# PineNote by Pine64

14 Hacker News commenters recommended PineNote by Pine64 and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People recommend it for owning the device and running any software on it, with an open, hackable Linux system. The most common caveats are its size, weight, high price, and a software ecosystem that is still immature.

## Why people recommend it

- Full ownership and freely modifiable software (3 comments): "if you really want ownership and don't care much for weight the PineNote is probably the best our there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46901387)) "straight to the point on device ownership/what kind of software you can run, fewer strings attached" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48535457)) "The point is to buy hardware that is built for you to freely modify and fully own, from the start." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48535883))
- Daily KOReader reading use (2 comments): "I have come to be a daily KOReader user on my PineNote, and I love it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49103717)) "I run this on a pinenote, and I love it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49101419))

## What people warn about

- Heavy, bulky, and expensive (4 comments): "It's cost-competitive with those products, but it's way too big and too expensive to compare to traditional ~7" e-readers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48047782)) "It's bulky / heavy, and just doesn't match my kobo." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48543067)) "it's expensive, huge, and potentially unstable; not exactly what I'd want to read in bed at night." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48539120))
- Software ecosystem slow to develop (2 comments): "these could be fantastic but it seems the software ecosystem is quite slow to develop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48746373)) "Issue is the software man no drivers" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48498968))
- Poor value for specs (2 comments): "It's quite pricey but certainly more straightforward in its offering." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48304874)) "The pine stuff is horrible value, and just bad spec hardware." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49410343))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Kobo e-reader](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kobo-e-reader.md): 154 recommend
- [Onyx Boox e-reader](https://hackerapproved.com/p/boox-e-reader.md): 48 recommend
- [Kobo Clara](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kobo-clara-bw.md): 38 recommend
- [Kindle Paperwhite](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kindle-paperwhite.md): 34 recommend
- [Kobo Libra Color](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kobo-libra-colour.md): 26 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Pine64+PineNote+e-ink+tablet&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://pine64.org/devices/pinenote/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "PineNote by Pine64", https://hackerapproved.com/p/pinenote/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).