Best Smart Writing Tablets Digital Notebooks 2025

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Jan 2, 2026, 6:45 AM

best smart writing tablets digital notebooks 2025

Neo Smartpen M1+ for $129: Skip the tablet and write directly on paper with a smart pen instead. The Neo Smartpen M1+ is the thinnest and lightest of all the pens I tried, which makes it feel a bit more like your standard pen. Importantly, it’s comfortable to hold and use. You should be able to find whatever size and style of notebook you need as well as planners. The Neo Studio app (iOS, Android) is nice, with an easy-to-navigate notebook system and the ability to search for pages by page number or date. You can change the color of the ink and thickness of the lines right on the page as you go, or you can switch them up later and edit the colors of what you’ve...

—Medea Giodiano Moleskine Smart Writing Set for $279: Moleskine has garnered a devoted following for its classic notebooks and journals, but it has also moved into smart territory. The Smart Writing Set gets you a notebook and pen bundle, so this is the best option for most people starting out. Write in the notebook and it’ll appear in the companion app! But you can buy the pen on its own, as well as the smart notebooks and planners in various sizes. The Moleskine Notes 2.0 app (iOS, Android) was easy to use once I settled into it.

An older version of the app is available for download, but the 2.0 version is more streamlined. A pop-up let me know that 2.0 is still a work in progress and I might need to switch back to the older version if my device is having trouble, but my iPhone 11... I tested the the $149 2018 version of the Smart Writing Set, which is no longer available, but we plan to test the latest version soon. —Medea Giordano Boox Note Air3 C for $450: This model was a solid all-around performer, and has a more complicated ecosystem than our top picks but has more capabilities to compare with a standard tablet. This version has been discontinued, but there’s a new version, the Note Air4 C ($530).

Neo Smartpen Dimo for $59: This is the cheapest smart pen option and uses replaceable batteries. It isn’t compatible with Google Calendar, iCal, or Outlook like our other picks. Rocketbook Fusion Plus for $38: If you really prefer the paper experience and don’t want something you need to charge, then Rocketbook is for you. Rocketbook makes several reusable notebooks, planners, and accessories like index cards and sticky notes. I like the Rocketbook Fusion Plus since it comes with a ton of different template styles, from your classic monthly and weekly pages to project management layouts and meeting notes, making it feel closer... Take notes with an erasable Pilot Frixion Pen (one comes with whichever item you buy), scan photos of the pages into the Rocketbook app, and erase the whole thing with the damp microfiber cloth...

The app is designed to keep everything organized and easily send things off to Google Drive, Slack, Trello, OneNote, and a handful of other options. 'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions.

This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and... Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards.

If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. A digital notebook brings the feel of paper, without all the mess. It works for setting goals and jotting down ideas, and is great for sketching doodles as well. And with a digital backup for notes from important meetings and classes, it's easier than ever to stay on top of homework and projects. Do you take a lot of notes?

Whether it's daily to-do lists, notes for class, or just jotting down thoughts, we've found the best digital notebooks to keep them organized. Sure, you could just open your Notes app, but physically writing something down helps you remember and learn more. It also feels nice to stop typing for a minute and get a sensation of analog, while still digitally storing it. There are E Ink tablets, smart pens, and notebooks made to save digital files of your handwritten notes or drawings. You can save files as PDFs, images, and Word docs, or transcribe them to a text file in Google Docs to make all your notes searchable. Some of these devices can record, too, which is great for lectures and interviews.

Our favorite model is the reMarkable Paper Pro ($629), which has a fantastic color screen (an option not every notebook has), a great paper-like writing experience, a gentle front light, and a nice range... My personal favorite is the Amazon Kindle Scribe (2nd Gen) ($400), which has great battery life and works well for readers and casual notetakers who don't need a ton of cloud support or capabilities. If you usually write to-do lists, you might find the reMarkable Paper Pro Move ($449) is your best bet, with a smaller size but all the features of our top pick. If your notes need an upgrade, we recommend giving these a try. If you're looking for true paper options, don't miss our Paper Planners guide, and if you're looking for more home office upgrades, catch our guides to the Best Work-From-Home Gear, Best Computer Monitors, and... Updated December 2025: The Boox Note Air4 C is now a pick, and we've added notes on the Kindle Scribe Colorsoft, the 3rd Gen Kindle Scribe, and the Montblanc Digital Paper to Honorable Mentions.

The reMarkable Paper Pro has everything we like about the reMarkable 2—a matte screen feels like paper, quick and responsive writing experience, and a great battery life—and adds a few cool new features like... It's got an 10.8-inch screen, making it an extra inch and a half bigger than the reMarkable 2. It's especially handy if you're taking notes or writing down ideas somewhere a little dark, like a dimmed classroom or on a late flight. Like the reMarkable 2, it's easy to organize your notes in various ways, from different notebooks to tags and folders. It's easy to access notes off the device, too, especially if you have ReMarkable's Connect subscription ($3 per month) for unlimited cloud storage. The stylus charges on the device, too.

For writers, there’s nothing quite like putting pen to paper. You feel each scratch of the notebook and every smear of ink. A digital notebook takes that familiarity and adds modern convenience. Those hundreds of ideas, notes, and scribbles live in one convenient, portable device — where they’re searchable, convertible to digital text, and easily shareable. And you’ll never have to wonder to yourself, “Where did I write that down?” While the digital platform can’t truly replicate writing on paper (at least not yet), they come pretty close.

But digital notebooks, also known as E Ink tablets or paper tablets, aren’t for everyone. If you’re ready to modernize your writing without sacrificing its pleasure, we found three digital notebooks that we recommend. The Supernote A5 X2 Manta offers an excellent writing experience and array of features that seamlessly combine writing and reading; the reMarkable 2 provides a distraction-free writing focus that comes closest to mimicking paper;... This E Ink tablet covers all the bases, offering a smooth writing feel, a sophisticated notes app, a built-in Kindle app, and a robust drawing app. The stylus, sold separately, starts at $65. Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor.

We may earn a commission from these links. Here’s how we test products and why you should trust us. Make your life easy; send your notes to the Cloud. Where are my real note-takers at? I'm not talking about Montblanc pen note-takers; y'all are more Document Signers. I'm talking my drama undergrads, med-school students, and working-artists-slash-baristas who spend all day jotting down ideas and drawing up sketches.

I'm talking about the people who need to memorize information and still know that handwriting is better for memorization. You don't want this to be a MacBook or other laptop, and you probably don't want an iPad. You want real, quasi-physical notes, and we've got you covered via these smart notebooks, e-ink notepads, and digital readers. There are basically two ways to go with this. You either get a physical notebook with smart capabilities or a tablet-like reader with an e-ink screen and note-taking functionality. In the case of the former, the fellows at the Esquire tech desk have given quite a few of these "smart" notebooks a shot.

For a lot of them, the tech just really isn't there quite yet. We still stand by the Moleskine Smart Notebook, which we've already written about at length. It's the perfect mix of a digital and physical paper experience, and if you've got the money, it's the best smart notebook. If you want something more digital, entire brands are dedicated to just that. The tablets from reMarkable have become increasingly popular note-taking alternatives to handwriting. Up-and-comer Supernote is giving the king a run for its money, though.

The space is more competitive than ever. Which is exactly why you need us here. Together, the commerce experts at Esquire have done both the research and hands-on testing to find the best smart notebooks. Go digital or go home. When you picture a tablet, you probably think of an iPad or maybe a Samsung Galaxy Tab, and you almost definitely picture something with a glossy LCD or LED screen that operates like a... But there is another category of these devices built not for browsing social apps or consuming media, but for productivity: digital notebooks.

These devices are the halfway point between a pen and paper notebook and a laptop, with glare-resistant screens and smart pens you can use to take notes, sketch, and mark up documents. While some of them are purpose-built for writing, others are closer to full-fledged tablets that can run work, productivity, and even entertainment apps. If you're looking for a device that will help you organize your life while eliminating some of the factors that can make you devices distracting and addictive, a digital notebook may be the solution.The... I've spent the last year reviewing the latest offerings from the biggest players in the market, and these are my picks for the best digital notebooks for every type of user. Picture this: You're in a crucial client meeting, feverishly jotting down game-changing ideas on a legal pad. Days later, you can't decipher your rushed handwriting, and worse—the coffee-stained pages are stuck in a forgotten folder.

Best Smart Writing Tablets Digital Notebooks 2025

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