We've reached "peak something" with this much collective energy spent contemplating an expensive and complicated "solution" to a problem that is solved pretty simply and cheaply by a good spiral bound notebook and a nice pen.
I love this marketing soundbite too:
> “reMarkable gives me the deep focus required to work on complex problems.”
Mmmm. Yeah. I usually have to find a quiet place and eliminate distractions to get deep focus, but nice to know I can just carry this new device around with me and never lose deep focus!
Paper is nice, but can be cumbersome to organize. While I love physical books, my e-reader is so much convenient as it's lighter than the majority of book and I only have the one thing to bring. So if you like to take notes (and refer to them later) something like this could be great. But I agree that it is too much expensive for what it offers and too locked down. At least with the iPad, you can install third-party apps to sync files and what not.
P.S. I was seriously considering it, but I went back to paper after trying to use my iPad for digital notetaking (too much distraction and the main apps, goodnotes and notability, have become awful). I have a clipboard and a ram of paper as a thinking tool. Then I copy the final result in a text file.
> a problem that is solved pretty simply and cheaply by a good spiral bound notebook and a nice pen.
You're right, but only mostly :)
The paper and pen that it replaced for me certainly wasn't cheap. I bought the rM2, keyboard folio, and the pen, so I'm all-in for around $1k USD. My EDC pens are all around the $150-$400 mark.
There are use cases that it does much better, though. I regularly use mine in Zoom meetings, and the desktop app allows me to screencast my rM2 to the call. It's super nice to be able to draw a diagram "on paper" and have everyone on the call see what I'm doing.
> I can just carry this new device around with me and never lose deep focus!
This is a net zero, at least for me. Before, I had two notebooks (one for work, one for personal stuff) and a pen. Now I have a single device that's the same height and width, but is about 1/3 as thick. The weight is a bit less. It's not distracting because all I can do with it is take notes and read PDFs/ebooks.
Actually, I take it back. It's a net win. I no longer have a separate Kindle that I carry with me.
I love this marketing soundbite too:
> “reMarkable gives me the deep focus required to work on complex problems.”
Mmmm. Yeah. I usually have to find a quiet place and eliminate distractions to get deep focus, but nice to know I can just carry this new device around with me and never lose deep focus!