A reviewer at The Verge says a two-device distraction-free substitute for old word processors is worth nearly $900 [View all]

[highplainsdem]

The review is here: https://www.theverge.com/gadgets/837877/remarkable-paper-pro-type-folio-marker-plus-favorite

About a year ago, we said you probably don’t need the Remarkable Paper Pro. The e-ink device is equal parts outrageous and luxurious; it’s not ideal for consuming books, and the screen can sometimes feel painfully slow. Then there’s the starting price, which is, quite frankly, ludicrous at $629 (up from $579 thanks to US-induced tariffs). Add in the $229 Type Folio, and holy hell.

Based on that description, most sane people would stay far, far away, and maybe spend their money on, I don’t know, Apple’s latest MacBook Air. We’ve seen Apple’s laptop drop down to as low as $738, making it the more affordable option against the combined price of the Remarkable Paper Pro and Type Folio keyboard case.

And yet, I not only bought the Paper Pro, but it’s the device I find myself reaching for most often when I want to GTD, like write this blog. Not because it’s the best tablet — it’s not — but because it’s a stubbornly single-purpose device. That’s a good thing!

While using it, I’m insulated from a world that’s constantly demanding my attention. There is no Slack app. I can’t doomscroll. There are exactly zero notifications. And instead of hitting me with AI and algorithms, it just sits there, quietly, inviting actual human thought and curation.

-snip-

Actual human thought and curation...

What a concept, compared to what tech companies bombard us with.

I'll admit there are days I miss typewriters...though I don't miss having to retype to get a clean copy.

And when I read some time ago that George RR Martin still uses WordStar to write, on a computer never connected to the internet, I felt rather wistful. My computers that could use WordStar died long ago. And they were also a lot more expensive, especially with their prices adjusted for decades of inflation, than the new devices in that Verge review.

Btw, the article where I read that George was still using WordStar was already a few years old when I ran across it. I don't know if he still uses it.

But there's a lot to be said for being distraction-free...