Every September the same question comes up: stick with the trusty paper notebook, or spend serious money on an e ink tablet like a reMarkable or Kindle Scribe? Having weighed both options for note heavy work, here is the honest answer, including the cases where paper genuinely wins.
The Case for Paper
Paper needs no charging, never crashes, costs a few pounds and imposes zero learning curve. A good A5 notebook and a pen you like writing with is still the fastest capture tool ever made. Research on handwriting and memory consistently favours the physical act of writing for retention, and nothing about that requires a screen.
Paper also wins on ceremony. Interviews, client meetings and appraisals feel different when you write in a notebook rather than tap at a device. Nobody wonders whether you are checking email.
The Case for the E Ink Tablet
The problem with paper is everything that happens after you write. Finding a note from three months ago means flicking pages. Sharing means photographing. Backing up means nothing, because there is no backup.
An e ink tablet keeps the feel of handwriting close to paper while fixing the afterlife of your notes:
- Search: handwriting recognition makes years of notes searchable in seconds
- Organisation: notebooks, folders and tags instead of a drawer of filled pads
- Sync and backup: notes appear on your phone and laptop automatically
- One slim device: replaces the notebook, the printouts and the PDF markups
Battery life is measured in weeks, and the matte screens are readable in daylight, unlike a laptop or iPad.
The Honest Cost Comparison
This is where you should slow down. A premium notebook habit costs perhaps £30 a year. The popular e ink tablets sold in the UK sit between £330 and £460, and the reMarkable ecosystem has an optional subscription on top. Against paper, an e ink tablet only pays its way if the searchability and organisation genuinely save you time every week.
If you write a handful of pages a month, keep the notebook. If your work runs on meeting notes, site notes, case notes or study notes, the maths changes quickly.
Who Should Stick with Paper
- Occasional note takers who fill one notebook a year
- Anyone whose notes never need to be found again after the week they were written
- People who already dislike managing devices and accounts
Who Should Switch to E Ink
- Professionals producing pages of notes daily who need to retrieve them later
- Students revising across modules, where search and organisation compound
- Anyone drowning in printed PDFs, because marking up documents is where these devices quietly excel
Which E Ink Tablet, If You Switch?
The right device depends on whether you want a pure writing tool or a do everything reader. We compare the reMarkable 2, Kindle Scribe and the Boox range, with UK prices and the subscription small print, in our full guide to the best e ink tablets in the UK.
The Bottom Line
Paper is not obsolete, and buying a £400 tablet to write a shopping list is silly. But if your working life produces notes you need to keep, search and share, an e ink tablet stops being a gadget and starts being filing that does itself. Decide based on how often you go looking for old notes: rarely means paper, weekly means e ink.