What is the best digital notebook to buy in the UK 2025?

As well as taking notes, digital notebooks can save your digital files, PDFs, images, and Word documents, and you can rest assured that all of your notes are searchable.

With a lot of things, there's usually one or two brands which have a monopoly on the market, such as LEGO for building blocks and Spotify for music streaming, and the RadioTimes.com team have seen reMarkable and Kindle as two of the frontrunners for the best digital notebook, and we've compared the two in our Kindle Colorsoft vs reMarkable Paper Pro and reMarkable Paper Pro vs Kindle Scribe guides.

However, there are other digital notebooks on the market which are great for various purposes, and we've given all of the ones we've recommended to you a 'best for' award below, for example, best for students and best for book lovers.

Let's take a look.

Looking to save money on the brand new Samsung Galaxy S25? Take a look at these Samsung Galaxy S25 deals and this last chance Samsung Galaxy S25 pre-order deal.

Jump to:

• Best digital notebooks at a glance
• What is a digital notebook?
• What does a digital notebook do?
• What to consider when buying a digital notebook
• Best digital notebooks and tablets in the UK

Best digital notebooks at a glance:

• Best for: Affordability | Kobo Libra Colour for £209.99
• Best for: Book lovers | Kindle Colorsoft for £269.99
• Best for: All-rounder | Apple iPad (10th gen) for £309
• Best for: Office workers | reMarkable 2 from £349
• Best for: Android Lovers | BOOX Go 10.3 for £379.99
• Best for: Annotating | Kindle Scribe for £429.99
• Best for: Students | reMarkable Paper Pro from £559

What is a digital notebook?

A digital notebook is a tablet which replaces the traditional pen to paper notebook. A smart notebook — at it's core — will convert handwritten notes to typed text. But, nowadays, they do so much more.

What does a digital notebook do?

A good digital notebook will let its users digitise notes for work and studying, and to organise thoughts. A great digital notebook will have the same feeling of putting pen to paper.

Smart notebooks boasts a variety of features, such as writing notes directly onto PDFs or e-books, importing Microsoft Office files, downloading articles from the internet, and acting as a diary, tablet, laptop and notebook all in one simple place.

With each of the digital notebooks, we've included which features they have, and which ones they lack in comparison to other notebooks.

What to consider when buying a digital notebook

By now, you'll know the RadioTimes.com Technology team are experts in delivering guides comparing the latest tech and subscription services — just take a look at our Samsung Galaxy Ring vs Oura Ring, Nintendo Switch 2 vs original Nintendo Switch, PS5 Standard vs PS5 Slim, and Apple Music vs Amazon Music guides. Plus, we like to give the products we recommend 'best for' awards, to help make the buying process even simpler, for example, in our best DAB radios guide.

We appreciate that before making a purchase, particularly on a tech item as they're usually expensive, there will be lots of things you'll want to consider: Why am I buying a digital notebook? What features are important to me? Plus, it's important to set your budget and to take a look at details such as warranty.

With this in mind, we've put together some questions to ask yourself:

• Is this digital notebook within my budget?
• Does it do what I want it to? For example, can you read and annotate on e-books?
• Can I buy it from a UK retailer I trust?
• Is there a warranty?

Best digital notebooks and paper tablets in the UK to buy today

Kindle Scribe

Best for: Annotating

There are eight different types of Kindles: the original Kindle, Kindle Oasis, Kindle Paperwhite, Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, Kindle Kids, Kindle Paperwhite Kids, Kindle Scribe, and the brand-new Kindle Colorsoft that you've seen above.

We've recommended the Kindle Scribe because it has all of the features of a Kindle with the added benefit of a digital journal, so, not only can you enjoy e-books, but you can journal, write, sketch, and take notes on the move, too.

The Kindle Scribe stands out from the other Kindles as it's the only Kindle that includes a digital notebook and pen, and the notebook kept completely separate from the e-reader to avoid distraction. The large front-lit display is two times larger than the Kindle Paperwhite, too, so you have plenty of space to get your thoughts out onto paper.

With the Kindle Scribe, there's also the option to add three months Kindle Unlimited.

Buy Kindle Scribe for £429.99 at Amazon

Kindle Colorsoft

Best for: Book lovers

If you'd like to highlight your favourite passages in e-books in colour, then search for them, the Kindle Colorsoft is the digital notebook for you. While the Kindle Colorsoft doesn't offer as many features as other digital notebooks in this guide, such as the two reMarkable tablets, we understand that some people reading this guide will want a digital tablet that simply allows them emphasise memorable bits on their e-books.

The Kindle Colorsoft is an e-reader which has access to over 15 million titles worldwide, including novels, magazines, textbooks, plus more. Some of our favourite books, such as Sarah J. Maas's A Court of Mist and Fury and Funny Story by Emily Henry are available on this Kindle. The Colorsoft also has a waterproof design, for those poolside reads, USB-C and wireless charging, and an auto-adjusting front light.

One of the main differences between the original Kindle and Kindle Colorsoft is that you can highlight passages in yellow, orange, blue, or pink, and search for your highlights by colour.

Buy Kindle Colorsoft for £269.99 at Amazon

If you're a keen reader, be sure to check out how to read Rebecca Yarros's books in order and how to read Silo books in order.

reMarkable 2

Best for: Office workers

If you're looking for a digital notebook which will make your time in the office a whole lot easier, then let us introduce you to the reMarkable 2.

With the reMarkable 2, you can easily import Microsoft Office files, PowerPoint presentations and web articles, and you can read these web articles via the Read on reMarkable extension. You can also integrate the reMarkable 2 with Google Drive, Dropbox, Microsoft OneDrive and more, which is certainly beneficial at work.

So, how does your digital notebook keep organised? You can sort your notes and documents with folders and tags, and it stays neat as you can write directly onto PDFs, and instantly convert handwritten notes into typed text.

For scribing, the reMarkable 2 comes with a Marker and Type Folio which, just like a normal pen, gives you a virtually-instant response on the page. Plus, you know how we mentioned earlier about digital notebooks that feel just like real paper? Well, the reMarkable 2 offers a textured surface, just like that of a real notebook. To edit your notes, simply use tools such as undo, move and layers to structure your words.

Buy reMarkable 2 from £349 at reMarkable

reMarkable Paper Pro

Best for: Students

The reMarkable 2 is the predecessor to the reMarkable Paper Pro, and both of these digital notebooks allow you to make notes, mark up documents, and organise your work into easy folders. So why have we recommended the reMarkable Paper Pro for students? The main reason is that you can work anywhere, any time with the reMarkable Paper Pro.

The reMarkable Paper Pro has an 11.8-inch full colour display with an adjustable reading light, as well as a textured glass screen which gives the feel of writing on paper. This adjustable reading light means you can work anywhere at any time, especially during those late-night studying sessions. The adjustable brightness means you can adapt the display to your environment, even in direct sunlight, and it's eye-friendly, too.

The reMarkable Paper Pro comes with a Marker which you can use to make hand-written notes, then convert into text. The digital notebook can also pull in documents from Microsoft One Drive, Google Drive and Dropbox, and you can share notes across mobile and desktop devices.

Buy reMarkable Paper Pro from £559 at reMarkable

Apple iPad (10th gen)

Best for: All-rounder

Not only does the Apple iPad (1oth gen) boast features that would make any digital notebook jealous, but it's also an all-round great tablet. Let's get into it.

The Apple iPad (10th gen) is brilliant for people who are looking for a digital notebook, either for working or studying. With thanks to the A14 Bionic chip, you can do a whole host of things such as create pie charts, review recipes, take notes, collaborate with others, edit a 4K video in iMovie, plan a client trip, and so much more.

We selected the 2022 Apple iPad as it fulfils the brief for those looking for a digital notebook without coming with the price-tag of the latest iPad Pro — £309 to the 2024 iPad Pro's £999. However, the 2022 Apple iPad has still been upgraded from its predecessor.

In the Apple iPad (10th gen) the Liquid Retina display extends to the edges, meaning users have even more screen area for apps, games, work, and watching your favourite TV shows such as XO, Kitty. Also new for the Apple iPad (10th gen) is the Touch ID, which has moved to the iPad's top button to aid a more seamless search.

Plus, the Apple iPad (10th gen) comes with a 12MP Wide Angle back camera. The 12MP camera lets you take photos, create videos, as well as scan and mark up documents. Once you've captured your content, you can retouch photos and edit videos in 4K.

Buy Apple iPad (10th gen) for £309 at Very

Kobo Libra Colour

Best for: Affordability

If you'd like a digital notebook to annotate notes on your favourite e-books and use your tablet as a journal, the Kobo Libra Colour is certainly the digital notebook for you, especially as it comes at an affordable price.

While the Kobo Libra Colour doesn't offer as many features as other tablets in this list, for example, the Apple iPad (10th gen), it does come with some great capabilities. For example, you can annotate pages and highlight important lines — all in colour, mind you — on the e-books you love. With reading, you can carry up to 24,000 e-books or 150 Kobo Audiobooks with the 32GB of storage the Kobo Libra Colour offers.

As well as annotating on e-books, you can also use the Kobo Libra Colour as a journal to organise your thoughts and as a notebook to organise your week. You can back-up your notebooks on the Kobo Cloud, and connect to Dropbox and Google Drive, too.

Buy Kobo Libra Colour for £209.99 at Kobo Books

BOOX Go 10.3

Best for: Android users

Why do we like the BOOX Go 10.3? Because it runs Android and third-party apps.

With the BOOX Go 10.3, you get full access to the Google Play Store as it's essentially a custom version of Android 12 but with a special focus on reading and writing. This BOOX tablet already supports Evernote, OneNote, Dropbox and Google Drive, but it's great to know that you can download other apps if you'd prefer.

The BOOX Go 10.3 comes with a functional control centre, which allows you to access specific features, such as AI assistant, storage, Kids Mode, Split Screen and the E Ink Centre (which is where you control the digital notebook's settings) with ease.

As for taking notes, the digital notebook comes with five pen types to choose from, each with up to five thickness levels. With the note-taking capabilities, you can add shapes and layers to flowcharts, insert links into your notes, and convert handwritten notes to text. Just like the reMarkable tablets, the BOOX Go 10.3 is great for annotating PDF files as you can amend them, then export to your computer or cloud service.

Buy BOOX Go 10.3 for £379.99 at Amazon

Have you heard of Loop Earplugs? In our Loop Earplugs review, we tried out the noise-dimming earplugs for six months.

Be sure to check out the top Kindle offers and Audible deals for this month.