I'm Matt Smith, and I live breath and sleep tech, especially the latest devices such as tablets and laptops. Here are my tips and tricks about what to look for when buying your next tablet or laptop.
Gone are the days’ note-taking on tablets was considered more tedious than writing with pen and paper! Tablets have grown into versatile devices note-taking reaches the next level.
Today’s tablets have high-pressure sensitive touch screens, advanced intelligent styluses which makes it so much easier to find the best tablet for taking handwritten notes and on-the-go collaboration tools that power teams in an ever-moving fast-paced world.
Let’s have a look below at some of the best tablets for taking notes.
Top Rated Tablets for Taking Notes
1st Choice
iPad Pro 12.9
Hands down the best screen
Widest color spectrum for brilliant picture quality
Fastest for Graphics
Fastest GPU for Graphics
Best in class connectivity options
High Res camera with HD picture capability
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Display: 12.9 inch (2732 x 2048) ProMotion, True Tone and DCI-P3.
Stylus Included: Sold Separately
Pressure Sensitivity: 4096
Stylus Tilt: Yes
Gamut: DCI-P3. 26% more colors than sRGB. Processing Power: A12Z (2.6 GHz max speed)
As you know, there are plenty of note-taking tablets out there. We’re going to save you lots of time & hassle as we’ve spent many hours refining our top picks you can find the best note-taking tablet in a few clicks!
1. Apple iPad Pro 12.9 – The Best Tablet for Taking Notes
ProMotion (120Hz refresh rate), True Tone (no reflective light), and a 26% better color gamut set the iPad Pro’s display compared with competitors. It has a 2732 x 2048 resolution with 600 nits brightness.
Note-taking collaboration needs high-speed internet connectivity. With its Wi-fi 6 capability and Gigabit-class LTE cellular speed, the iPad Pro offers the best collaborative environment.
Apple Pencil is one of the best styluses for tablets. It is the perfect companion for taking notes with its high-pressure sensitivity, tilt, intelligent auto charging, and negligible lag.
The Magic Keyboard and Trackpad with angle adjustability and a comfortable typing experience convert the iPad Pro into an instant laptop for note-taking. This is by far and away the best ipad for note taking, and probably the best note taking tablet you can buy.
(Note: You need to buy Apple Pencil, Magic Keyboard, and trackpad)
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The 12.9 inch iPad Pro is a note-takers dream product. Launched first in 2015, the iPad Pro has evolved in each of its generations to add new features that keep the product in the top position every year.
The iPad Pro 4th gen is lightweight (1.39 pounds). It runs on the super-fast A12Z Bionic chip (compared to the A12X in the 3rd gen version). The new iPad Pro is available in a minimum configuration of 128GB (going up to 256, 512, and 1TB options). It has 6GB RAM built into all the models. The 3rd gen had 4GB RAM in all models (except the 1TB option).
The iPad Pro 12.9 has a brilliant display with 2732 x 2048 resolution that provides 600 nits of brightness and a pixel density of 264 per inch, doing note writing and making sketches an absolute pleasure.
Apple has been moving the iPad in a direction it becomes a laptop replacement. The magic keyboard and trackpad introduced along with the iPad Pro 12 was a fabulous step in this direction, making it a 2-in-1 device.
The Magic keyboard (sold separately) makes the iPad Pro into instant writing and drawing canvas with an adjustable tilt angle. It gives a great typing experience if you love taking many notes and are not that comfortable with the smaller on-screen keypad.
Let us come to the display quality. Three key things to underline are:
ProMotion: It refers to the 120Hz refresh rate of the iPad Pro screen, which makes the screen awesome for movies, graphics, and all kinds of gaming.
True Tone: True Tone adjusts to ambient lighting, making things look as natural as the brain would perceive them if you were in front of them. True Tone ejects reflected light and shows you the light coming off the object in question
DCI-P3: DCI-P3 is the color gamut of the iPad Pro, which has about 26% more colors than the sRGB, which is the usual standard for most monitors. It is equivalent to the color palette of most digital movies.
The 2nd gen Apple Pencil (not included) is a perfect companion that you should purchase for note-taking. In its latest version, the Apple Pencil has many features such as Wireless charging, Magnetic pairing, High precision with good pressure sensitivity, amazing tilt functionality, and little lag while writing.
Note-taking and collaboration require fast wireless connectivity. With Wi-fi 6 and Gigabit-class LTE (comparable to 5G), the iPad Pro provides a great collaboration platform.
The iPad Pro comes with a super 12MP camera with a LiDAR scanner, 4K video, Smart HDR, and a 10MP wide camera lens. It has 10-hour battery life.
Pros
12.9-inch screen with 600 nits brightness and 2732 x 2048 resolution
Super display, 120Hz refresh rate, largest color gamut, and True Tone technology
Super fast processing with 6GB RAM and A12Z bionic chip
High-pressure sensitivity and tilt recognition with Apple Pencil (sold separately)
Magic Keyboard and trackpad convert it into an instant laptop with adjustable viewing angle (sold separately)
12MP Camera and 10-hour battery life.
Cons
It is expensive
No 3.5mm headphone jack
Apple’s USB-C port does not accept third party connectors
The S Pen is an awesome tool that connects with Bluetooth and allows you to make brilliant presentations using Air Action gestures. With a pressure sensitivity of 4,096, it will never cause your hand to become tired after hours of note-taking.
Transparency Mode: Take notes while watching videos or during presentations, without missing out on the video itself.
Split Screen: Two apps can run, letting you run multiple apps in the background while taking notes.
Pop Up View: Open a reference website right in the middle of taking your notes without having to minimize your operations.
The Samsung Galaxy S6 Tab gives its nearest competitor, the Apple iPad Pro, a run for its money despite being a few hundred dollars lower.
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This is among the best note taking devices. If you are a student or a professional looking for a bang for buck product compared with Apple’s iPad Pro, Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 should be your go-to tablet. Considering that it’s several hundred dollars cheaper than the iPad Pro, the Galaxy Tab S6 gives the Apple product a run for its money in terms of features.
First of all, the Tab S6 is not just a tab; it’s a laptop hidden in a tabs skin. All you need is to buy a keyboard cover, and you have a tab that converts to a powerful laptop in seconds.
With a 10.5-inch screen size, it’s smaller than the iPad Pro. But with a screen resolution of 2560 x 1600 and brilliant colors, it makes up for the smaller size.
Coming to the stylus, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 includes the lovely S Pen as part of the shipped product. The pen sticks to the back of the pad magnetically and can connect to the tab through Bluetooth, letting you control your tab without having it in your hand. But that’s the least of its benefits.
With a pressure sensitivity of 4,096, the S-Pen is the perfect note-taking device that reduces fatigue on your hand and fingers while letting you write, sketch and draw out your notes with perfect and detailed precision.
When you are taking notes, the last thing you want is your tab’s battery to die out. The Galaxy Tab S6’s battery will last you a cool fifteen hours. It has fast charging that lets you be ready for the day’s lessons in a half-hour if you forget to charge the tab overnight.
Some other cool features include Pop Up view and Split-screen that let you look at other things while taking your notes. This feature is useful if you want to refer to some source such as Wikipedia.
There is a transparency option that allows you to take notes while watching a video or during lectures, which is useful for note-takers. With Air Action gestures, you can make some great PowerPoint presentations from the tab itself.
The product weighs a mere 0.95 lbs, and in terms of connectivity, it has all the options, including Bluetooth 5 and Wi-fi. You can opt for 128GB or 256GB external storage for saving your notes, pictures, and videos.
Pros
2-in-1 format converts into the laptop as needed with a keyboard cover.
4092 pressure sensitivity S-Pen
Brilliant screen with a 2560 x 1600 resolution
Transparent mode, Split screen, and Pop up view for ease of note-taking
Long battery life
Reasonably priced
Cons
The S-Pen that ships with this product are not round-shaped. This shape makes it a bit difficult to hold and write notes with
It does not have a headphone jack for those who love listening to music while taking notes
The magnets holding the S-Pen at the back are a bit weak.
Brilliant 21.5 inch display with 16.7 mn colors in HD quality. Anti-glare and anti-scratch surface.
The Wacom Pen comes with Pro Pen 2, which has 8,192 pressure points with upto 60 degrees tilt recognition. The battery-free pen glides across the surface, making for great strokes. It charges off the screen as you write or draw.
It has an adjustable stand that allows you to convert the tab into a canvas.
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Note-taking is not always about the written word. Students of art and drawing, biology, architects, mechanical engineers, and people in many other professions want a tab they can jot notes interspersed with illustrative, rough drawings that they can recall at the press of a button. We understand this, which is why the “Drawing Tablet” Wacom Cintiq 22 is on our list.
Note: This is not a full-fledged tablet; it is a drawing tablet meant for drawing and note-taking purposes. It has to be connected to a laptop or computer for it to work.
The Wacom Cintiq 22 has a best-in-class pressure sensitivity of 8,192 pressure points. To add to this, it has 60-degree tilt recognition and needs little effort to draw.
Coming to the pen, it glides across the surface, making beautiful, straight, and crisp lines.
What makes the pen good is that it is battery-less: you can write and draw as much as you want without the pesky charging downtime needed with other styluses.
Adding on to this, the Cintiq 22 comes with an adjustable stand that turns the tab into an instant canvas, and you can make brilliant pictures on the tab.
Another must-have for making sketches is that you need a great display with a huge color palette. The Cintiq 22 does not disappoint with its huge 21.5-inch screen that can display 16.7 million colors in HD quality (1920 x 1090).
Its gamut of 72% NTSC is a bit low compared to other graphics tab, but the tab is great if you are looking for a bit of drawing and taking notes.
The screen is anti-glare and scratch-resistant, so you don’t need to worry about your eyes as you sit in long sessions taking notes.
The Cintiq 22 has a smaller brother in the Cintiq 16, in case you find the 22 a bit big for your use. It has a 15.6-inch screen and similar specs as the Cintiq 22.
One thing that is lacking with the Cintiq 22 is wireless connectivity options, though you do get an HDMI & USB option to connect to your laptop.
Pros
21.5-inch large screen format with brilliant colors in HD
Best in class 8,192 pressure sensitivity with 60-degree tilt recognition
Battery-Free Pen
Adjustable Stand
Cons
This product is not a standalone tab. It is like a monitor that needs a laptop or computer to connect to
Intel’s 10th Gen Core i5 and i7 processors offer higher clock speeds and multi-threading than the Apple iPad Pro.
The 12.3 high-resolution screen is nearly as good as the Apple iPad Pro. It has a 267-pixel density and is responsive.
The much-improved Surface Pen has a pressure sensitivity equivalent to the Apple Pencil and is lighter than the Wacom Pen.
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If you have grown up with the Windows OS + Intel processor configuration, the MS Surface Pro lets you know that environment in a tab. With its super-fast Intel Core i5 / i7 processor and Windows 10 Home OS, the Surface Pro is our third 2-in-1 laptop + tab product in this lineup.
The Surface Pro adapts to how you want to use it – a standard laptop, a canvas for viewing movies or creating art, or a tab for taking notes and other smaller apps.
Coming to note-taking abilities, let’s first talk about the screen. The 12.3-inch screen compares in size to the iPad Pro, with a similar screen resolution (2,736 x 1,824). The pixel density (267) is similar to the iPad Pro 12.9 (264). It has a 3:2 aspect ratio, which gives you a bit more space to use vertically than the usual 16:9 configuration.
Coming to speed, the Surface Pro 7 has managed a large leap over its predecessor, with Intel’s 10th Gen Core i5-1035G4 and i7-1065G7 processors as compared to the 8th gen processors in the Surface Pro 6. The 10th gen processors have additional power and are more energy-efficient, meaning better battery life.
If we compare it with the Apple iPad Pro, the Surface Pro’s processor has a lower base clock frequency (1.1GHz for the MS vs. 1.6 GHz for the Apple) but higher max clock speed (3.7Ghz MS vs. 2.6GHz for Apple).
The iPad Pro is an octa-core processor against the Surface Pro’s quad-core processor. The iPad Pro uses its processor’s full power for graphics, the Surface Pro has a separate GPU (Iris Plus Graphics) that has lower performance.
The battery life of both the Surface Pro 7 and iPad Pro is similar. It has a rapid charge, which charges upto 80% of the battery in under an hour.
Coming to the oft-repeated question of the Surface Pen (arguably the weakest link in the Surface Pro-environment) – the new Surface Pen is a welcome change. It is lighter than the Wacom Pen, has the same sensitivity (4,096) as the iPad Pro, and does well with tilt and sketching. The drawback is that it needs batteries for charging (4 AAAA batteries). Like the Apple Pencil, you need to buy the Surface Pen separately.
Other great features include a studio-quality mic and great speakers. In terms of connectivity, the Surface Pro 7 comes with Wi-fi 6 and Bluetooth 5; it does not support cellular network connectivity, limiting its use during travel a bit.
Pros
Laptop-cum-Tab-cum-Canvas configuration
Familiar MS + Intel config. with Intel’s latest 10th gen processors and MS Windows 10 home
High-resolution screen with a best-in-class pixel density
Pressure-sensitive stylus (sold separately)
10.5 hours battery life
Cons
The large and chunky bezel on the corners of the screen is an instant turn off against the iPad Pro’s smooth look
It does not have a good GPU. Do not try and play Call of Duty with the Surface Pro 7; it wouldn’t work!
At about half the price of the S6, which is itself low priced, the S6 Lite is attractive for students and younger professionals looking for an inexpensive note-taking model.
The included S Pen with the S6 Lite is round in shape, with which it is easier to write. It has similar pressure sensitivity as compared to the S6.
With 12.5-hour battery life, you won’t have to keep charging the device every time you need to take extended notes in a lecture.
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The S6 Lite is the best note taking tablet for college
Having reviewed the Galaxy Tab S6 above, I will cover the S6 and S6 Lite differences.
The main difference is in the display – the S6 Lite comes with a TFT display compared to the S6’s SuperAMOLED screen. AMOLED is thinner, lighter, and has better colors. TFT depends on its backlight, unlike the AMOLED screen. The screen has a 224-pixel density and a smaller resolution (1200x 2000). The configuration is good for regular note-taking.
Both models have equivalent configuration and support Wi-fi, Bluetooth 5, and Cellular options in terms of connectivity.
This is, in our opinion, the best note taking tablet with stylus. The S6 Lite has a rounded S-Pen as compared to the S6, which is easier to write. The S6 Lite has the 64GB 4GB RAM option, which was not present with the S6.
The S6 Lites camera is a bit disappointing, with the 8 MP front camera. It’s slightly heavier at 1.5 pounds. The battery life is around 12.5 hours.
All of this pales in comparison when looking at the price point. It costs about half the price of the Galaxy S6 Tab. The S6 lite is the perfect companion tab for students looking for a note-taking tab that is reasonably priced but offers high-end features.
Choosing The Best Tablet for Taking Notes – Buyers Guide
To find the best tablets for note taking you need to know what to look for, here’s where we come in!
1) Resolution
Resolution and screen size are crucial features to be mindful of in a tablet. Most tablets come in several sizes and resolutions; as a creative person or note-taker, you require an extended screen to access multiple applications.
If you’re reading an eBook and you like some quotes, you’ll be going to switch on the notes app and take some notes. Many tablets offer a split-screen display, which requires a little more desk space to work effectively. In terms of display size, the tablets need to range from 7 to 12 inches. As for the resolution, 1920 x 1080 is recognized as the standard for note-taking and gives impressive graphics to enhance your experience.
2) Touch screen
What users find on the tablet? One thing is that they have more size than smartphones, and second is they are more convenient compare to laptops or computers. A great touch screen tablet has a responsive touch screen and a fast sensor to perform the task.
3) Battery Life
The battery life can be impactful when you’ve to go for a long trip or business meeting. A long-lasting battery life in a tablet means it won’t let you down when you need to take important notes with ease. While looking for a tablet, pick a tablet with at least 6 hours of battery life that you can work hassle freeway.
4) Stylus / Pen
The best tablet to take notes needs a decent stylus that feels like a pen. The included pan makes it easy to take notes more conveniently. Many tablets in our list come with pen bundled in, while others require you purchase a pen as an added extra. Bear this in mind while looking for a tablet and compare prices.
5) Price
Many folks have budget issues, first decide your budget rather than purchase the best tablet for taking notes. Most of the tablets are budget-friendly, but some are expensive, carefully choose the tablet according to your budgeted price range.
6) RAM
RAM has a direct impact on tablet performance. For note-taking, if you use multiple applications, you’ll need a tablet with a decent amount of RAM. More RAM available for a tablet means applications can run smoother. For taking notes, choose a tablet that has at least 4 GB RAM.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is The Best Tablet with Stylus for Note Taking?
It depends on your requirements; if you purchase a tablet mainly for drawing, then a stylus pen is necessary. A tablet provides an excellent touch screen, so you’ll be able to draw a simple chart and drawings with your fingers. Many tablets on our list come with a Stylus pen, so you don’t need to purchase it separately.
Can I take notes on a drawing tablet?
Yes, you just need to install apps for note-taking, and it’s good to go.
Is note-taking better on a tablet or the traditional pen and paper?
Typing notes is faster than handwriting, and you can carry it anywhere and access anytime. You can take notes of various designs, graphics, and elements. When it comes to learning new things, traditional note-making is a superior choice.
How can you make the purchase of a note-taking tablet worth every penny?
While purchasing a note-taking tablet, looks for specs like RAM, storage, display size, and resolution; find out the tablet’s performance by reading our review. A great tablet is a mix of power, performance, and storage.
What is the best tablet note-taking app?
The Internet is filled with various types of note-taking apps that offer excellent design and a lot of features. Google Keep, Evernote, Onenote, Apple notes, SimpleNote, and Standard notes are some of the best note-taking apps available and free.
What is the best note-taking app for android tablets?
Google Keep, OneNote, Material Notes, Keep My Notes, and SimpleNote are the best note taking app for android tablets.
Conclusion
It’s time to end our list for the best tablet for taking notes. All of the above tablets are decent choices for taking notes; the best one for you will depend on your budget and needs. If you have a decent budget, the Apple iPad Pro 12.9 is the must-have tablet for note-taking, as it is brilliant at a good many other tasks too. Otherwise, the remaining options are all good to go, whether you’re a new or seasoned note-taking pro!