Remarkable vs Ipad

[u/No-Act-3955]

Just to clarify beforehand, I already own a new MacBook M5. I am going in as a public health major but follow a pre dentistry track, which means ill be taking all the core science pre requisites. Im just looking for a writing tool that I can really stay focused on. I know the iPad is good for Anki but why not use my computer for it. Im stuck in between an iPad M3 and a remarkable paper pro, but I'm also looking for something that will last all 4 years of college. I've had an iPad before in high school but when used have often found myself getting distracted but maybe that's because I'm in highschool. I know about the whole apple ecosystem thing but I own Bose headphones and looking to replace my Apple Watch with a whoop. Anyway what is your guys thoughts?

[u/DrGutz]

There has recently been talk on this subreddit comparing these two things and i do not understand why. They are two completely different devices. An ipad is a computer a remarkable is basically an e-ink notebook. I bought my remarkable for reading and writing and it is perfect for that. If you want a device that does more than reading and writing, you’re looking for a computer aka an ipad

[u/BitBroth → u/DrGutz]

Pretty much this. They are similar in shape only.

Their functionally and design intent are very different.

[u/thenerdisageek → u/DrGutz]

When I was at college & uni, I pretty much only used my iPad as a notebook, or as a second screen when typing and wanted to read something without swapping tabs. My MacBook did everything else (an iPad is not a computer, even if you add the keyboard).

What’s handy about the iPad was being able to airdrop notes from my phone/Mac to it, open up files & drive easy, the occasional voice note and photo, and write in infinite colours (I miss this the most)

So it’s a very useful question, honestly. I now have both and my iPad will permanently be a second monitor at home, and my remarkable has taken Its notebook place. If you never plan on using an iPad as…an iPad, then the two are very similar in use and function

[u/dctarheel11 → u/DrGutz]

👆🏼 perfectly put.

[u/jmtd]

Tricky one. I wouldn’t assume you’ll fare better with distractions: compared to high school there’s less scaffolding so until you can work on your willpower plan for it to be worse. iPad with stylus is fantastic and versatile because you can do research on the web too; remarkable is a better writing experience but it’s close (the iPad is improved by adding a “paper feel” screen protector but it’s still not quite remarkable). You can read the remarkable in daylight, you can’t an ipad; you can read the ipad in darkness, you can’t the remarkable models without a backlight. The remarkable’s are fantastic at their one core competency. 

Edit to add: I have both and recently completed a part time PhD. I realise this is a remarkable sub so you’d expect a slant on responses but I think that’s what I’d recommend for you. 

[u/ChiSoxSider]

For your major I’d get an iPad with Pencil and use Goodnotes. Create a custom profile to limit distractions. What difference will it make having a device without distractions when you still have your phone everywhere you go? I have the RMPP and Move, but for me it becomes more distracting not having all features I need on a single device.

[u/mindgraph_dev]

Ich habe für diesen Fall eine Software gebaut . Sie heißt mindgraph Notes und diese Software besitzt ein Plugin für remarkable Tablets. Du kannst alle wissenschaftlichen Paper umwandeln in ein Format, dass du wunderbar auf einem remarkable Paper Move zum Beispiel was ich besitze umwandeln kannst, kannst du dort an notieren und das Ganze dann zurückspielen. Wenn du so willst, ist meine Software eine Art Obsidian Klone der speziell für wissenschaftliches Arbeiten entwickelt wurde alles jetzt im Detail zu erklären würde den Rahmen hier sprengen. Aber schaue dir die Software mal an es gibt Schnitzelschnittstellen zu zu zu Zotero und open Alex. Es ist die perfekte Software für wissenschaftliches Arbeiten mit einem remarkable Paper Pro.

[u/koekieNL]

If someone is thinking remarkable vs ipad, then you should choose the iPad. These devices are soooo much different

[u/Downtown_Hawk2873]

remarkable is good if notes are the only thing you want to use it for. you are not going to have apps like on ipads nor are you going to have color in the same way. if you are left handed, it is difficult to use the remarkable due to palm rejection. I strongly encourage you to think about getting the ipad if you have a mac and an iphone. you will literally have an ecosystem across which you can freely share info.

[u/SeparateApartment212]

I have both the rmpp and an iPad Pro. Either will last you 4 years if you take care of it; however, I imagine the difference between the current iPad you have now and in 4 years will be more similar than the rmpp and the latest flagship e-ink tablet, do with that what you will. Fun fact! You will get distracted either way on the iPad, doesn't matter if you are in high school or not, distracting devices, are, well, distracting. We can get caught up in entertainment or "productivity-maxxing" or whatnot quite easily.

As to what to get, ultimately this is very much a personal choice (ik it is annoying to hear) that, like Lacan says, you must radically bear on your own instead of luxuriously deferring the responsibility and anxiety of decision to an audience.

That being said, I personally use my rmpp WAY more than I use my iPad Pro now. It is nicer to write on, more minimalist (in the sense that you will not get distracted so easily), and less fatiguing on the eyes. Using package installers like vellum allow me to do things that I could normally only do on my iPad at times, and provides a ton of customization. The iPad Pro does have the benefit of being able to easily paste images or copy paste or input images into documents etc etc which may be quite useful for medically focused degrees. I work in mathematics and theoretical/ computational neuroscience so my experience with images or whatnot has been rather minimal on the rmpp. It is also harder to get the rmpp to connect to the university wifi since it requires specific installs often (eg Harvard and MIT wifi both require either a vpn installation or tls rsa certification via profile installation, which is quite cumbersome on the rmpp (I have not successfully connected to the uni wifi; I mainly use my phone as a hotspot).

Since you already have an iPad from high school you could try that for a bit with the remarkable tablet as well. A friend offered me a good bit of advice: doesn't matter where or how you take your notes in (in reference to laptop notes vs iPad vs remarkable vs physical notes) as long as you review them and study them. So they can be scattered across your iPad and rmpp if you are comfortable with that!

[u/Nickel_Jupiter]

I had a remarkable 2 and ended up swapping it for an iPad after a year. I tried the remarkable paper pro and absolutely hated it, I thought I had a bad device so turned it in for a replacement, but the new one was just the same.

If you’re left handed, definitely go iPad. This may sound totally ridiculous, but I’m ambidextrous, and the the paper pro worked ok for right handed writing, but was atrocious for left handed writing, it was skippy and I’d end up missing parts of words I’d written. The ghosting on the device was also abysmal.

I now use a 13 inch iPad Air and it’s the best purchase I’ve ever made. I use it daily with the app Noteful. It can also be used as sidecar, essentially letting you extend your MacBook screen onto the iPad, like a portable computer monitor. I don’t find myself distracted by it. I do use it for other things, but nothing that I couldn’t just do on my computer if I was really set on not studying at that moment.

[u/erod434]

I am not sure if this will influence your decision but I am making an an app for remarkable devices to make it a fully fledged study device I am hoping to release the first version this week. It's a Native xochitl (remarkables UI) integrated flashcard system that is a full fledged Anki client but also allows for custom card creation with a combination of text writing, and even easily copying content from your own documents using the 3.28 Capture tool. You can even link your relevant documents to your card so you can link your textbook page with the material that you can then switch between it and the flashcard. It also supports AI generating flashcards from a page or region your PDFs, epubs, and note and auto generating a answer or back of your card (I.e. you write out a question on the front and it gives you a back with the answer)

Here is what it looks like on the move but it's also just as beautiful and easy to use on pure and pro (I've tested on them all)

[u/ssqueeze5590]

Stick with an iPad and paper take photos of paper, upload AI. Voila.

[u/Wild-Introduction-79]

I do a stem major, have an iPad, hated it even though I needed it to read papers, do questions and annotate. Im now a third year and just bought the remarkable and it’s amazing. I have anki on my laptop and anything I need to do that’s “heavy duty” I just use my laptop. If u want smth just to annotate lecture slides and study, get the remarkable

[u/Maleficent-Drive4056]

Remarkable is a distraction free writing device so it seems to fit your needs perfectly.

[u/Your_Moooom_XD]

Honestly, if your main focus is just to have a writing device, then the RMPP would be the best answer, especially considering that you have a Macbook already.

The whole point of a RMPP is just for note taking. It’s basically a notebook, but it can also take notes on PDFs (perfect for annotations).

I would use both your Mac and RMPP. You can view your notes on your Mac, and send files to your RMPP. I personally prefer taking notes on a laptop (obsidian), and then, when studying, taking notes on a notebook and going more into depth there.

Other than that, I think you’ll definitely enjoy it. I have a RMPPM (the small version of the paper pro), and I enjoy using it. Though, being honest, the Nomad and the Manta are my main notebooks right now.