5 Best Smart Reusable Notebooks for Students

Are you a notebook person but guilty of generating tons of paper waste? Digital notes seem to be a direct replacement, but everyone might not prefer taking digital notes on an iPad. That’s exactly where smart notebooks come in handy. On one hand, one of the best smart reusable notebooks will save rolls worth of paper wastage; on the other, they will aid in digitizing your content.

This way, you can drop the worry about harming the environment and losing your data. With reusable and erasable features, these smart notebooks are packed with interesting features.

Here, we’ve listed a handful of smart notebooks highlighting their use case and budget, with each option catering to various audiences. But before you do that, you might want to take a look at the following:

• Take notes digitally using e-ink tablets for note-taking.
• Pick up a Kindle Scribe alternative if you wish to take digital notes without spending too much.
• Looking for a computer instead? Take a look at affordable Chromebooks for students under $300.

1. Rocketbook Smart Reusable Notebook

• Size: Executive (6 x 8.8 inches)
• Pages: 36

The Rocketbook doesn’t have a lot of pages but you don’t even need them since it’s essentially a reusable notepad. At the bottom of every page is a QR code that can be scanned using your phone to scan and sync the entire page to your cloud. You can link your Google Drive, iCloud, or Dropbox accounts to store the notes.

Speaking of notes, the Rocketbook is compatible with Pilot’s Frixion series of pens and highlighters. You can categorize your notes depending on the subject. When you scan a page, it will be added to that particular subject’s folder thanks to Rocketbook’s smart app. The brand has also included an AI search engine that lets you search your notes for a certain word or phrase.

Once you’ve exhausted the pages in the Rocketbook, all you have to do is get hold of the included microfiber cloth and wipe it clean. There are a whopping 70,000 user ratings for the Rocketbook with an impressive rating. The only downside is the ink in the Pilot Frixion pen — which according to the reviews — gets exhausted rather quickly.

2. Rocketbook Mini Notepad

• Size: 3.5 x 5.5 inches
• Pages: 48

Apart from the size, the Rocketbook notepad also has more pages which makes sense since the dimensions of each page are lesser. Speaking of the pages, they’re of the same type as the larger Rocketbook. In fact, the pen to be used on the smart notebook is also the same Pilot Frixion one.

The Rocketbook app can be used to scan your notes. All the smarts from the larger notebook make their way to the smaller notepad as well. Think of the Rocketbook notepad as a portable to-do list or a way to set reminders for yourself. You can quickly jot down your grocery list and scan it on your phone to save it for later.

3. Boogie Board Blackboard

• Size: 8.5 x 11 inches
• Pages: NA (4 templates)

The templates are essentially stencils in the form of dots, lines, grids, and blank white. You can place the stencil for any template you want behind the tablet when writing. This way, when you write, the applied template will appear even in the scanned copy.

Taking online backups here is also quite easy. Once you’ve filled up the board, just point the Boogie Board app on your phone to the Blackboard to scan it. You can then annotate your notes or sync them to Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, or even Evernote.

Also, compared to the Blackboard, there are several writing pads that are available for much cheaper. However, they only have a universal erase button. The Boogie Board Blackboard stands out since it allows you to precisely erase parts of what you’ve written.

Speaking of which, some users did highlight issues with erasing certain spots on the tablet at times but the issue disappears after a while. Apart from this, the only con of the Blackboard is that you don’t get multiple pages. You have to scan a page as soon as you finish writing since you’ll have to erase the page to write on it again.

4. Moleskin Writing Set

• Size: 4.88 x 8.9 inches
• Pages: 176

This product is called the Moleskin writing set for a reason. It comes in a set of three products — a notebook with special pages, a rechargeable pen, and a cable. The smart tech in the notebook and pen enables the product to determine exactly what and where you’re writing. You can see a live preview of your notes on the Moleskin app as and when you write in the notebook.

While you cannot reuse the notebook itself, you can edit the digital notes, annotate them, and even share or upload them to cloud services. The Moleskin writing kit is undoubtedly on the expensive side. However, it provides a cool feature of real-time handwriting recognition.

One good aspect though is when you run out of pages in the notebook, you don’t have to purchase the entire set once again. You can pick up a replacement notebook and you will be good to go.

5. reMarkable 2 Paper Tablet

• Size: 10.3 inches
• Pages: NA

The large 10.3-inch e-ink display on the reMarkable 2 allows you to take notes with ease using the included stylus. It’s also incredibly thin at just 4.7mm giving you the feel of holding an actual slim notebook. Apart from writing on the tablet, reMarkable also gives you the option to convert your handwritten notes into PDFs that you can then print or share.

Thanks to several features on the tablet, you can annotate notes, organize them into different topics, and even access them remotely via a smartphone or a laptop. The reMarkable 2, remarkably has excellent reviews with one downside that’s slightly bothersome. You need a subscription plan to sync your notes to reMarkable’s cloud and access them from other devices.

While the brand gives you 12 months of free subscription, you won’t be able to remotely access your notes from other devices if you choose not to renew the plan. Given the high cost upfront, they could have done away with the subscription plan in our opinion.

FAQs for Smart Reusable Notebooks for Students

Save the Environment

These were some of the best smart reusable notebooks that you can buy. By using a smart reusable notebook, not only are you saving on ink but you are also preventing several trees from being cut. These impacts may seem small but when several users start contributing towards the notion, we can save the environment by going digital with our notes.