I can't leave my notes on my desk at work). So one of the electronic paper products seems like a good solution - write my notes in epaper, and I can access them from work (or vice versa). Though they are still pretty expensive so more likely, I'll just switch to keeping notes in a notebook that I carry back and forth.
tunesmith 5y ago
I bought a reMarkable 2 after being on the waiting list, and returned it a couple of weeks later. I just couldn't deal with the latency.
nicbou 5y ago
I carry a Moleskine everywhere. There's a bigger notebook on my desk. I just think better on paper. I took a serious look at those E-Ink tablets, but none of them beat the price or reliability of pen and paper. You can't easily flip through the pages. They're too big. They need an account. They need software updates and long term support. They work with a private cloud. I'd love a sketch book with layers and an undo button, but at the same time, I appreciate the simplicity and realness of a physical notebook. I can smoothe lines with my thumb, or use colouring pencils. When I finish a notebook, I scan its pages. It takes about 15 minutes. I suspect I'd spend a lot more time building a system around a digital tablet.
hackshack 5y ago
There are some great suggestions in this sub-thread... don't get a gadget for the sake of getting one. That said, if you have a considered need for one, here's my take: I "think by writing" and unfortunately my textfiles are more organized than my physical papers. The reMarkable 2 was worth it for me. The thing eliminates all my paper clutter and is so close to paper it's effectively identical. There's tooth to the paper and drag on the "pencil." It OCRs your handwriting and is searchable. Options: I recommend absolutely spending the money on the eraser-equipped stylus. Otherwise you have to manually switch tools using the slow eInk UI and it would be a nightmare. I got the grey cloth cover and it's a great understated look compared to the leather. Just looks like a notepad. My reMarkable 2 had an odd build quality issue where the back was bumped out a little. I got an early one. The device goes past the uncanny valley right into a paper replacement. I had to stop myself setting a coffee cup on it because I forgot it was 'lectronic. Re: durability, I still use paper pads at the electronic or mechanical bench due to worrying about scratches on the reMarkable. The screen has not scratched yet for me but I do worry about it.
m463 5y ago
I have one. The really good thing is that it's open. Like you can ssh into it from day one. No cloud forced on you. refreshing. I think my #1 use is to jot down notes during a phone call. It is like an infinite stack of post-its. Jotting does not get in the way of a phone call. #2 is reading ebooks and pdfs. It's a little slow working with .epub books, but with pdf files it is fast. Actually I convert ebooks to pdf format using calibre. It's a pretty good experience. I've figured out the fonts, font sizes, margins and so forth, and made that my calibre conversion default. Works well for me.
maxcan 5y ago
GET OUT OF MY HEAD! On a serious note, this comment resonates so well. I actually bought a RM2 but returned it since the transcription & syncing was nowhere near what I expected. But, also what you wrote. Turns out, I'm near a laptop often enough that typing in Notion works pretty damn well for me. Coupled with all of Notion's rich document structures and fast navigation there's no way a RM2 can compete. Also, for the record I have an iPad Pro and basically have one, very specific use case. I'm a private pilot and use the iPad extensively for flying. Writing down instrument flight rules clearances which I get over the radio from the tower has been the only persistent use case for the stylus that I've found. Cockpits are too cramped for the keyboard and there's too much information to write it with a finger.

edmundsauto 5y ago

This is pretty accurate, from someone who just got one as a gift. They are useful devices, however your criticism is spot on. That said, a couple big advantages I haven’t seen advertised: - I don’t have a dozen notebooks around, just one - easy to start a new notebook, plus the centralization, is sort of an “organized by default” mode - I can’t take notes on my computer, so it’s either this or paper - distraction free is good, and the physicality of the pen and screen is a much better experience than an iPad Your other criticisms are valid and a little too accurate. It’s still a useful device, there’s just a bit of a premium price because of the fancy factors you discussed.

sork_hn 5y ago
One of the things I love about mine - I never realized that I get 'anxiety' about wasting paper or space on paper. Being able to write and keep a few lines per page has been great.
- edmundsauto 5y ago
  And being able to move text around once you write it!

DenisM 5y ago

Put a stack of 3x4 index cards in you back pocket, and write thing down as needed. In the evening, (eg when you pull keys/wallet out of the pocket) review the cards briefly and toss the used once into trash unless you really need to keep one. This is a low-commitment device that still achieves half the benefits of really writing things down.

nemosaltat 5y ago
When I was in the Navy I carried a little memoranda pad in my left breast pocket. I’d take notes each day, at the beginning of each new day, I’d carry any necessary information from the previous day to the next page and then fold the previous page along the diagonal, alternating the folds right and left each day. The effects of pulling out a notepad and jotting notes are markedly different than pulling out a phone or tablet- especially in a conversation or meeting. IME a phone signals disengagement, while a notepad signals the opposite. When I pulled out my pad, I could see body language and word choices change almost immediately. If it was a positive or neutral conversation, people tended to show appreciation for my interest in what was being said. If it was a negative interaction, people started to be much more careful about what they were saying. Now I carry an attaché case and use larger, more professional looking, notebooks. Even in the age of Zoom, I angle my camera to ensure it’s obvious I’m taking notes. Sure, it’s an extra step to digitize the important stuff, but I think it’s worth it.
- NikolaNovak 5y ago
  I've noticed that early on; 15 years ago, I was keeping notes on a "feature phone with sliding keyboard". I was pulled by my manager for being disrespectful after the meeting; I showed him the notes and demonstrated that I was by far the most attention / had the best retention / was most involved in the meeting, but still... the message was - it looks unprofessional, stop it. Thing is: * My handwriting sucks (I literally can't read my own; I'm 42yo - don't tell me to practice / it'll improve, just don't be that arrogant ignoramus ;). * I'll never be organized on paper. Ever. My circles are potatoes, my lines are squiggles, and everything is all over the place and disheartening to read (I love whiteboards but it's a whole other thing, somehow) * I love love love my typed notes. I can type fast and asynchronously while I listen and look at the speaker. I can search them, retain them, review them, summarize them. But I'm aware that I'll always look disengaged on my laptop compared to somebody with their notebook :-/

musingsole 5y ago

The remarkable tablet allows me to go sit under a tree and design system diagrams or draw mindmaps. And then recover them for reference later. It's particularly helpful for work-thinking. For personal thoughts, having written/drawn them is often enough to cement them and I'll reference them months/years later as a novelty. But the core of all this is that the sitting-under-a-tree-habit came after the device. Before, it was a bit of a romantic idea I'd tried with moleskines, but it didn't really scratch my itches.

samstave 5y ago
You know what would be a dope addition to something like the remarkable: Voice memos, so you can add some audible context to each diagram
- jeremyleach 5y ago
  Great idea.

samstave 5y ago

Omg, I am the king of moleskin unused notebooks. What was awesome though was when my then 3 year old daughter found one of the moleskins and a pen and did a bunch of scribbles on every 10 pages or so. I truly love that little moleskin. I just recently (last week) bought an outdoor log with graph paper and some other logs.... Your comment makes me want to prove you (myself) wrong and actually use it. I've always been impressed with the. Various engineers I have worked with, like John Blair of nerflix... he is really fn today keeping a solid tech journal

CosmicShadow 5y ago
I literally have this comic on my wall: https://poorlydrawnstore.com/products/nice-notebook-print https://poorlydrawnstore.com/products/nice-notebook-print I also just bought a super mini and thick notebook for $10 that I haven't used, but was just so cool looking. I still feel like an idiot for buying it, but maybe I will use it someday.
- cstejerean 5y ago
  That’s perfect. That’s exactly how I felt about nice notebooks and that’s why the digital version is so much better for me. The freedom to erase and reorganize removes that anxiety.
- deckard1 5y ago
  I have a $2 notebook from Muji sitting in my drawer but it's too nice to write in. It's $2!! Japan is on a whole other level with writing and stationary. Go to a Tokyo Hands or Muji and you'll feel like the type of person that should be writing constantly. I can't imagine we would fetishize writing so much if computers didn't exist.
  - nicbou 5y ago
    Those Muji notebooks are treat to write in. Do yourself a favour and start using yours. Once I finish my Moleskine I'm going back to those.

cstejerean 5y ago

For comparison I rarely use the pen on my iPad Pro. I think partially because of all the distractions, as soon as I grab my iPad there’s lots of other stuff I could be doing other than taking notes. And partially because the writing on glass never felt right. So it’s been more of an occasional use when I really need to sketch something. I was on the fence for the RM2 for a while for the same reasons you mentioned. Would I really use it? Well I got it recently after trying a friend’s and I’ve surprised myself by using it daily. We’ll see if the habit sticks but so far the killer feature for me compared to a notebook is being able to erase, move text around and insert pages. This makes me much more likely to just start jotting stuff down without being worried about “wasting” pages in a notebook. By the way the device I hear comes with a 30 day trial period for this very reason. Lots of people don’t know whether they would really use it. So you can order it, find out how it fits into your life and return it if it doesn’t.

CoolGuySteve 5y ago
The writing/drawing/painting experience of the Apple Pencil would be massively improved if it had a small high resolution haptic speaker similar to the Switch Joycons or Steam Controller to emulate different drawing tools and surfaces.
CosmicShadow 5y ago
I've looked at it seriously a while back when it was on presale, but it's definitely a heavy chunk of change, especially since I'm Canadian and have to pay the exchange rate prices. I do like the idea of no distractions and being able to move stuff around and organize it, unlike with paper, but most of my life is at home (since I'm self-employed) and I already have a computer on all 3 floors of my house that I'm usually at with OneNote and Notepad++ with a ton of tabs on each, so I'm worried that I'll never really use it unless I want to sit on the couch and focus, but then will I be wishing I had all my subsequent notes and such already on OneNote and in my various notepad++ tabs? What happens when I go back and sit at my computer for the majority of the day where I do work, play, research, side businesses etc.? Do I need some stand and will I just be cross copying notes back and forth? Is it something I can comfortably hold and write on while sitting on a couch, or on some random chair or while leaning against a wall? Or am I going to be doing weird grips and being forced to counterbalance my writing on a floating pad if it's not sitting on a desk? I find writing in a small notebook way harder if it's not just on a table, so even that already worries me. Will I get less legible or not be able to as effectively write on the entire surface area of the device while holding it if not on a desk or having it setup on my lap (which may not even be that feasible without some cushion or stand)? A 30 day trial could definitely help me figure this out, but I'm leaning towards the fact that it probably won't work out, at least not with the current version and I'm always afraid I won't commit the time I need to really test it in those first 30 days, haha!

colecut 5y ago

I purchased one a couple months ago, and it has definitely helped to 'become a different person' in that I have found a joy in both handwriting notes and sketching that I never had before. I downloaded some PDFs on how to sketch, and I can sketch right there in the PDF along side the examples.. The futility of hand-written note taking was always my lack of organization, but the auto syncing of this really helps in that department. I can't say it is for everyone, but while I was definitely not the target consumer for this device, I am more that person now after buying it. I appreciate anything that pushes any of my time from consumption to production, and this helps me to do that.

canoebuilder 5y ago
Links or recommendations for the sketching PDFs?
- colecut 5y ago
  The book I am using and liking right now is How to Draw: Sketch and Draw Anything, Anywhere with This Inspiring and Practical Handbook, by Jake Spicer
  - colecut 5y ago
    I will add, it probably isn't the ideal device to learn how to sketch, because it isn't as expressive via pressure as normal pencils, or able to do different levels of shading, but at least I am trying now.
    - codethief 5y ago
      Having used the RM2 for a month, I would actually say the RM2 comes very close to a regular pencil and is actually more flexible than one, as it comes with additional brushes.
      - colecut 5y ago
        Yes, with a Remarkable you get a several different "tools" (Pen, Pencil, Mechanical Pencil, Marker, Paint Brush etc). However I think each of these is much less expressive than actually having the Pencil, Marker, Paint brush etc.. These don't provide nearly the versatility, such as levels of shading, that the real tools do, but the convenience of having some form of all of them in one small "pencil" is extremely nice. If your end goal is to produce good art on paper, I would probably not start here, but for having fun and developing an interest it's been fantastic. Now that I think about it, maybe it is the "Undo" feature that sells me =)

plutonorm 5y ago

You have different selves working at different time scales. Your problem is that your short term self is winning out against your long term self. The remedy is to learn to hold your attention where you want it, so when the short term self directs your attention to the line of cocaine you can keep it on the long term goal instead. To get better at directing your attention... meditate, particularly deeply focusing on a sensation. Practice practice practice.

d0mine 5y ago
You can meditate (it possible that it works for somebody). It is easier to create an environment where you don’t have to exercise the control most of the time e.g., don’t buy/put cookies on the kitchen table unless you intend to eat them. Though one doesn’t exclude another one. Make it easy for your “short-term” self to do the right (from the “long-term” self point of view) thing.

ip26 5y ago

Great comment that also gets right to the appeal of the moleskines (and GoPros). Everyone wants to be this person who is so flooded with genius insight every thought must be transcribed, or whose athletic prowess is so unmatched every minute should be recorded. Of course in reality, that's mostly not how either one works. For my part, all my best ideas are incredibly simple, abstract, and writing it down is both incredibly difficult and also worthless. Sometimes I doodle to work through an issue, but that takes little more than a napkin and a crayon. All that said I really, really love eink. I could almost buy an RM2 just to support eink development.

xsmasher 5y ago

Voice commands like "Hey Siri, add X to my [grocery/hardware/project] list" and "Hey Siri, remind me [tomorrow at 10] to do X" have made me more effective at pretty much everything.

nxpnsv 5y ago

Are you me, you sound like me. I feel the pain.

CosmicShadow 5y ago
They say don't sell a product, sell a lifestyle, a future, possible version of one's self that they want to be. These guys nailed it!

ChuckMcM 5y ago

I've got a ReMarkable 2 and love it. I also have written and sketched in notebooks so there is that habit. But a couple of things in your comment made me say "hmm". This stood out "... and who likes or is good at hand writing or drawing." Over the years many folks have seen me writing in my notebook and said, "Wow I wish I could make notes like that." It motivated me for a time to carry around copies of pages from my early notebook notes which compare unfavorably to cro-magnon cave drawings :-). I would explain to them they are written for an audience of one (me) and serve to help me recall details that I might otherwise forget, so there isn't anyone judging or evaluating them. At the same time, the more you write and draw, you tend to get more capable (this is especially true if you're somewhat self critical of your own results). So I would agree that something like the ReMarkable is a big chunk of change to spend on something you don't feel you would use, but consider that a 5 pack of quadrule or lined composition notebooks is a couple of dollars/euros when school starts and can be thrown away. A stack of those, a variety of writing instruments (I like 1mm gel pens or the BIC 4 color pens, but others like mechanical pencils or roller ball type pens) And be intentional about writing things down for a few weeks (the various habit books suggest six as a minimum number of weeks but its an experiment right?) Then at the end of your experiment go back and review your notebook(s) and compare your awareness and "presence" in that time with a time where you were not taking notes. My guess is that either you will say, "this is a good thing, I should do this more" or you will say "interesting but not my cup of tea." Either way, you have a good understanding of yourself and how note taking and notebooks fit into your life. At which point the decision to buy something expensive or not has the backing of your lived experience of whether or not you find it useful.

eloisant 5y ago

I'm actually using my moleskine quite a bit, but it's frustrating because everything is chronological, all mixed up. I'm not using it enough to justify having different ones for all activities. And when it's full and I get a new one I never have have my older one at hand, it stays at home. So this kind of tablet looks really nice... The reason I prefer to write on my moleskin rather than my laptop is because if I have my laptop, I get distracted and I do stuff I'm not supposed to. Additionally I find it rude to be on your laptop when you're in a meeting, because people might think you're doing other stuff, and also because having your screen between you and other people creates a kind of "barrier".

nicbou 5y ago
I actually like that it's chronological and mixed up. It's a nice little time machine. Mine have meeting notes next to drawings of birds and measurements from the garage.

tomc1985 5y ago

I keep mine at my desk and use it for relatively germaine note-taking and ideation... Why you gotta be a hipster about it?

jmspring 5y ago

I'm in no way cool or carry moleskins, but for some dumb reason I thought doing a second Masters in an area unrelated to anything I do - my first is in computer engineering, this new one is GeoEngineering - would be a good idea. I'm someone that needs to write thoughts and notes on paper and then construct a doc around such. I have a Remarkable2 and it was great for note taking, it was also great for hand writing out some advanced math courses / problems I had to revisit. In some classes where we used Excel, I would do a mix of an iPad Pro (with pencil) and on the computer excel. I like the simplicity of the Remarkable2, but it doesn't handle all my needs, but it does many.

vogon_laureate 5y ago

You described my problem so well. I have aspirations to be the sort of person that makes stuff like this: https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniecristea/14-study-notes-that-should-be-framed-as-art-2kw2v?utm_term=.mjowNdeno https://www.buzzfeed.com/stephaniecristea/14-study-notes-tha... But I don't and I won't because that's just not how I work however much I'd like to. And that's OK. In fact, it's good to accept that about one's self. Now that I know I have ADHD, I at least have an explanation why my desire to be something I'm not has always failed, but even without the diagnosis, we all have our personality quirks that mean that certain things just won't work for us. It's nice to have beautiful notebooks to give away as presents for other people though. :-)

Sanguinaire 5y ago

I'm somewhat like you (aspiration-based notebook purchaser), but I actually did buy a remarkable - both the original and V2. Bizarrely, I've ended up using the RM exclusively for work-related notes, and still keep all my personal ideas in a paper notebook. Aside from a subconscious desire to work through my stationery backlog, I have no idea why. RM is nice to use and I'd definitely recommend to note-taking gadget lovers, but the software quality prevents me from calling it a more general must-buy device.

sergiomattei 5y ago

Wow, I feel as if I wrote this. This is exactly how I feel: I've tried doing this many times and always fail at the note taking thing. Lately I'm using Notion though for journaling and I really enjoy it. I'm keeping up a journaling streak.

jamra 5y ago

There is a book called Visual Thinking by Williemien Brand which goes over drawing basic things. I love it because the author did amazing research into how to draw things with the least effort. I use it to supplement my notes. The beautiful part of the remarkable 2 is that you can erase and redraw. You can also copy and paste. When making diagrams, the arrows will look identical. Recently, they added zooming in. I used to take notes on paper. I bought thick, quality paper. I used a nice Japanese made fountain pen. I loved taking notes that way. I still miss parts of it. When I started, my writing was not very beautiful, but I used a couple of cheats that helped. I write in all caps and I write quite small so that there is some padding above and below my letters. I write slowly so as to have consistent lettering. Even if they are imperfect, they look consistent. The focus should be on letter spacing. Before covid, people used to come up to my desk and say it was the most beautiful writing they have ever seen. It wasn't, but the techniques do work. As far as the feel of the notebook. I let my kids play with it. They love it.

ed_elliott_asc 5y ago

I bought one and work from home and it suits me really well. I have never been more organised, I used to scribble notes on random bits of paper that would get lost - now o can refer back to meetings weeks ago.

erickhill 5y ago

Might I recommend an Apple Newton? ;) Small(ish), syncable (bit of a learning curve to do so, but it is possible), and even comes with a physical keyboard if you want to really type things out rather than just use a stylus. In my experience its OCR software is on-par with the Remarkable, if not better. Good times.

patrickdavey 5y ago

Like you I'd wanted a remarkable but could never justify it. Then a friend told me about the handshake crypto that was given away to GitHub users back in 2019 https://handshake.org/claim/ https://handshake.org/claim/ and how it was worth real money now. Anyway, I claimed the coins, transferred them into dollars (just before the recent crash) and bought a remarkable for "free". Honestly, it's a nice tablet, but, I'm glad I got it for free ;)

chevill 5y ago

>hand writing or drawing. A few weeks of practicing 10 minutes a day or so will give you good handwriting. A few weeks of a basic drawing course with a small amount of practice will give you decent enough skills to get your ideas down on paper. People naturally do the things they like to do. I actually enjoy the process of writing with fountain pens, calligraphy, taking notes, etc. Strangely, I also really enjoy the experience of typing. Taking notes and drawing don't make me cool. Carrying a notebook and a fountain pen made people think I was kind of eccentric more than anything. Carrying an iPad Pro 12.9 with a stylus made people think I was a geek. No one was mean about it or anything, but it definitely doesn't make a person cool. Just be who you are and do the things you enjoy. If you think you would enjoy writing/drawing, put a little bit of effort into it and you will have pretty good results. As far as the e-ink tablets go, I'm hoping the large format ones become more affordable and more polished. I would love to have one but the value proposition vs an Ipad is terrible. Single-purpose devices can frequently be better than a more generalized device, but in the case of these E-ink tablets the few things they do (reading, writing, drawing) generally offer a worse experience than doing that same thing on an Ipad. The only upsides are battery life and the e-ink screen.

immrammc 5y ago
Any drawing courses you’d recommend?
- chevill 5y ago
  There's tons of free ones on youtube so there's no need to spend a bunch of money. Proko has some good stuff on his channel. He does a lot of comic book stuff but he's a classically trained artist. Pretty sure he's got a beginner's section. He also has some videos giving advice on learning resources. There are lots of others that are really good too. Drawabox.com has some good free stuff too. If you'd prefer books I think Andrew Loomis books might be public domain. Fun with a Pencil is a good one. If they aren't public domain you can get them for $10-15 on Amazon because they started reprinting them. How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way is also a really good introduction to drawing. Don't let the title fool you though because its one of the best beginner's drawing books regardless of the genre. Those are just examples though, there's tons and tons of great resources and everyone has their favorites.

lifeisstillgood 5y ago

I have put Working Copy (a git client with a half decent editor - ie it does not do autocorrection) on my phone and if the moment strikes I put a note into one or two books that I Promise To Publish Real Soon now. was out jogging today and had a thought and popped it in. is in gthub right now so i think of it as safe. But yes. I completely understand - i too want to be one of those people. in fact watching this i thought there is a market for business pads - that look like your are taking notes and updating tickets not thumbing thorugh facebook in a meeting. Slap a specialised JIRA client on this and I think you have a package winner.

kabdib 5y ago

I've used a number of gadgets over the years (starting with an Apple Newton), and none of my notes on them have survived. On the other hand, I've got boxes and boxes of notebooks (Strathmore sketchpads and Moleskine-equivalents) that will outlast me -- to say nothing about cloud providers, backup media or outdated file formats -- unless I suffer a house fire or natural disaster. Notebooks are cheap, and even terrible ones will last decades with little or no care. You can toss them into backpacks, lend them, get them (a little) wet, leave them in the sun, sit on them, forget them at the coffee shop, and even lose them permanently and basically not worry too much. If I was using a $400 gadget instead, I'd never carry it to the places I currently carry paper. My note-taking and scribbling would go down. I'm not even going to talk about battery capacity anxiety. The gadget-lover in me would probably be happy with one of these things. My practical side and experience tells me that in the long run they are more trouble than they're worth.

99_00 5y ago

>instead of just buying so many of them in different shapes and leaving them in a drawer packed to the brim with notebooks. That was me until I started bullet journaling. My notebook becomes whatever I need at the time. Todo list, calendar, journal. Flexibility with structure.

Johnny555 5y ago

I've been thinking of getting one (or something similar) since I tend to write short-term notes on stickies and leave them on my desk or monitor. I haven't found a computer based equivalent that I like using as much as writing. This works well when I'm working 100% at home or at the office, my notes are where I work, but my company plans to have a hybrid workplace with employees working from the office 2 or 3 days a week, now my notes will be scattered between home and office. (well, worse, the office might move to a "hoteling" desk format where no one has a permanent desk, so I can't leave my notes on my desk at work). So one of the electronic paper products seems like a good solution - write my notes in epaper, and I can access them from work (or vice versa). Though they are still pretty expensive so more likely, I'll just switch to keeping notes in a notebook that I carry back and forth.

tunesmith 5y ago

I bought a reMarkable 2 after being on the waiting list, and returned it a couple of weeks later. I just couldn't deal with the latency.

nicbou 5y ago

I carry a Moleskine everywhere. There's a bigger notebook on my desk. I just think better on paper. I took a serious look at those E-Ink tablets, but none of them beat the price or reliability of pen and paper. You can't easily flip through the pages. They're too big. They need an account. They need software updates and long term support. They work with a private cloud. I'd love a sketch book with layers and an undo button, but at the same time, I appreciate the simplicity and realness of a physical notebook. I can smoothe lines with my thumb, or use colouring pencils. When I finish a notebook, I scan its pages. It takes about 15 minutes. I suspect I'd spend a lot more time building a system around a digital tablet.

hackshack 5y ago

There are some great suggestions in this sub-thread... don't get a gadget for the sake of getting one. That said, if you have a considered need for one, here's my take: I "think by writing" and unfortunately my textfiles are more organized than my physical papers. The reMarkable 2 was worth it for me. The thing eliminates all my paper clutter and is so close to paper it's effectively identical. There's tooth to the paper and drag on the "pencil." It OCRs your handwriting and is searchable. Options: I recommend absolutely spending the money on the eraser-equipped stylus. Otherwise you have to manually switch tools using the slow eInk UI and it would be a nightmare. I got the grey cloth cover and it's a great understated look compared to the leather. Just looks like a notepad. My reMarkable 2 had an odd build quality issue where the back was bumped out a little. I got an early one. The device goes past the uncanny valley right into a paper replacement. I had to stop myself setting a coffee cup on it because I forgot it was 'lectronic. Re: durability, I still use paper pads at the electronic or mechanical bench due to worrying about scratches on the reMarkable. The screen has not scratched yet for me but I do worry about it.

m463 5y ago

I have one. The really good thing is that it's open. Like you can ssh into it from day one. No cloud forced on you. refreshing. I think my #1 use is to jot down notes during a phone call. It is like an infinite stack of post-its. Jotting does not get in the way of a phone call. #2 is reading ebooks and pdfs. It's a little slow working with .epub books, but with pdf files it is fast. Actually I convert ebooks to pdf format using calibre. It's a pretty good experience. I've figured out the fonts, font sizes, margins and so forth, and made that my calibre conversion default. Works well for me.

maxcan 5y ago

GET OUT OF MY HEAD! On a serious note, this comment resonates so well. I actually bought a RM2 but returned it since the transcription & syncing was nowhere near what I expected. But, also what you wrote. Turns out, I'm near a laptop often enough that typing in Notion works pretty damn well for me. Coupled with all of Notion's rich document structures and fast navigation there's no way a RM2 can compete. Also, for the record I have an iPad Pro and basically have one, very specific use case. I'm a private pilot and use the iPad extensively for flying. Writing down instrument flight rules clearances which I get over the radio from the tower has been the only persistent use case for the stylus that I've found. Cockpits are too cramped for the keyboard and there's too much information to write it with a finger.