A digital notebook is a new and exciting gadget that comes with a display (similar to a writing tablet) but is specifically designed for handwritten notes.
These devices (unlike drawing tablets) make writing and taking notes a joy without having to carry around stuff like a calendar, an agenda, and a separate binder.
While a laptop or a Mac with a keyboard is great for study sessions, it’s not optimal for planning, designing, or even taking notes due to their sizes.
A digital notepad has an ergonomic design, a long-lasting battery life, and options like cloud services for Evernote and OneNote, which support e-learning on another level.
They’re great for doodling down thoughts and are perfect for virtual meetings, annotating what you learn, organizing pdfs, creating lists, and more!
Let’s explore the best electronic notebooks below.
What Is the Best Digital Notebook?
Here are my top picks for the best digital notebooks that bring value to your creative process.
⸻
1. BOOX Note Air 2
Best Electronic Notebook With Pen
Reading books on your tablet or smartphone is nice, but it’s not the same as reading a paper book outside due to the glare and low brightness.
The Amazon Kindle and other e-readers are great gadgets, but don’t allow you to take handwritten notes; they are just readers.
What if you could combine an e-reader with a digital notepad?
That is precisely what the BOOX Note Air 2 digital writing pad solves; a Remarkable 2 alternative.
With its ultra-slim body and sleek design, this e-reader is perfect for anyone who wants a high-quality device without compromising.
You can take handwritten notes with the embedded stylus anywhere, and the 10.3″ screen makes it possible to read books in full glory!
Likes and Dislikes
⎷ Excellent size and large E-ink display that works outside.
⎷ Take handwritten notes or view comics in different formats anywhere.
⎷ I like how its form is lightweight and durable for portability.
⎷ It comes with a stylus pen for taking notes right out of the box.
⎷ Bring your favorite books with you, no matter where you are.
⎷ Equipped with the Android 11.0 software version for awesome functionality.
⍻ It’s a slightly expensive digital writing pad, but its features and functionality justify the price.
User Experience
Users love this little gadget as it’s versatile for taking notes or using it as an e-reader.
If you’re ready to experience what a digital notebook can do for you, then give it a try. You might actually love it.
⸻
2. Apple iPad Air
Best Premium Digital Note Taking Device
The Apple iPad Air is one of the best digital notepads in this article, with all the bells and whistles you’d ever need from a premium electronic notebook.
It has excellent functionality, performance, power, and flexibility and comes with a premium retina display.
You can do anything on an iPad, from organizing your life, professional sketching, coloring, creating graphics, and even relaxing with entertainment.
The Apple iPad Air has 10 hours of battery life, built-in WiFi connectivity, Bluetooth, and 4G compatibility for all your digital needs.
Apple products can be expensive and sometimes hard to find in the store, but you know what you’re getting in terms of top-quality and the trusted Apple ecosystem.
Likes and Dislikes
⎷ A premium digital notepad made for the digital content creator.
⎷ Take notes, watch a course, listen to music, run an entire online business, or sketch and color like an artist; the use cases are endless.
⎷ Super lightweight and built-in WiFi and 4G connectivity.
⎷ Awesome retina display quality with vivid colors.
⎷ Ten hours of battery life per charge to support your daily life.
⎷ Essentially a full-blown tablet capable of even image and video editing, which is crazy.
⍻ A premium device in line with a premium price, but you get what you pay for.
⍻ It’s not the best to use outside in direct sunlight due to screen glare.
If you’re ready to take your creative energies to the next level, then the iPad Air is a must, especially for professional artists.
⸻
3. Boogie Board Blackboard
Best Cheap Note Pads For Kids
The Boogie Board Blackboard Writing Tablet is a great and easy way to take notes and light doodling.
This tablet has four templates to choose from to find the perfect note-taking letter style for your needs.
The Blackboard Pen makes it easy to write on the semi-transparent display.
You can easily erase notes by pressing a button or using the eraser tip on the pen for more precision.
Whether working from home, in the office or teaching schoolchildren, this tablet is great for almost anyone.
The Boogie Board is a budget-friendly and affordable notepad that will not break the bank with its $50 price tag.
Just don’t expect premium quality as a tradeoff for deals that are this cheap.
Great Features, Likes, and Dislikes
⎷ Easy to take notes for kids and sketching for adults.
⎷ Comfortable and won’t tire your hand or wrist.
⎷ Clear and erasable writing surface.
⎷ Simple and compact design with templates.
⎷ Lightweight and easy to take anywhere.
⎷ Perfect for brainstorming sessions, doodling a logo, note writing, teaching children, and more!
⍻ No colors, just a simple blackboard.
⍻ You have to take pictures with the app to save notes manually.
If you’re just looking for a simple device to doodle on, or something for your kids to draw on, then the Boogie blackboard is a great cheap alternative.
⸻
4. ReMarkable 2
Best Digital Paper Tablet Experience
The ReMarkable 2 digital notepad is the future of note-taking.
ReMarkable is an innovative technology that can be used in many different ways. This handy tool can quickly digitize handwritten notes, making them searchable and easy to access.
Still, the main selling point is that it was designed to feel like writing on paper but with digital benefits.
The perfect digital device for students, entrepreneurs, and businesses alike, it’s lightweight and easy to carry around, so you can jot down notes wherever your busy life may take you.
Likes and Dislikes
⎷ Handwriting is digitally captured in a way that feels natural.
⎷ It’s perfect for taking notes, sketching ideas, and drawing pictures.
⎷ Feels like you’re writing on paper.
⎷ Saves time and space with digitalized notes so you can focus on what’s important.
⎷ Capture your thoughts instantly, and never lose a single note again.
⎷ Easily share your documents and sketches with your favorite apps.
⍻ The pricing can become complicated with a monthly subscription.
⍻ Expensive accessories that you need to add on and the pen is not included.
ReMarkable 2 Pricing
The ReMarkable 2 is reasonably priced, and you get a lot for what you pay for, but accessories are not included in the base package.
- ReMarkable 2 base unit: $399
- Marker (pencil): $49 without the built-in eraser, $129 with an eraser.
- Foolio (cover): $69 for a standard slide-in cover, $119 for a book-style cover
So, depending on your choices, if you opt into the “connect program” for $7.99/month, you can get a $100 discount on the base unit, down to $299.
With Connect, you essentially get unlimited cloud storage, Google Drive or Dropbox integration, an extended warranty, and more.
After 12 months of use, you’ll be at the same price, $399, but with a year’s worth of benefits.
⸻
5. Rocketbook Reusable Notebook
Best Reusable Notebook
The Rocketbook Everlast is a new and trendy type of notebook that combines a traditional notebook with your smartphone through software for IOS and Android devices.
It works like a portable little whiteboard; you can draw and take notes on anything you want, take a picture with the Rocketbook app, and then wipe it off.
This smart notebook has 36 reusable pages that can be reused by cleaning them with a damp cloth, which you get included in the package.
Simply scan the notes with your smartphone’s camera and they will sync with your preferred choice of online storage like Dropbox, iCloud, or Google Drive.
Likes and Dislikes
⎷ A cheap and easy way to take tons of notes without worrying about running out of paper.
⎷ You don’t have to worry about battery life as it’s reusable paper.
⎷ Great for school or when you’re on the go.
⎷ Works with Pilot Frixion pens.
⍻ You have to take a picture of each page with your phone, which becomes tiresome.
⍻ Can sometimes be hard to clean the pages.
User Experience
⸻
6. EVO Planner
Best For Daily Journaling and Productivity
The EVO Planner is a super interesting piece of tech.
At first glance, it just looks like a regular paper notebook, but there are many features to unpack beneath the surface.
The notebook is a 90-day productivity system designed to work with your personality and “brain type.”
The notebook has been developed on top of 10+ years of cognitive psychology data to unravel what makes us productive and happy.
The Evo Planner is coupled with an intelligent app on your smartphone to scan the words and track details of your daily activities and weekly progress.
It’s a traditional notebook, but reimagined for the productive online world.
Likes and Dislikes
⎷ A fantastic and gorgeous notebook design that you will treasure.
⎷ Choose between 4 different types of notebooks based on your brain type.
⎷ Scan, track, and organize your goals, daily habits, and results.
⎷ Intelligent mobile app to get you into a better workflow.
⍻ Not the best for sketching or taking random notes on blank paper.
⍻ People have had issues with the app and scanning items in the notebook.
User Experience
⸻
7. Wacom Bamboo Slate
Best For Keeping it Analog and Digital
Handwritten notes are excellent, but when you want to share them with a team or refine your ideas, they can feel limiting.
The Bamboo Slate is the perfect tool for anyone who wants to break into the digital world without giving up their analog ways.
It lets you take your analog notes and transform them into digital files that are easily shared and refined.
This smart digital notebook allows you to capture handwritten notes on paper using the pen of your choice and then instantly convert those notes into shareable, editable files that can be accessed from anywhere.
With the Bamboo Slate, there’s no need to choose between analog and digital. You get both!
Likes and Dislikes
⎷ Quick and easy conversion of analog notes to digital files.
⎷ Easily share files with collaborators through links.
⎷ The limitations of handwriting do not constrain you.
⎷ Capture your ideas the way you want to—with an actual pen and paper.
⎷ Refine and organize your ideas into a single account.
⎷ Quickly turn handwritten notes into digital files and export them as a pdf.
⎷ Allows for a vast level of creativity.
⍻ I prefer to ditch paper entirely and go purely digital.
⸻
8. Sony DPT-CP1/B
Best Electronic Notebook Alternative
The Sony DPT-CP1/B is a digital writing pad that delivers a crisp, sharp, clear, high-resolution display. It’s Sony, after all!
It has excellent performance and is super lightweight, making it easy to take anywhere you want.
You can use this digital notebook for business or daily life, and it’s much smaller and lighter than a Chromebook PC.
As with the ReMarkable, the Sony digital notebook has a paper-like texture for an incredible feeling when you read, annotate or just scribble handwritten notes.
It comes with wireless capabilities, Bluetooth, low-glare, and high contrast covering most bases and more when it comes to a premium electronic notebook.
Likes and Dislikes
⎷ Crisp, clear, and premium high-resolution display.
⎷ Super lightweight and easy to take anywhere.
⎷ Low glare for comfortable sessions.
⎷ Paper-like texture.
⎷ Long-lasting battery life, up to a week with WiFi on, three weeks WiFi off.
⎷ Carry your ideas with you wherever you go for a truly paperless experience.
⍻ It’s the most expensive digital notepad besides the Apple Air.
⸻
9. RoWrite Smart Writing Pad
Best For Sketching
RoWrite is a smart writing pad that allows you to create and capture notes, drawings, and diagrams easily.
With its pressure-sensitive pen and app integration, it’s like having an entire notebook in your pocket!
The RoWrite Smart digital writing pad comes with a stylish folio case for easy storage when not in use.
It also has a patented design, making it so that the paper doesn’t tear out of the pad when removing pages or opening up to write on them.
This ensures that all your work is kept together as one piece instead of being separated into pieces throughout your bag or briefcase.
The paper is made from recycled materials to help keep waste down while providing quality paper for every note-taking session.
Likes and Dislikes
⎷ Draw, sketch, and write notes on paper or digitally.
⎷ Capture ideas quickly on the go.
⎷ Keep your notes in sync with all of your devices.
⎷ Convert your handwritten notes to text easily.
⎷ Share sketches and designs with others easily.
⎷ Cheap price.
⍻ I prefer to go paperless, but this can be great for artists.
What Is A Digital Notepad?
A digital notepad is an electronic digital device designed to function as a paper notepad.It allows you to take notes, digital sketches, or drawings.
Most digital notebooks even come with different digital pens that work on the electronic screen almost like writing on paper with a regular ballpoint pen.
The beauty of an electronic writing pad is that you never run out of paper.
You can organize your notes, move them around, and highlight and delete anything you don’t need.
No more anxiety about writing something wrong or messing up your notes!
What Benefits Do You Get From A Digital Notepad?
Do you need a digital writing pad for your business or is it just a personal project?
Maybe you have never considered an electronic notepad before. If so, here are some of the benefits that come from digital notepads.
⸻
Keeps you organized
We all know someone is a bit messy and disorganized at work or home. Using a digital electronic notebook can help keep things organized.
For instance, if you have an idea for a new product, then with a button, this digital electronic notebook will record that thought into its memory.
Then when you turn on this digital electronic notebook at a later time, you will be able to see this digital electronic notebook.
⸻
Portable
If you think carrying notes on paper is inconvenient, try picking up a digital electronic notebook.
Thanks to the Bluetooth function built into many digital electronic notebooks, you can wirelessly transfer notes from device to device.
This enables you to view your files wherever and whenever you need them, which would be much more difficult if they were still on paper.
⸻
Easily searchable
Have you ever wanted to find that doodle of yours that says “Get milk” but are unable because all the papers are mixed?
Electronic notebooks allow you to easily search for a word or phrase within your digital notepad. So it will be easy if you need to find that critical note again.
⸻
Saves space and reduces clutter
Digital electronic notebooks help save on space, especially if you tend to be the type of person who keeps everything and anything, no more scattered papers, post-it notes, and books lying all around, just one place to keep everything together.
Digital notepads are especially great for this specific reason, as they reduce clutter, whether at home or in the office (or both).
⸻
Easier to share and distribute
Instead of trying to find someone who has written something down on paper, you can simply send them your digital notes via e-mail, Bluetooth, or wireless transfer.
This lets you quickly work together with others without having to sort through several different pieces of paper just to do so.
Looking for ways to get organized? Then using a digital writing pad is one way of doing it.
Why Use A Digital Notepad?
Digital notepads have almost become commonplace among many different types of people.
The main categories for electronic notepad users tend to include students, entrepreneurs, writers/authors, gamers, etc.
One of the most popular uses for a digital writing pad is taking notes in class or during business meetings.
A paper tablet makes learning much more accessible because everything can be seen again later on your computer, tablet, etc.
This is much more accessible than your notebook paper, where you have to rewrite everything to see it again.
Digital electronic notebooks help you to be more educational in the long run, so writing your children’s diary entries on digital notepads rather than on paper makes sense too.
Converting handwritten notes to a digital format seems to become more popular each year. It can be easy to assume that digital notepads will soon replace most paper notebooks.
The best digital writing pads are affordable, durable, easy to use, and make learning more manageable.
Wrap Up
An electronic notebook is probably one of the most important possessions that you can have. I can’t imagine how I would organize my home or office without this modern marvel.
It not only helps me stay organized but also lets me work with friends and colleagues more efficiently than ever before.
If you are looking for ways to get organized in the new year, then maybe it is time to invest in your own digital writing pad!