The Most Expensive E-Ink Tablet You Can Buy Does Almost Nothing

Every year, tablets get faster chips, sharper cameras, and another wave of apps nobody asked for. The whole category has been sprinting toward “do everything” for over a decade, packing screens with notifications and content feeds that fight for your attention. Then there’s reMarkable, a company that looked at that race and walked the other way. Its new Paper Pro costs $629 and won’t let you check email, scroll social media, or install a single app. That’s not a bug they’re planning to patch.

Price: $629
Where to Buy: reMarkable

So, can a tablet that deliberately refuses to do almost everything still justify a premium price in 2026? reMarkable thinks the answer is obvious. The Paper Pro is the company’s first color e-ink device, and it arrives with a larger 11.8-inch display, an adjustable reading light, and a thinner chassis built around one idea. You’re here to write, read, and think. Nothing else gets in. The pitch sounds spartan when you list the specs, but the intent clicks the moment you hold it. It feels less like a stripped-down tablet and more like a purpose-built writing surface. Whether that focus is worth $629 depends on how much you trust yourself with an iPad at 11 PM.

What changed in the reMarkable Paper Pro

At 5.1mm thick, the Paper Pro matches the M4 iPad Pro for thinness, and the full aluminum chassis carries a tactile weight that signals quality the moment you pull it from a bag. Inside sits an 11.8-inch Canvas Color display running at 2160×1620 with 229 pixels per inch and up to 20,000 colors. You notice the difference from the old monochrome reMarkable 2 within minutes, especially with annotated PDFs and color-coded highlights.

This isn’t a vivid, saturated screen. It’s an e-ink panel tuned for long reading sessions, with muted tones that sit closer to a printed page than any backlit display. The adjustable front light fills dim rooms without the retina-searing glow of LCD panels. That reading light alone makes the upgrade from the reMarkable 2 worth considering. Color changes how you organize layered notes in ways monochrome couldn’t touch. A welcome addition for anyone who annotates heavily.

The Marker stylus comes included, a smart move given how central writing is to the whole package. It tracks at 12ms latency with tilt detection and an eraser on the back end. Strokes feel grounded and deliberate, without the slick glide that makes most stylus-on-glass setups feel like writing on ice. reMarkable has spent years layering a textured coating over the display that mimics the drag of pen on paper, and this version is the most convincing yet.

There are no apps, no web browser, and no notifications. reMarkable treats every missing feature as a point of pride. You open the device and the screen is still, quiet, with no red badges pulling at your eye. It reads ePUBs and PDFs, syncs with Google Drive, Dropbox, and OneDrive, and handles writing, sketching, and notebooks. That’s the full feature set. After a week, the stillness starts to feel like the whole product. If you’ve lost two hours to a “quick email check” on an iPad, you know why that restraint matters.

An optional subscription called Connect adds handwriting-to-text conversion and cloud storage, though you don’t need it daily. The Type Folio keyboard ($229) snaps on for long-form writing, and reMarkable offers folio bundles from $749 to $799 through its store and Best Buy. Nothing in the accessory lineup feels like an afterthought.

What it costs and how it compares

Pricing starts at $629 with the Marker included. The reMarkable Paper Pro Move still sells for $449, but you’re getting a smaller 7.3-inch screen with no full-size writing surface at that price. For $180 more, the jump won’t make most buyers hesitate. Anyone weighing this against a Kindle Scribe or an iPad will find the distinction comes down to intent. Amazon’s Kindle Scribe leans into reading with writing bolted on. Apple sells the iPad as a full computer that supports a stylus. The Paper Pro is a writing tool that also handles reading. None of these devices compete head to head, but the Paper Pro is the only one that makes “less” a feature.

reMarkable already raised U.S. prices last year due to tariffs on Chinese imports, bumping the base bundle from $579 to $629. The current price sits at the top of the e-ink category, and further trade policy shifts could push it higher. If you’ve been eyeing the Paper Pro, the window before another potential increase is worth watching. Waiting here might cost more than deciding.

What makes the price easier to process is how narrow the purpose is. Three tasks define the entire product: writing, reading, and organizing. This isn’t a device trying to replace your laptop, tablet, and e-reader in one slab. The cost-per-function math works if those tasks eat your focus every day. No music player, no browser, no scroll traps. For a certain kind of buyer, that’s not a compromise at all. reMarkable priced this to signal confidence in its niche, not to chase mainstream volume.

Who the reMarkable Paper Pro is for

If you want email, web browsing, streaming, or any app-based workflow, stop here. There’s no workaround and no sideloading trick. File support covers ePUBs and PDFs only, with no Kindle formats, audiobooks, or comic archives.

The $629 price narrows the audience fast. You can grab a base iPad for less than half that and cover every use case the Paper Pro leaves out. Casual note-takers won’t log enough daily hours to justify the cost, and there’s no “at least I can stream” safety net. Previous reMarkable owners who left over format limits or Connect subscription fatigue should know: the Paper Pro doesn’t resolve all of those friction points. The lack of flexibility is the product itself. If that sounds restrictive rather than freeing, this isn’t your device.

reMarkable doesn’t chase skeptics. The audience is narrow, specific, and self-selecting. That honesty is one of the brand’s better traits. This isn’t a mass-market play.

Price: $629
Where to Buy: reMarkable

The Paper Pro is built for people who’ve already decided they want fewer screens doing fewer things. Writers who fill notebooks weekly will find a natural home here. Dense PDF annotation finally gets the color treatment researchers have waited for. Professionals who need a distraction-free surface won’t find a better option in the e-ink category. But then again there is the more affordable PocketBook InkPad One.

The thinner chassis, color display, and adjustable reading light make this the strongest hardware reMarkable has shipped. Every design choice protects your attention. It’s a niche tablet that knows its niche. If you’ve been looking for a writing surface that doesn’t morph into an entertainment device, the Paper Pro is your clean answer.