reMarkable 2 with Marker Plus review

No app store, no notifications, no social media, which is the entire product.

The verdict: The reMarkable 2 costs four hundred and fifty dollars and cannot show you a notification, open a browser or run an app, and for some people that constraint is worth every cent. Buy it if you think on paper and your notebooks are unsearchable, or if a general purpose tablet reliably eats your afternoon. Skip it if you would use it twice a week, because a paper notebook costs five dollars and a phone in another room is free.

The Distraction Free Notebook

reMarkable reMarkable 2 with Marker Plus

~$449

A 10.3 inch black and white paper tablet with a paper like writing feel and no app store, pop up ads, notifications or social media, supplied with the Marker Plus stylus.

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Specifications

Spec	Detail
Display	10.3 inch black and white
Writing feel	Paper like surface
Software	No app store, no pop up ads, no notifications, no social media
Included	reMarkable 2 and the Marker Plus stylus
Function	Note taking, reading and document mark up

Specifications above come from reMarkable's published specifications. Treat pricing as approximate, since Amazon pricing moves.

What it does well

The absence of software is the feature. A device that physically cannot interrupt you is a different tool from one where you have chosen to disable notifications and could re-enable them.
Handwriting is a genuinely different mode of thinking from typing, and a device that keeps it while making the result searchable and syncable solves the real problem with paper notebooks.
The writing surface has texture and drag, which is why it feels like paper rather than like glass, and it is the thing people notice first.
Ten point three inches is roughly A5, which is large enough for real diagramming rather than only lists.

Where it falls short

Four hundred and fifty dollars for a device that takes notes is a lot, and the honest comparison is a stack of notebooks and a phone left in the kitchen.
Black and white only, with no backlight on this generation, so it needs ambient light exactly as paper does.
The subscription tier for cloud sync and handwriting conversion is a recurring cost, and the free tier limits how long files stay in the cloud.
It does not replace a laptop or a tablet. If you were hoping to consolidate devices, this adds one rather than removing one.

What owners report

Published owner reports are unusually emotional for a piece of hardware, and the recurring theme is that people who bought it for the constraint kept using it and people who bought it as a cheaper iPad did not. The writing feel draws near universal praise.

Criticism concentrates on price and on the subscription for cloud features. Several reports note that the discipline they hoped to buy came from the device rather than from themselves, which is a fair description of what a single purpose device is for and is worth being honest about before spending.

Who it suits

People who think better in handwriting but lose the notebooks.
Anyone whose general purpose tablet has become a distraction device.
Readers who annotate PDFs heavily.

Who should skip it

Anyone who wants one device to do everything, where an iPad is the answer.
Occasional note takers, where paper is cheaper and works.
People who need colour, video or a backlight.

Alternatives worth considering

Newer and Cheaper

reMarkable reMarkable Paper Pure with Marker

~$399

Fifty dollars less for the third generation 10.3 inch display, which reMarkable describes as whiter with more contrast. The same deliberate absence of apps and notifications, in a newer body.

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The Opposite Tradeoff

Apple iPad 11-inch, A16 chip, 128GB

~$399

Fifty dollars less for a device that does everything, which is exactly why it may not suit. If your problem is losing hours to a screen, buying a better screen is not the fix. If your problem is carrying three devices, it is.

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Cheapest Version of the Same Idea

Mindsight Timed Lock Box for phones and screens

~$40

Forty dollars to physically lock the distraction away for a set period, which is the same principle as a device with no apps at a tenth of the price. Worth trying first.

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Common questions

Is a reMarkable worth it for ADHD?

Some people find single purpose devices genuinely helpful because they remove the decision to be distracted rather than relying on resisting it. That is a personal fit question rather than a treatment claim, and nothing here should be read as medical advice. Speak to your doctor or clinician about ADHD management; this is a notebook.

Does it need a subscription?

The device works without one for local note taking. Cloud sync, handwriting to text conversion and integrations sit behind reMarkable's Connect subscription, and the free tier limits how long files remain in the cloud. Price the subscription into the decision if syncing matters to you.

reMarkable 2 or Paper Pure?

Paper Pure is newer, fifty dollars cheaper and has a display reMarkable describes as whiter with more contrast. Unless you find the reMarkable 2 discounted below it, the newer model is the straightforward choice.

Can it replace my paper notebooks?

For most people, yes, and that is the practical case for it: everything is in one place and searchable rather than spread across notebooks nobody can find. Whether that is worth four hundred and fifty dollars depends on how much you write.

reMarkable or an iPad?

Opposite philosophies. The iPad does everything including distract you; the reMarkable does one thing and cannot. If your problem is losing time to a device, adding a more capable device rarely fixes it. Our phone lockbox versus fidget tools comparison covers the wider question of removing distractions rather than resisting them.

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This review draws on published specifications, manufacturer figures and the consensus of verified owner reviews. We have not tested this product ourselves, and we say so rather than implying otherwise. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.