# reMarkable 2

93 Hacker News commenters recommended reMarkable 2 and 45 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 5 years (13 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Recommended for handwritten notes that aid retention, e-ink reading of textbooks and open root access, though critics cite slow software, update and battery failures, and cut corners.

## Why people recommend it

- Better retention from handwritten notes (4 comments): "the fact that it is a tech gadget makes me more likely to write stuff down instead of believing I can remember everything" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49231424)) "I noticed a few years ago that when I wrote down my notes I actually remembered them more easily." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49023099)) "has helped me immensely in retaining course material when taking notes vs my laptop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031356))
- Open root access and hackable software (4 comments): "The remarkable 2 is entirely separable from the cloud bullshit. You have root SSH access out of the box" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47302384)) "I appreciate reMarkable for adhering to GPL and giving us trivial root access to the machines" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46892715)) "SSH/USB/HTTP/Unix with root access, instead of closed systems, hardware that you own 100%." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49232140))
- Good e-ink reading for textbooks (4 comments): "I buy paperbacks, chop and scan them then use a reMarkable tablet + RCU to do the reading." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49024215)) "As long as you're fine with greyscale, the rm2 size is great for comics and textbooks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49234051)) "However, for reading technical docs or workshop docs in daylight, it's great." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46285232))

## What people warn about

- Updates and battery failures (5 comments): "The tablet stopped being able to update just from sitting unused for a few years. That really decreases my faith, at least in reMarkable." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49230999)) "Leaving your Remarkable idle means losing your entire charge; it will never transition from awake-but-pretending-to-sleep to off." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47119669)) "Any device that powers off fully functional should be able to power on fully functional barring hardware failure." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49234001))
- Slow page navigation and updates (2 comments): "the refresh-rate/software is slow enough that trying to "page through your notebook" to find specific notes is a grueling experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47619257)) "they are indeed slow for full page updates though remarkable seems to have done a lot of smarts for local updates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46201194))
- Closed-source software, poor support (3 comments): "My reMarkable is still stuck on a super old version (v3.3 I think), precisely because of xochitl being closed source" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48386177)) "the company never supported third party devs. They gave you root access but no relevant source code" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46894863)) "a live syncing folder of images/pdfs that wasn't tied to the subscription remarkable walled garden" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46107991))
- Corners cut in build quality (3 comments): "The USB C port is poorly designed and will break at the drop of the hat, leaving you unable to charge the thing." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48382801)) "the ReMarkable 2 had a wildly inaccurate pen tip, but only on like the bottom 1/2 to maybe 1/3 of the screen" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47577427)) "for a device priced at a premium, there sure are lots of corners that feel like they were cut." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46116405))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Amazon Kindle](https://hackerapproved.com/p/amazon-kindle.md): 222 recommend
- [Xteink X4](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xteink-x4-e-ink-reader.md): 178 recommend
- [Kobo Aura One](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kobo-aura-one.md): 5 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=reMarkable+2+e-ink+tablet&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)
- [Official site](https://remarkable.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "reMarkable 2", https://hackerapproved.com/p/remarkable-2/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).