Would you prefer E-Ink or a Display?

for reading books I prefer e-ink, kindle actually

I have a Boox Max Lumi, mostly for reading PDFs in (near) A4 size. It is a great device, but quite expensive since E-ink tech just is expensive. When I bought it, it was the only 13 inch E-ink device that had a backlight which I consider essential. I also have an old Kindle which I still use for real (non-PDF) e-books.

I think I would like pretty pictures 🙂

that lumi is nice

It is really nice. The included PDF reader/annotation software is actually really good, but it’s Android so you have some flexibility too unlike many other E-ink devices.

I mainly use it for reading journal articles

I heard only good things about reading on a reMarkable

the subscription model is quite bad iirc

you pay (quite a lot) for the device, but without a sub you miss on a lot of features that make it more interesting than a kindle

Didn’t they even push free features into the subscription, lately?

https://remarkable.com/store/connect

yes, with r2 a lot of stuff is behind the subscription

Oh I’m a bit jealous @U4P4NREBY, I’ve been eyeing that Boox Max Lumi, but have been hesitating due to the cost.

For me I’d like a device that allows me to borrow ebooks from my public library and the Kindle does not work for that in Canada at this time.

Color E-Ink devices are maybe (?) getting better, boox recently released the https://onyxboox.com/boox_novaairc.

a mini review of said device

The problem with colour e-ink is that, with the way the technology works now, colour results in 1/3 resolution

… since the single channel greyscale suddenly needs to display RGB. All of the colour devices I’ve seen had this problem. However, they usually still have full resolution in black&white mode, I just don’t want to pay the premium for colours when I’ll likely only be using it for black&white.

I was tempted by a boox mira as second monitor, but when you read about life time, dead pixels and generally crappy quality/refresh rate you realise it's not there yet

for me: kindle to read, good old paper/pen to write

@U050SC7SV you can set a differentiated display rate for each app on the lumi, which works well. I can see how it would be an issue for an external monitor where this isn’t possible.

e.g. watching youtube is actually doable, although it eats battery life.

the biggest issue is the lifespan. A mira used every day as second screen (with say emacs) would last only a couple of years until it becomes unusable

yup, true

and a mira is ~ $800

even if that could be a work expense, that feels a bit much

yup, but it’s all about priorities. I paid a similar amount for the lumi, but it was the only thing in its niche and I had the money, so…

can’t blame device manufacturers anyway, since the cost of any e-ink device is a function of the area of the e-ink screen.

(the e-ink material is licensed by area AFAIK)

yeah the tech is just not there yet.

and most products are based on the same (manufacturers') panels

I'll settle with a 4k+ screen with high refresh rate and just set a low contrast for now for emacs. That said I really like the remarkable concept, but that's another usage altogether

the lumi seems a quite nice alternative to it

Pine note https://www.pine64.org/2021/08/15/introducing-the-pinenote/

https://www.pine64.org/pinenote/

A lot of e-reader screens unfortunately only go up to 10 inches which is really not enough to read journal articles or most PDF books… at least it’s not enough for me. 13.3 inches isn’t even A4 size (A4 is around 14.3 inches). Reading A4 content on a device closer to A5 size is not a pleasant experience. Usually, 10 inch devices are marketed as note-taking devices for this exact reason.

ice skating?