The reMarkable 2 marketing is very good. A tablet that feels like paper. No distractions. The future of note-taking.
The marketing is also not the whole story. This is my actual reMarkable 2 workflow, the real daily version, not the ad.
The reMarkable 2 is not a productivity miracle for every brain. It is genuinely transformative for a specific type of neurodivergent brain. One that thinks better with a pen in hand, loses physical notebooks, gets distracted by any screen with notifications, and needs something that sits between paper chaos and digital rabbit holes.
This is what actually using it every day looks like. Not the marketing version. The real one.
Why I Bought It
The problem was specific. Every digital tablet, iPad, Android, a laptop, has a browser. Has apps. Has notifications. Has the infinite sideways pull of something more interesting available one tap away.
The physical notebook problem is different but equally real. Notebooks get lost. Pages get disorganised. Something written three weeks ago is effectively gone unless the filing system is rigorous. Rigorous filing systems require consistent executive function that AUDHD brains don’t reliably have.
The reMarkable promise: paper feel, digital organisation, no distractions. A device that can only do one thing, take notes and read documents, and does that one thing well.
First impressions: smaller than expected, lighter than expected, the pen feel is genuinely good on first contact. The e-ink display is slower to refresh than an LCD. There’s a slight lag when writing that most people stop noticing within a day. The writing texture is slightly resistant in a way that feels intentional rather than cheap.
It felt right immediately. That matters.
My Daily reMarkable 2 Workflow
Morning brain dump. First thing, before opening any other device, pen to screen. Whatever is in the brain goes onto the page. No structure required. No categories. Just output. A running document called “brain” that accumulates fragments, thoughts, concerns, and ideas without organisation.
The morning brain dump is the most important part of the workflow. It externalises whatever the brain has been processing overnight. The cognitive load of holding things in working memory decreases. The day starts with a slightly quieter head.
Work and project notes. One document per active project. Notes from calls, decisions made, things to follow up on. The reMarkable handles this differently from a laptop. The act of handwriting slows input enough that only the important things get written. Typing captures everything indiscriminately. Handwriting is selective. The selectivity is useful.
Blog planning. Outlines and content ideas live on the reMarkable before they move to a screen. The thinking happens here. The structure gets worked out here. Then the outline moves to Notion or directly to Claude for drafting. The reMarkable is the thinking stage, not the production stage.
Reading and annotation. PDFs, research papers, long articles, documents that need careful reading, sync to the reMarkable and get annotated by hand. Reading on the e-ink display is easier on the eyes than LCD for long sessions. The annotation workflow keeps engagement higher than passive reading.
What It Does Better Than Anything Else
The writing feel. Not identical to paper. Close enough that the cognitive benefit of handwriting is preserved. The slight texture of the screen, the weight of the pen, the resistance. It feels like writing in a way that a stylus on glass does not.
No notifications. This is the feature. The reMarkable cannot receive notifications. There are no apps to context-switch into. There is no browser. When you pick it up, you write. That’s the only option. For AUDHD brains whose attention is pulled by every available stimulus, a device with no stimuli except the task is the right tool.
Handwriting recognition. The conversion of handwritten notes to searchable text is accurate enough to be useful. Not perfect. Proper nouns and technical terms sometimes get garbled. But accurate enough that notes from three months ago are findable by content rather than by memory of where they were filed.
Battery life. Weeks, not hours. The e-ink display only draws power when the content changes. A full charge lasts long enough that battery anxiety is not part of the reMarkable experience. One less thing to manage.
What It Doesn’t Do Well
No colour. The display is greyscale. For visual thinkers who colour-code notes or use colour as an organisational system, this is a real limitation. There is no workaround.
Cloud sync requires a subscription for the full feature set including unlimited cloud storage and handwriting-to-text conversion. The device works without the subscription but the most useful features require it. This is worth knowing before purchase.
Not a general tablet. The reMarkable cannot watch anime, browse the internet, or run apps. This is a feature for its specific use case and a significant limitation for anyone who wants a device that does more than one thing. It is not an iPad replacement. It is a notebook replacement.
The price. The reMarkable 2 is not cheap. Current price linked here. The honest question before purchase: do you consistently think better writing than typing, and do you consistently lose or disorganise physical notebooks? If both answers are yes, the price is justified. If either answer is no, there are better options for the money.
FAQ
Is the reMarkable 2 worth it for ADHD? For the specific brain type it’s designed for, yes. If you think better writing than typing, get distracted by regular tablets, and lose physical notebooks, the reMarkable solves all three problems simultaneously. If you don’t recognise yourself in that description, the money is better spent elsewhere.
Can I use reMarkable 2 without the subscription? Yes, with limitations. Basic note-taking and local storage work without a subscription. Handwriting-to-text conversion, unlimited cloud storage, and Google Drive or Dropbox integration require the Connect subscription. For the core use case the free tier is functional.
How does reMarkable 2 compare to an iPad for note-taking? Different tools for different purposes. An iPad with Apple Pencil is more capable and more distracting. The reMarkable is less capable and less distracting. If focus is the primary concern, the reMarkable wins by design. If capability is the primary concern, the iPad wins by specification.
The Signal
The reMarkable 2 is the right tool for a specific brain. Not every brain. A specific one.
The test: do you think better writing than typing? Do you lose physical notebooks? Does every digital tablet you own become a distraction machine within a week?
If yes to all three, the reMarkable 2 is worth considering seriously, and the workflow above is how it earns its place.
For how this fits into a broader note-taking system, Neurodivergent Note-Taking Apps: Full Comparison covers the full landscape including free alternatives.
For how it fits into the complete productivity stack, The Ultimate ADHD App Stack for Hyperfocus Mode covers the rest. 🐼
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