Anyone have an e-ink device for reading papers that they love?
I did a bit of preliminary googling, but it was hard to tell what the options are, and a lot of the ranking lists were focused on reading books.
I really struggle to focus reading and absorbing dense content from a screen, so my current workflow when I want to really read a paper is to print it, and then go through it with a highlighter, a pencil, and a notepad beside me. But I am starting to feel a little bad for the trees, and my pile of papers is getting a bit unwieldly to go back and find information in.
A digital device seems like it would be more convenient, but it has to replicate the useful parts of the paper experience or I won't use it. Do not tell me to buy an iPad like the comments of the other posts I read. I have enough screens, if one of them was going to be useful, I'd be using it already.
I'm looking for:
- e-ink
- colour would be ideal, but not a deal-breaker if B/W saves significant money
- approximately letter/A4 size
- extremely basic highlighting/annotating functionality
- works with pdf files
- easy file-sharing with my PC
- doesn't need to be super-portable, I mostly read papers at home.
I had probably a first-gen Kobo when I was a teen that I never got into using because I also preferred paper for pleasure reading, and it was a pain to put books on, but I think I could utilize the right device for academic reading. I know someone in my lab has a ReMarkable, but it seems expensive for what you get.
One of the big ones I found was the Boox Note Air5 C. I like the idea of a device that just runs Android, to avoid being stuck in some proprietary walled garden. It's pricey but the features seem worthwhile. Maybe it's overkill. Has anyone tried it for this purpose?
I could probably also just hook an e-ink monitor to my PC, if it could be tucked away when not in use.
I keep a lot of references in Zotero, which I'm planning to self-host at some point, and I'm located in Canada.