reMarkable 2 Review: The Paper Tablet for Writers

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Bottom line: A 4.7mm-thin e-ink writing tablet that feels more like paper than anything else in the category, has no notifications, no browser, no social media, and no apologies about any of it. If your problem is distraction, this is the most expensive solution that isn’t therapy. It mostly works.

Scribbright rating: 4.5 out of 5

Get the reMarkable 2 on Amazon →

The origin story

reMarkable was founded in Oslo in 2013 by Magnus Haug Wanberg, who had apparently decided that the problem with writing was that it had become too digital without becoming digital enough, and that what the world needed was a device that was neither a notebook nor a tablet but somehow the honest version of both.

The reMarkable 1 shipped in 2017 to a small and immediately devoted audience. The reMarkable 2 followed in 2020, thinner, faster, and better in almost every respect. The reMarkable Paper Pro arrived in 2024 with a color display and a frontlight. This review covers the reMarkable 2, which remains the company’s core product and, for most writers, the one that makes the most sense.

A Norwegian company making paper tablets. It’s either the most on-brand thing imaginable or completely inexplicable, depending on what you know about Scandinavian design sensibility.

What it actually is

The reMarkable 2 is a 10.3-inch e-ink tablet designed around a single proposition: writing should feel like writing. The high-friction polymer surface creates resistance under the stylus that other tablets can’t replicate. Writing on an iPad feels like writing on glass. Writing on the reMarkable 2 feels like writing on paper. Not approximately like paper. Specifically like paper, with the texture and drag and slight sound of a real nib on a real surface.

This is the whole product. There is no browser. There are no apps. There is no social media. There is no notification that your friend Liked something, no banner informing you that a sale is imminent, no gentle vibration reminding you of something you might do instead of writing. The reMarkable 2 is a device that can display documents and accept handwriting input, and it’s made its peace with being nothing else, my friends…

For writers who have spent any time trying to work on a device that is also connected to the internet, this is either obvious or revelatory, depending on how bad the problem has gotten for them.

If you’re building out a writing setup, the Scribbright reviews section covers everything from mechanical keyboards to fountain pens to noise-canceling headphones.

(Also, if you’ve just got to have some color? The new reMarkable Paper Pro gives you that.

The writing experience

The 21ms stylus latency is the really standout technical specification, and in practice it looks like ink that seems to flow from the tip of the stylus in real time. There’s no perceptible delay between the gesture and the mark on the screen. Cheaper e-ink tablets have latency that’s visible and oh-so-distracting. The reMarkable 2 doesn’t, and the difference is the difference between writing and watching yourself write.

The Marker Plus stylus has an eraser on the top end, which sounds trivial until you’ve used it. It erases the way a pencil eraser erases: with precision, removing only what you mean to remove. It’s really a notable experience, practically tactile; I imagined I was smelling rubber eraser grains. The writing tools include ballpoint, fineliner, pencil, mechanical pencil, brush, highlighter, and calligraphy pen. For notes and manuscript work, the fineliner is the natural default. For writers who sketch, diagram, or mind-map, the full range earns its keep.

Handwriting-to-text conversion works reliably for legible handwriting and progressively less reliably as your handwriting deteriorates, which is fair behavior from a piece of software. The converted text exports cleanly. For writers who draft by hand and need to produce a typed version, this workflow is genuinely viable rather than aspirational.

Some hitches

The reMarkable 2 supports PDFs and EPUBs, but nothing else in terms of document formats. For writers who work with manuscripts, research papers, contracts, or proofs in PDF form, this is a natural use case. The annotation tools are precisely what you’d want: you can mark up a PDF with handwritten notes, highlight passages, and export the annotated version cleanly.

The bigger limitation is the screen. At 226 PPI with no backlight and no color, the reMarkable 2 is a grayscale device that requires decent ambient light to read comfortably. In a well-lit room this is a non-issue. In a dim room or in bed, it’s an obstacle. The reMarkable Paper Pro addresses both issues with a frontlight and color display at a higher price. The reMarkable 2 addresses neither. But it’s upfront about it.

The 8GB storage holds approximately a hundred thousand pages of handwritten notes, so running out of space is not a realistic concern for any writing use case that doesn’t involve storing an entire library of PDFs locally.

The subscription

reMarkable Connect is the optional subscription at $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, covering cloud sync, unlimited cloud storage, and the handwriting conversion features. The bundle reviewed here includes a Connect subscription, among other goodies.

Whether the subscription is worth it depends on whether you sync across devices and whether you use the handwriting conversion. The cloud sync is useful if you access your notes on a phone or computer; if the reMarkable 2 is your standalone writing device and you export via USB, you can manage without it. The handwriting conversion is one of the more useful features for writers and is subscriber-only.

The subscription model attracted some complaints when reMarkable introduced it, reasonably enough. A device at this price point, asking for an ongoing fee, is chutzpah that requires defending. The defense is that $2.99 a month for cloud sync and conversion across a device you’ll use daily for years is a fair number. This may not satisfy everyone, and I’m not endorsing it or decrying it; you should see some of the stuff I subscribe to.

reMarkable 2 vs Kindle Scribe

Scribbright has reviewed the Kindle Scribe 2024 separately, and the comparison is worth making directly since both are e-ink writing tablets in the same broad category.

The Kindle Scribe is a reader first: deep integration with the Kindle ecosystem, Active Canvas annotation on e-books, and a reading experience the reMarkable can’t match for people who live in Amazon’s library. The reMarkable 2 is a writing device first: better paper feel, faster stylus latency, cleaner note organization, and a distraction-free focus that the Kindle Scribe, with its Kindle library access, doesn’t quite replicate.

If you read more than you write: Kindle Scribe. If you write more than you read: reMarkable 2. If you’re a writer who does both and has the budget for one device, decide what the core use is and buy accordingly. There’s no version that really wins on both counts.

Pros

• Writing surface is the most paper-like in the category by a meaningful margin
• 21ms stylus latency produces ink that feels real-time
• No browser, no apps, no notifications; the distraction-free argument is real
• Handwriting-to-text conversion is genuinely useful for writers who draft by hand
• 4.7mm thin and under 400g; comfortable to hold for long sessions
• PDF annotation is clean and exportable
• Two-week battery means charging is a background concern

Cons

• No backlight; requires ambient light to read comfortably
• Grayscale only; the Paper Pro has color at a higher price
• 8GB storage; sufficient for notes, limiting for large PDF libraries
• File support is PDF and EPUB only; no Google Docs, Word, or other native formats
• Optional subscription for full feature set is a reasonable but real ongoing cost
• $299 for a device that does less than a $329 iPad requires deliberate commitment to the use case

The verdict

The reMarkable 2 is a great writing tablet for writers who have diagnosed distraction as the primary obstacle between them and the work. It does less than any competing device at the price, and that is the entire point. If you’ve ever opened a laptop to write and found yourself somewhere else 40 minutes later, the reMarkable 2 is a device that makes that physically impossible. Whether that’s worth $299 to you and whether you can work within its technical compromises are questions only you can answer, but they’re the right questions to be asking.

Get the reMarkable 2 on Amazon →

Michael Semer is a writer and editor who considers the absence of a browser a feature rather than a limitation, which either says something about the reMarkable 2 or something about the internet, and he’s not sure which.

Explore our Scribbright reviews of AI writing assistants, editing tools, notebooks, pens, keyboards, and other useful gear for serious writers.

Frequently asked questions

What is the reMarkable 2? The reMarkable 2 is a 10.3-inch e-ink writing tablet designed to replicate the feel of writing on paper. It has a high-friction polymer surface, 21ms stylus latency, no browser or apps, and handles PDFs and EPUBs for annotation. Made by reMarkable AS, a Norwegian company founded in 2013, it’s designed for distraction-free writing and note-taking rather than general tablet use.

Does the reMarkable 2 feel like writing on paper? More closely than any other digital tablet in the category. The high-friction surface creates resistance under the stylus that glass screens can’t replicate. It doesn’t feel identical to paper, but it’s close enough that most writers adapt immediately and find it more natural than any other stylus-on-screen experience.

Does the reMarkable 2 have a backlight? No. The reMarkable 2 has no frontlight and requires ambient light to read and write comfortably. This is a deliberate design choice that keeps the display focused on writing and reduces eye strain in bright conditions. The reMarkable Paper Pro adds a frontlight at a higher price.

What is the difference between the reMarkable 2 and the reMarkable Paper Pro? The Paper Pro has a color display with 20,000 colors, a frontlight, 64GB storage, faster latency (12ms vs 21ms), and a larger 11.8-inch screen. It costs significantly more. The reMarkable 2 is grayscale with no frontlight, 8GB storage, and 21ms latency. For most writers who work in adequate light, the reMarkable 2 does the job. For writers who need color annotation or work in varying light conditions, the Paper Pro is worth considering.

How does the reMarkable 2 compare to the Kindle Scribe? The reMarkable 2 is a writing device first with better paper feel and stylus latency, no distractions, and cleaner note organization. The Kindle Scribe is a reader first with deep Kindle ecosystem integration and Active Canvas annotation on e-books. Writers who primarily write: reMarkable 2. Writers who primarily read and annotate: Kindle Scribe.

Does the reMarkable 2 require a subscription? No, but full features require reMarkable Connect at $2.99 per month or $29.99 per year, which adds cloud sync, unlimited cloud storage, and handwriting-to-text conversion. The device works without it but with reduced functionality. The bundle on Amazon includes a Connect subscription period.

Can the reMarkable 2 replace a notebook? For most note-taking use cases, yes. It organizes notes into folders, converts handwriting to text, syncs to the cloud, and holds far more pages than any physical notebook. The main things it doesn’t replicate are the tactile pleasure of a physical notebook, the ability to paste in ephemera, and the satisfaction of a full Moleskine on the shelf. Whether those matter to you is a personal question the reMarkable 2 can’t answer.

Is the reMarkable 2 worth it in 2026? Yes, with the usual caveat that it depends on the use case. The reMarkable 2 launched in 2020 and the hardware hasn’t changed, but the software has continued to improve through firmware updates and the core proposition — the best paper-like writing surface in the category, zero distractions, two-week battery — remains unmatched at the price. The reMarkable Paper Pro is the current flagship and worth considering if color and a frontlight matter to you. For writers who work in decent light and want a dedicated writing device without the Paper Pro price, the reMarkable 2 is still the right answer in 2026.