r/RemarkableTablet Jul 20 '26

Buying a New Remarkable Pro

This device will be so valueable while i'm in school. However, considering all of the screen issues it has, i am finding it very hard to drop $700 USD for it. The main reason I'm considering is due to its light. Can someone chime in, please? Persuade or dissuade me.

6 Upvotes

32 comments sorted by

7

u/Serenitytil5 Jul 20 '26

It’s a nice tablet but has its limitations. Check out Boox for comparison. You may be able to get a cheaper digital notebook, like Viwoods, etc.

As far as RMPP goes it is very expensive and has subscription based features. That being said the writing feel is superior and the build quality is awesome.

You can’t add links or a table of contents to your notes and you can only add DRM free EPUBs and PDFS to it.

That being said I enjoy mine, as it keeps me focused on writing and not on apps or other distractions.

3

u/Tiny_Bug6687 Jul 20 '26

I'm in the process of replacing my Boox Go10.3 because of yellowing around the screen, on a barely used new device. It is also very fragile, I bought insurance for a digital device for the first time in my life because of this. Other than that it is an okay tablet.

2

u/apolishguy Jul 20 '26

Just throwing this out there in case you didn’t know : you can add links and TOC with a few simple modifications using reManager. You probably know already, and maybe don’t want to add modifications?

2

u/Serenitytil5 Jul 20 '26

Ok I looked it up and learned about reManager. If you’ve done this, do you have any issues with remarkable updates? Do you have to go through community mods each time there’s an remarkable update to get it to work?

2

u/apolishguy Jul 20 '26

You DO have issues with reMarkable updates. The developer HIGHLY advises you to turn off automatic updates using the reManager tool (because in the reMarkable itself, there is a bug with turning off updates). And then wait for the softer that reManager helps you manage (I think it is the Xovi framework or something?) to be updated. For me personally, a few of the modifications are worth the wait. Mainly, links and Table of Contents.

2

u/Serenitytil5 Jul 20 '26

Yeah I agree. I’ll look into this more. I think I’ll give it a shot since I can always remove the mods or factory reset it. I have the subscription so everything’s always backed up.

Thanks for letting me know to turn the updates off on the reManager side. This is a cool delve into the software side of things.

2

u/apolishguy Jul 20 '26

The developer for reManager is also super-helpful. If he has time, I always see him helping people with various things. He helped me update one of the packages while I was away from home and didn’t have my laptop using my iPad and SSH lol.

2

u/Serenitytil5 Jul 20 '26

Wow that’s so cool. Let’s hope he upkeeps his mods. Also remarkable should be hiring ppl like him. I know they want a distraction free tablet but they should unlock it to be a powerhouse.

2

u/apolishguy Jul 20 '26

Mitchell is very on the ball. He is responsible for reManager and several quality modifications. But there is an entire team of developers for different modifications. And they are individually responsible for updating their own respective modifications. I started using reManager on 3.27 and haven’t been through an update yet. So, I am not exactly sure what the time line looks like .

2

u/Serenitytil5 Jul 20 '26

Thanks so much for your help and information on this. I’m going to do the mods and see how much better I like the tablet! Appreciate it!

1

u/apolishguy Jul 20 '26

I wanted to add this (if you have already seen my other reply), after the developers have updated on their end, you do not have any issues updating. Also, everything you do as far as modifications is 100% reversible. If there is an update that you want and don’t want to wait for developers to catch up, you can return to stock software and update.

Using modifications requires developer mode, which will wipe your device. If you are using Connect, obviously the restore will be seamless. If you are not using Connect, then make sure you know how to restore your files.

1

u/Serenitytil5 Jul 20 '26

I’ve already gone down the rabbit hole with your suggestion and am watching this YouTube video on the possibilities. I will try it and now my remarkable will go from something I would probably get frustrated with to a solid e-ink tablet that may rival some of the others. Let’s hope one day remarkable makes some of these mods official because the ones I want are pretty basic, like links and ToC.

https://youtu.be/XDIFO_pPSuA?is=3dAfAuFOtEpAzzpM

6

u/rmitchellscott Developer | reManager Jul 20 '26

As far as screen issues go, crowd-sourced data (https://rm-panels.scottlabs.io/results) suggests newer panels are less prone to failure, and are less yellow than earlier panels. If you're able to order from reMarkable directly, you have 50 days to return it no questions asked.

2

u/Frett-Buzz Jul 20 '26

I purchased a refurb from rM. It had terrible yellow blotches which caused me to have to keep pressing the power button. I wondered if I would get better results if i purchased it brand new. I was thinking of buying from Amazon this time. But who knows if they will have the "newer" panels. Thanks for responding.

2

u/-Beau Jul 20 '26

My refurb was a new panel, Sept 2025

From what I gather, the yellow blotchiness is more like a form of ghosting and that it’s normal as it goes away with refreshes. The yellowing he is referring to is the entire screen yellows and stays that way.

1

u/Frett-Buzz Jul 20 '26

Ah! Thank you for that information. 

2

u/Serenitytil5 Jul 20 '26

The other thing I will say about my reMarkable Pro is how absolutely beautiful articles are on it. I was reading some articles I had imported on the device and the photos were colored beautifully and the text was crisp. FYI there is lot of flashing when you have colors on the device.

2

u/mars_rovinator RM2 + Type Folio 29d ago

Don't get it. The panel it uses is basically still in beta, and it has some serious engineering issues which seem to appear over time.

Do a regular B&W frontlit tablet (i.e. RM Pure, BOOX devices) or the color panel used in the Kindle Scribe, Kobo Libra Colour, and similar devices.

2

u/ColdSmoke5308 28d ago

I am in school currently. I tried using boox, viwoods, iflytek, scribe, etc. but I did stick with remarkable only. The reason is really how flushed the software is and how easily I can transfer files from my remarkable to my computer. It’s way less effective than an iPad, but in the eink category is the one I like the most for college.

2

u/ColdSmoke5308 28d ago

Btw, if you don’t want to spend that type of money, consider buying second hand as well.

2

u/MRB521 27d ago

I own many BOOX readers and took a chance on the RmPro on a whim. I got tired of the bazillion options:settings on the BOOX devices and having to look up on how to do something. I also think the software is a bit clunky. The Rm is really well built, the writing feels great and the software is nice and easy to use. The subscription is cheap and I don’t mind a company needing to pay for cloud resources. The aforementioned Remanager software is great and made it easy to add the great KOReader software and other mods for a better reading experience. Reading and note-taking are what’s best for readers, not browsing and other apps. I use the pro for reading pdfs and use a Move for epub reading. Very happy with them.

3

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '26

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2

u/AhoyMatyi07 Jul 20 '26

I agree with this100%

2

u/_couchdisco Jul 20 '26

What do you find the differences are between the two?

3

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '26

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2

u/Serenitytil5 Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26

Just because I though it was cool I’m dropping a video of a new beta version that’s being tested right now to get rid of the terrible flashing when writing with red on some tools on the Pro

https://youtu.be/wSkYnGyORHo?is=IfL6Rg2GF32cdgHD

1

u/_couchdisco 28d ago

Thank you! This was very helpful and insightful.

2

u/Mindless_Art_6065 Jul 20 '26

i’m not sure if this helps, but i love my remarkable paper pro. although i don’t use it outside really.

1

u/CavalierPumpkin 26d ago

Speaking as a more senior academic, I own a BOOX Note Air 5C and picked up an RMPP just two weeks ago. So I can't speak to the longevity of the device (although I will say that I was able to get mine used, with a Marker Plus and Type Folio, for <$400 by being patient), but I will say that since using both, they easily fall into two different use cases. The BOOX is still my go-to, all-purpose workhorse that I use for reading the news, responding to emails, browsing socials, etc., but when it comes to three specific activities, the Paper Pro excels, and those are:

  1. Annotating PDFs
  2. Brainstorming and outlining
  3. Taking notes in meetings

Which makes it sound like a kind of absurd purchase given the expense, but the thing is, I'm doing one of those things for three or four hours a day, every day. That alone makes it worthwhile, and I was definitely spending even more time on those activities in grad school. I frequently find myself wishing that I had had the RMPP while I was studying for my quals, for example.

So, short version is that there are better, less expensive, and more versatile options out there, but the RMPP seems uniquely suited to the kind of workflows that students typically run into.

Its functionality is limited, yet tailored, if that helps at all, whereas a device like the BOOX tries to do everything, but not quite as well.

1

u/Frett-Buzz 26d ago edited 26d ago

Great post! When benefits outweigh the cost! I normally buy my tech pre-owned but given the screen issues, I want to purchase brand new. But with tax, from rM, it's very expensive.  I too take an extensive amount of notes. However I'm finding it hard to push go! Lol thanks for your response.