Long live the stylus. Nothing replaces the feel of a pen in hand, manually putting your thoughts to paper instead of tapping on a keyboard. To support the stylus-loving crowd, a wave of E Ink tablets that replicate the feel of paper join mainstays like the Apple iPad Pro and ReMarkable 2 to offer enthusiasts more choices than ever. And this list of top note-taking options includes everything from glare-free E Ink displays to brilliant LED or LCD screens for every budget and use case.

Our picks for the best note-taking tablets

The ReMarkable 2 tablet lets you create as many “digital notebooks” as you can store on-board (or in the cloud with a ReMarkable Connect subscription). This eliminates the need for physical notebooks, while still retaining the feel and experience of writing with pen and paper.

Writing on the 10.3-inch E Ink display feels natural and responsive, and it does a reasonable job of interpreting imprecise handwriting to text. You can import PDFs and EPUB documents to annotate or read on screen, and bring in Microsoft Word documents, too. The tablet can connect to Google Drive, Dropbox, or OneDrive cloud storage. The display lacks a sidelight or backlight, though, which makes it unsuitable for use in the dark.

This tablet is thin, at just 4.83mm, and light, weighing 400g, making it perfect for carrying around all day. When paired with its Type Folio keyboard, this is a svelte travel companion that was perfect for writing by hand or annotating documents.

The Amazon Kindle Scribe delivers a terrific writing experience paired with a Kindle e-reader. This 10.2-inch E Ink screen has a sharp 300ppi resolution, which means the text has smooth, crisp edges. It also has an effective side light and colour temperature adjustments, so you can use the screen in any lighting without straining your eyes.This model goes beyond the abilities of other Kindles thanks to its stylus support. Simply navigate to “Notebooks” and click “Add Notebook” to choose from an array of page templates. While the options lack the creative specialties found in the ReMarkable, the Kindle Scribe has more options than the competing e-reader/note-taking tablet Rakuten Kobo Elipsa 2E. Even more notable is that the Kindle Scribe lets you choose a template upfront, making for easier organisation before you even start to write.

The stylus feels comfortable in hand and is smooth to use on the responsive display. You can also use the stylus to annotate books and PDFs, but for the most part, this is accomplished via pop-up boxes (as opposed to editing directly on the page). A few eBooks now support on-page writing, but not the majority – at least not yet, anyway.

The tablet’s primary value is that it doubles as a Kindle e-reader, too. It has a web browser but no apps, and the browser is slow, with monochromatic, the same as on books and documents. The Amazon Kindle Scribe is the best choice for anyone deeply committed to Amazon’s Kindle bookstore, including students who also like to write notes.

The Onyx Boox Tab Ultra C stands out for its colour E Ink display. Where most electrophoretic displays are monochrome, the Boox Tab Ultra can display colours at 150ppi. That means colours look muted and grainy, like a colour photo in a newspaper. But the colour adds a splash of life that differentiates this note-taking tablet from other E Ink competitors. Another notable distinction: This model runs on Android and supports the Google Play Store. That means you can download apps from any eBookstore, and use Google apps and services, too. It has a roomy 10.3-inch glare-free screen, and it comes with a stylus that feels good in hand. Creating notes is front and center and easy to accomplish, but that’s about all that’s clear about the interface. The stylus is responsive with the included Notepad app and its over 40 templates – and you can add your template by uploading a PNG or PDF file. Overall, however, the performance can be a bit sluggish, and some apps and most videos don’t look as crisp as they may on other Android tablets.

However, you’re not buying this tablet for its gaming and entertainment abilities. The colour comes in handy to level up documents or even book highlighting in, say, the Amazon Kindle app. Plus, you get this splash of colour on a display that’s easy on the eyes, just note that colour and the wider app compatibility come at a high price.

The Rakuten Kobo Sage is more of a digital notepad than a notebook. It’s the largest of the Kobo e-readers, with an 8-inch E Ink display and two physical page turn buttons that make it convenient to hold one-handed.

But the Kobo Sage is more than an e-reader. Like the Kobo Sage’s slightly larger sibling, the Kobo Elipsa 2E, its software supports stylus input from an optional pen. The Kobo Sage’s note-taking works the same as on the Elipsa 2E, in that you start with a blank page and can change it to one of a handful of templates. You can also import PDFs and other documents to add annotations, and annotate book pages directly.

The Kobo eBookstore doesn’t have the traction or variety of Amazon’s Kindle, but it is a strong alternative. The Kobo Sage, like all Kobo e-readers, makes it especially simple to access digital library books via its built-in OverDrive support. Its flexible note-taking is great for jotting down thoughts throughout your day, making this a good choice if you’re not committed to Amazon’s ecosystem.

The OnePlus Pad is the first tablet from this mobile-focused company, and it delivers with its compelling mix of features and performance. The tablet weighs 553g, making it a bit hefty for one-handed use as a writing tablet. Nonetheless, it feels very balanced in hand, possibly owing to the unusually square aspect ratio of the 11.6-inch LCD screen.

Text appears sharp and colours look vibrant, unsurprising given the display’s 2800 by 2000-pixel resolution. The display has a fast 144Hz refresh rate, making it a good choice for gaming, too.

The tablet runs OnePlus’ own interface, but it is fully compatible with Google Play Store and Google services. As a general-use tablet, the OnePlus Pad can serve many productivity and entertainment needs.When you add on the optional OnePlus Stylo pen, you can use the OnePlus Pad for taking notes. The stylus has 4096 levels of pressure sensitivity, and it works well with the OnePlus Notes app. If you can get the stylus on sale, this combo is one of the most reasonably priced options for an Android tablet with a note-taking stylus.

The thin Amazon Fire Max 11 tablet is Amazon’s first attempt at a grown-up tablet that doesn’t come with a plastic, candy-coloured chassis. This tablet looks and feels above its value price, with an aluminum body and reinforced cover glass. The Fire Max 11 has a 16:9 aspect ratio display with 2000 x 1200 pixels. That means it’s not as sharp as, say, an Apple iPad, but it’s still enough to produce pleasing images on the 11-inch LCD.

The Fire Max 11 has a microSD card slot, so you can easily expand its 64GB of storage. It also has conveniences like a fingerprint reader in the power button, which make it easy to reliably unlock the tablet. As with all Amazon tablets, the Fire Max 11 runs Amazon’s FireOS operating system, and it only works with the Amazon Appstore. Still, there are plenty of apps for entertainment and productivity, including the free trial of Microsoft 365.

The interface is straightforward, making it easy to consume and discover Amazon’s music, videos, and books. You’ll also love being able to have a split screen view for two apps and how responsive the USI 2.0-compatible stylus with 4096 pressure sensitivity is for writing and sketching on screen. This tablet is a great choice for students and professionals who want an affordable note-taking tablet and don’t need full Google Play access.

The Apple iPad Pro 11-inch (4th generation) hits the mid-ground of Apple’s tablet offerings. While other, less expensive models support Apple Pencil, this model stands out because it strikes a balance between size, performance, and price. It weighs just over a pound, and its screen is large enough to handle everything from drawings and sketches to taking notes.

The iPad has widespread app support for its Apple Pencil 2 stylus, making the iPad a great note-taking choice for creatives. It also works well with sharing across devices; for example, you can start something on your iPad and share your notes with an iPhone or MacBook.

As a note-taking tablet, the iPad Pro is among the most expensive models you can buy. But for the money, you not only get a capable note-taking tablet, but you also get one of the best all-around tablets on the market. As with other general-use tablets, the Apple Pencil 2 and Magic Keyboard are extra-cost add-ons.

The only reason to buy this tablet is for its large 13.3-inch A4 screen. Bigger is better when you need the space for complex sketches or taking notes longhand. The screen also comes in handy if you want to read text at a larger size, for example. As with the Boox Tab Ultra C, the Tab X has multiple interface launchers, so I could choose how I preferred to access the tablet.

The dedicated note-taking app might lack the finesse of others on the market, but its also packed with features and capabilities, such as inserting audio recordings into your handwritten document. I really liked this latter part; it makes it easy to match my notations with the original content. However, since the tablet lacks a camera, I also couldn’t directly upload and annotate photos.

Also like others tablets in Onyx’s lineup, this model runs Android 11, and it supports Android apps – which means I could download e-readers from competing eBookstores and read my book collections from one device. I could also download other apps, which makes this E Ink tablet more functional than simply an e-reader with a single bookstore on board. It has a large 6300mAh battery, which delivers weeks of use without a charge. Even with its large battery, the Tab X is thin: It stands just 6.8mm high, and it weighs 560g, which makes it easy to throw in your bag alongside a laptop.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 packs a Windows 11 PC into a high-resolution, freestanding display. The 13.3-inch screen carries 2880 x 1920 pixels, making it well-suited for everything from gaming to precise content creation. At nearly 2 pounds, this tablet has the heft that reflects its robust components.

The tablet’s specs are modest for a PC, but still more powerful than most other note-taking tablets on this list. The baseline configuration priced here has 8GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD, and an Intel Core i5 processor; higher spec’ed versions with more RAM and storage and a better processor are options, albeit at higher prices. It even has a Thunderbolt 4 port, handy for use with high-speed storage peripherals. You can run the full gamut of PC and web apps and services just as you would on your laptop.

The Surface Pro 9 works with Microsoft’s optional stylus for handwriting notes and drawing in professional applications. The stylus is a great addition to note-taking apps like Microsoft OneNote and complex creative apps like Corel Paint or Adobe Illustrator.

At one time, you needed to spend top dollar to get a tablet that supported a stylus. But now you have a range of choices.

Your first consideration is the reason you want a note-taking tablet. If the only thing you plan to do with your device is write notes, and you don’t want the distractions that come with apps and eBooks, then the ReMarkable 2 is the top note-taking pick in part because it is laser-focused on one task – using a stylus to write digital notes – and it does this task very well. It has a slew of useful templates, ranging from a blank page to storyboards and various music writing templates. The variety and range of templates are a real plus since they make it easy to get started on creative and professional projects.

If you want a multipurpose tablet, that opens the playing field further. Your next decision will be between a glare-free, electrophoretic E Ink display, and the inherently glary, LCD/LED displays of full-blown tablets. E Ink displays are largely monochromatic and are generally associated with e-readers, although Onyx breaks that mold on both counts with its Android-based E Ink tablets (including some that support the still-rare colour E Ink). Since, by design, E Ink is easier on the eyes, and it replicates the feel of paper, these tablets are terrific choices for taking notes.

The wider tablet category – populated by the likes of Amazon, Apple, OnePlus, Samsung, and more – relies on backlit display panel technologies. These displays have brilliant colour screens, but they also use a reflective cover glass layer, which causes glare in some lighting situations, and they emit blue light which is harder on your eyes. These tablets run app-driven operating systems like Amazon’s Fire OS, Google’s Android, and Apple’s iPadOS. Their software makes these note-taking tablets the best choice if you want a do-it-all device, from gaming to entertainment to writing notes, too. Many tablets are pricey, but the Amazon Fire Max 11 is the least expensive note-taking tablet with a stylus option.

The final consideration is keyboard and stylus options. Many of these tablets don’t come with a stylus. For those that don’t include the stylus, the cost can vary dramatically, from $35 for the Amazon Fire Max 11 to $129 for the Apple Pencil 2. Some stylus models support greater degrees of pressure sensitivity, important if you plan to sketch images on your tablet. Finally, some of these tablets not only work with a keyboard but have a keyboard folio accessory that adds to the tablet’s versatility.

How did I choose these best note-taking tablets?

Both myself and the Pocket-lint team has hands-on experience testing and using these note-taking tablets for work and productivity use. As we tested, we considered use case along with display quality, writing feel, tablet reflection, and tablet software. Additionally, we tested to see how other factors, such as battery life and ports, played into the overall aesthetic and practical experience.

Is getting a note-taking tablet for school worth it?

There are many benefits to handwriting over always typing out notes, including improved memory and absorbing the learning material with the removed distraction hurdle from having multiple browsers open. In fact, research from a 2021 study from Johns Hopkins University even suggests that there’s a positive relationship between handwriting notes and learning skills.