Over the past few months, I’ve had the pleasure of testing out the reMarkable Paper Pro. You can read my full review here, but in short, it gets everything right about the note taking experience.
Despite being an e-ink tablet, it does get quite pricey. However, there are certainly some fantastic parts of the experience that make it worth comparing to an iPad Air, depending on what you’re looking for in a note taking device for school, work, or whatever else.
Overview
Since the reMarkable Paper Pro comes in at $629 with the reMarkable Marker Plus included, it likely makes most sense to compare this against Apple’s iPad Air 11-inch. That comes in at $599 without an Apple Pencil, and adding in the Apple Pencil Pro will run you an additional $129. Granted, the equivalent iPad setup will run you $100 more than the reMarkable Paper Pro.
Given the fact that iPad Air‘s regularly go on sale, and that reMarkable Paper Pro will be receiving an unspecified price hike on May 28th, it’d be fair to say they’re roughly on the same playing field.
So, $629 for a reMarkable Paper Pro setup, versus $728 for a comparable iPad Air setup. Which is better for you?
iPad Air advantages
Obviously, the iPad Air has one key advantage: It runs iOS, has millions of apps available, can browse the web, play games, stream TV shows/movies, and much more. To some, that might end the comparison and make the iPad a clear winner, but I disagree.
Yes, if you want your tablet to do all of those things for you, the iPad Air is a no brainer. At the end of the day, the iPad Air is a general purpose tablet that’ll do a lot more for you.
However, if you also have a laptop to accompany your tablet, I’d argue that the iPad Air may fall into a category of slight redundance. Most things you’d want to do on the iPad can be done on a laptop, excluding any sort of touchscreen/stylus reliant features.
iPads are great, and if you want that – you should pick that. However, I have an alternative argument to offer…
The reMarkable Paper Pro does one thing really well: note taking. At first thought, you might think: why would I pay so much for a device that only does one thing?
Well, that’s because it does that one thing really well. There’s also a second side to this argument: focus.
It’s much easier to focus on what you’re doing when the device isn’t capable of anything else. If you’re taking notes while studying, you could easily see a notification or have the temptation to check notification center. Or, if you’re reading an e-book, you could easily choose to swipe up and get into another app.
The best thing about the reMarkable Paper Pro is that you can’t easily get lost in the world of modern technology, while still having important technological features like cloud backup of your notes. Plus, you don’t have to worry about carrying around physical paper.
One last thing – the reMarkable Paper Pro also has rubber feet on the back, so if you place it down flat on a table caseless, you don’t have to worry about scratching it up.
Spec comparison
Here’s a quick rundown of all of the key specs between the two devices. reMarkable Paper Pro‘s strengths definitely lie in battery, form factor, and stylus. iPad has some rather neat features with the Apple Pencil Pro, and also clears in the display category. Both devices also offer keyboards for typed notes, though only the iPad offers a trackpad.
| iPad Air | reMarkable Paper Pro | |
| Display | – 10.9-inch LCD display – Glossy glass – 2360 × 1640 at 264 ppi |
– 11.8-inch Color e-ink display – Paper-feeling textured glass – 2160 × 1620 at 229 ppi |
| Hardware | – 6.1mm thin – Anodized aluminum coating – Weighs 461g w/o Pencil Pro |
– 5.1mm thin – Textured aluminum edges – Weighs 360g w/ Marker attached |
| Stylus | – Magnetically charges from device – Supports tilt/pressure sensitivity – Low latency (number unspecified) – Matte plastic build – Squeeze features, double tap gestures |
– Magnetically charges from device – Supports tilt/pressure sensitivity – Ultra-low latency (12ms) – Premium textured aluminum build – Built in eraser on the bottom |
| Battery life | – Up to 10 hours of web browsing – Recharges to 100% in 2-3 hrs |
– Up to 14 days of typical usage – Fast charges to 90% in 90 mins |
| Price | – $599 ($529 on sale) for iPad Air – $129 ($99 on sale) for Pencil Pro |
– $629 bundled with Marker Plus |
Wrap up
All in all, I’m not going to try to convince anyone that wanted to buy an iPad that they should buy a reMarkable Paper Pro. You can’t beat the fact that the iPad Air will do a lot more, for roughly the same cost.
But, if you’re not buying this to be a primary computing device, I’d argue that the reMarkable Paper Pro is a worthy alternative, especially if you really just want something you can zone in on. The reMarkable Paper Pro feels a lot nicer to write on, has substantially longer battery life, and really masters a minimalist form of digital note taking.
Buy M3 iPad Air on Amazon:
Buy reMarkable Paper Pro on Amazon:
What do you think of these two tablets? Let us know in the comments.
My favorite Apple accessory recommendations:
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