ReMarkable 2
The best digital sketching experience money can buy.
The ReMarkable 2 is the best digital handwriting and sketching experience you can get this side of a paper pad and pencil, without a doubt. It improves upon its ReMarkable Tablet predecessor in almost every way, leading to a premium tablet experience that excels in its key purpose – letting you sketch and take notes without distractions.
It’s an expensive device, given that its e-ink ‘Canvas’ screen technology only allows for greyscale document editing and note-taking – there’s no app store here, nor web browser or video playback support. But that’s almost exactly the point – this is a device for creation, not consumption, syncing your ideas in the cloud for access wherever you may be.
With improved pen responsiveness, a sleek new hardware design and smart upgrades like a built-in pen eraser and USB-C charging, the ReMarkable 2 doubles down on its near-singular purpose to great effect. It’s not without its problems – the replaceable pen nibs don’t last forever, and more work could have gone into improving the eBook experience. But it’s hard to fault the core writing experience.
If you want to watch videos, play games or use apps, buy an iPad. But if you just want to draw all day long and work on the notes for your novel, buy the ReMarkable 2.
The ReMarkable 2 is available to pre-order now, shipping in November 2020. It costs $679, though early-bird deals offer a significant saving by throwing in a spare marker pen, a folio case and free shipping. Replacement pen nibs, leather magnetic cases and replacement pens can be bought separately, too.
Then for the extras the Marker costs $79, the Folio is $119, the Marker Plus is $169 and a leather case is $249. The Marker and Folio come free with the tablet though, so you’ll only need to buy new ones if you lose the ones that come with it, and you can choose to upgrade the packaged ones for the Marker Plus and leather Folio for a small fee if you want.
The tablet will be a hard sell for some – it’s more expensive than the entry-level iPad, for instance, which offers vastly more functionality through its color screen, App Store access and full multimedia support. But for artists and note-takers, the ReMarkable 2 is a unique and focused experience worth considering – it doesn’t do as much as Apple’s tablet, by a long shot, but what it does do it does incredibly well.
While its multimedia potential is severely limited, there’s simply no better portable tablet out there for those that like to sketch than the ReMarkable 2. It has some issues, but the feel of writing on its e-ink screen is second to none.
Gerald Lynch