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Comment by Exuma | Hacker News Reader

Can someone talk me in/out of buying one of these? I've looked at them several times, and I have quite literally no purpose for it (each iPad I buy I end up not using it much, and somehow the next iPad I think will be different. I basically just use it as a painting reference).

But I could imagine sitting this on my desk and using it when designing software to draw out diagrams.

That said, I also use actual paper and pencil and have notebooks full of sketches... so ultimately I don't know if I would want this or not.

Help me decide!

EDIT: I bought it so from here forward only rationalize my decision that it was good!

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> I've looked at them several times, and I have quite literally no purpose for it

I have a supernote. I'm glad I have it, it fills a niche for me that has been very beneficial. With that said, I don't think because it works for me that it will be a good tool for everyone. I'll make a bit of a blunt argument, but I hope you take it in good spirit.

If you buy some shiny new toy that you know you don't need then you are a slave to your desires, a slave to marketers. You're taking hard earned money that could be saved, invested, or donated and using it to engage in a useless fantasy of some sort of benefit that you already know to be marginal. Do you want to be the kind of person who does that? Do you want to be someone who mindlessly consumes products just for the sake of consuming products? Tools are a means to an end, don't make them an end in and of themselves.

Also, you already have a workflow. What are the costs of switching from what you know works? Think also of possible unforeseeable downsides. You know the limitations of what you have currently, but you also know /exactly/ what you have. Do you choose the unknown item that will only possibly have marginal benefit or do you stick with what is tried and true, known, and established? Id choose the established option any day of the week.

We have very very different perspectives, it is probably not worth replying.

The very fiber of my being down to my DNA is about creative energy, not consumption. I am inspired by tactile things, and things which spur certain energies. This is why I love programming, painting, etc.

Money is no issue, so there's that.

And lastly, my entire mind is a kaleidoscope of tradeoff decisions every waking second. Things like "investing the money of my tablet" I will just never do. I do not think like that. If I can have a happiness factor of 10, with the ultimate cost of not investing as some variable, and the amount of time learning about investing, and the benefit of the joy of learning things that earn me far more than investing, or starting a new company, I will always simply choose the simple answer "Just earn more." That is ultimately what it always boils down to, with my happiness and satisfaction level of life at the highest, while minimizing costs of heavy minutiae like investing. It's not that I don't like technical things, I am obsessed with them, but I can have hundred percent returns through my own companies rather than < 10% returns through investing. I'm absolutely certain this will seem like the 'wrong' perspective to others, but no one else lives in my head. For me, what is most paramount, is that I'm constantly maximizing benefits while minimizing costs, and projecting this plan forward constantly, and refining my trajectory if I see inefficiencies, or miscalculations.

Also "literally no purpose for it" is hyperbole, I obviously have some purpose for it or I wouldn't buy it. I have 20+ sketchbooks sitting next to me that I fill, and every new project or company I start/take part in which is complex, I sketch it out across multitudes of pages. I was more saying that... I have no "need" for it to replace paper, but I'm always open to trying new things that augment my experience

I've made similar considerations (as a college student) and honestly, just stick to pen(cil) and paper. Analog stuff are so cheap and so good that you won't come close to paying off the price of a e-paper tablet.

The only benefit imo is portability and ease of sharing to computer, but I find my scanner on my printer works perfectly fine and that I have trouble finding things digitally even with effort organizing

My opinion against e-paper tablets would definitely change if their price becomes much lower

Was firmly in this camp, and preferred paper to electronics, until the Remarkable 2.

It managed to get close enough in feel (not perfect to be fair) to paper that I don’t mind using it for notes and studying.

It’s pretty nice being able to markup text books and research papers as a separate layer I can toggle to de-deface the page, add note pages, etc. And having my whole book collection at hand everywhere I go without lugging around a 50lb backpack.

I still prefer paper for desk references. Flipping through a 300pg tome looking for a specific familiar page is still easier with analogue.

I’ve had a remarkable 2, I found I prefer paper for notes. I don’t read my notes very often, so its more the process of writing them that I ’use’. And although very good, its not the same on a rm2. Not sure waht it is exactly. The latency, the tactile aspect, maybe even the physicality of a note book or just the annoyance of using a device again..

That’s my 50 cents :)

They are relatively low-contrast (compared to laser print or black pen on white paper), which may or may not bother you.

I'd say they're comparable to newsprint. It's clearly not as good as ink on paper but it's still pretty darn good.

I wish I could talk you out of it but I love mine. Now whenever I bust out an old notepad I get frustrated I can't pick up and move around the text to reorganize my notes as I'm writing them...

E-ink is better for reading than screens.

Paper is better for reading than E-ink.

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