So, Ive recently gotten back into writing and been thinking about how much more fun it would be to write Outside. Problem is, the sun hates screens. I have an Alphawrite Neo, of course, but I’ve always been insecure about lugging a weird educational device around with me in public. So I started looking into Eink tablets that could be used with a keyboard and

Jesus H. Christ, that price tag!

I just want something to type on something. Apparently thats strange, so maybe there will be something cheaper as just a word processor. It seems that the only reasonable offering here is the Freewrite Traveler, though, so I look it up and

WHY‽ It’s the same price!

Okay, maybe I could just get a Raspberry Pi 400 and attach an eInk monitor to it. Apparently, this is not the usual use-case for E-ink, but there are in fact e-ink monitors out there! Most were around a thousand dollars for some reason, but here is the cheapest one I could find:

That’s around the price point of a Boox Go, for reference, which has a really slow screen refresh rate.

Why is there no affordable e-paper products that arent a pain to use? I am aware of cheaper ones, but the ones ive seen reviews if aren’t able to keep up with typing in a way that seems responsive. And I’m aware that you can find eink displays (as in the component) for as low as $30, so they should be able to be cheaper than this!

  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    0·
    14 days ago

    If you can live with a reflective LCD display, there are various word processors with small reflective LCD displays that are inexpensive.

    https://www.amazon.com/Neo2-Alphasmart-Processor-Keyboard-Calculator/dp/B00T0ZG06O

    That’s $220 for the screen and keyboard; runs on 3 AA batteries.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/eink/comments/186x55r/good_eink_writing_device_with_a_keyboard/

    Good e-ink writing device with a keyboard?

    The Meebook M7 supports bluetooth, and I have connected bluetooth keyboards to it, but I usually connect a mechanical keyboard via OTG cable. It is 6.8 inches, though, so you might want something a bit bigger. Refresh rate is okay, definitley sufficient. I like to have it in normal or fast mode, depending on my mood.

    eBay has Meebook M7s (no longer the current model) for $200 as of this writing. That’s an Android device and will need a keyboard.

    EDIT: I think that the problem you’re going to run into is if you want a large e-ink display. Most e-ink use is for reading books, and most people want fairly small displays for that, so there’s not going to be a lot of volume.

    • Wugmeister@lemmy.dbzer0.comOPEnglish
      0·
      13 days ago

      I actually already have the Alphasmart Neo. I just have baggage about taking it outside to write since I was given it when I was in 5th grade, so my bad self talk likes to remind me that “this is a device for children to do their English assignments on” whenever I take it out as an adult