As our personal lives and work environments become increasingly digital, notepads and pens are becoming a thing of the past. That said, technological advancements haven’t discounted the widespread appeal and use of putting pen to paper. A digital writing pad for laptops can cater to just this, each offering something unique in terms of functionality and design.
These devices give you all the benefits of handwriting, without the hassle of handling piles of physical paper. While they don’t replace the feel of a mechanical pencil, the added convenience makes up for it, especially with things like drawing tablets.
If you’re looking for a writing tablet that connects to computer or laptop, then you’re at the right place. This article reviews some of the top digital writing pad options for laptops that we tested. This means the products mentioned either sync with cloud services, connect to your laptop via Bluetooth, connect in real-time, or allow for digital capture via a smartphone.
TLDR
Best Digital Writing Pad with Memory
The ReMarkable is the best writing pad with internal storage. This digital paper tablet has all the features you’d want from a digital writing pad. This device offers handwriting recognition, cloud software, and storage, as well as having an authentic handwriting feel thanks to a combination of analog and digital components.
Best Budget E-writer and Writing Pad for Laptop
The Rocketbook Fusion Smart Notepad is the best pad for writing on a laptop if you’re on a budget. This digital writing pad has most note-taking functions you’ll need, as well as advanced features from the accompanying stylus, making feel like a traditional write pad but digital.
Best Digital Notebook and Smart Notebooks
The Moleskin Pen & Smart Writing Set has a great combination of analog and digital elements. This amazing device saves your notes in real-time, so no need to worry about syncing your notes manually. There are a few more contenders when it comes to finding the best digital notepad for laptop.
Best Electronic Writing pad for Laptop Reviews
From LCD tablets, and computer writing pads to graphic drawing tablets and basic e-writers, here are the reviews for the best pad to write on a computer with.
Product | Best For | Image | Price | Check Price |
---|---|---|---|---|
reMarkable Digital Paper Tablet | All-round | |
$$ | Click to Buy |
Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 | All-round | |
$$$ | Click to Buy |
Moleskin Pen and Smart Writing Set | Notes | |
$$ | Click to Buy |
Rocketbook Fusion Smartpad | Notes | |
$ | Click to Buy |
Wacom Bamboo Slate Smartpad | Drawing | |
$$ | Click to Buy |
Apple iPad Pro | All-Round | |
$$$ | Click to Buy |
UGEE S640W Wireless Digital Writing Pad | Notes | |
$ | Click to Buy |
Galaxy Tab S7 Writing Tablet for Laptop Review — Best Writing Pad for Laptop
- Storage 128GB
- WIFI
- Durability
- Strictly Android
- LCD Display with glare
- Pressure Sensitivity: 4096 DPI
- Included Stylus: Yes
- Workable Area: 11 Inches
- Battery Life: 15 Hours
- Operating System: Android 10
Of the Samsung tablets that come with a stylus we have tested over time, the Galaxy Tab S7 is the most affordable. We feel that the S Pen is ideal for taking notes, annotating documents, and even free-hand drawing.
This nifty device isn’t just lightweight and sleek, we like how it’s also got built-in handwriting recognition to convert your notes to text if needed. We found this is super helpful if you are like us and like handwriting notes, but you need to be able to share them as well.
We think with its WiFi capability and cloud support, the Galaxy Tab makes sharing and storing notes seamless and simple, something we appreciate in a digital writing pad. The S Pen is not as responsive as other styluses as we found out, but it certainly fulfills its promises.
One drawback of taking notes on this digital writing tablet for a PC is the LCD display. Some users during our testing took issue with the glare and reflection and therefore preferred analog drawing and writing pads for this reason. There are other tablet reviews to find the best tablet that suits your needs if you want something more than just a digital writing pad.
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UGEE S640W Wireless Digital Writing Pad Review — Best Digital Notepad for Windows
- Compact
- Compatible with most software
- Tilt response battery-free stylus
- Bluetooth writing pad for laptop
- Multiple colors
- No LCD screen
- Handwriting recognition not native to the device
- Pressure Sensitivity: 8192 Levels
- Included Stylus: Yes
- Workable Area: 100%
- Battery Life: 1 Day
- Operating System: Mac, Windows, Linux, Android
The UGEE S640W is a great wireless writing pad that we loved with its simple and elegant design, multiple colors, and easy integration. This is a rival to the Wacom Intuos but has a much better writing area than that pen tablet or one of their writing pad for computers.
We found it easy to set up and connect, it worked straight away and even when we switched it from one OS to another, there were no issues. From the start, this is one of the best electronic notebooks with pen available. We loved the feel of the pen, something that can make or break a pen tablet in our opinion.
Sure there is no handwriting recognition like we tested on another pen tablet which meant you can convert your handwritten notes to text. But, we still like the simplicity of this design, and even means you get a drawing tablet on top of just a standard writing pad for your computer or laptop.
Overall, we don’t really have any downsides to this pad for a laptop that we noticed while we tested it out. The quality is top-notch and the details also add that little bit of appreciation for us. This is a pad that we could use for quite some time and not search for another in our opinion.
Check Price on UGEE Check Price on AmazonApple iPad Pro 11’ inch Digital Handwriting Pad Review — Best LCD Writing Tablet
- Mini-computer
- Precise Apple Pencil
- Internal Storage
- Pricey
- Apple Pencil comes separately
- Limited to Apple in some cases
- Pressure Sensitivity: No Provided
- Included Stylus: No
- Workable Area: 11 inches
- Battery Life: 10 Hours
- Operating System: iPad OS
We think the Apple iPad Pro is an incredible digital writing pad that has so many features that it almost makes up for the high price tag. The Apple Pencil is unparalleled in terms of performance and sensitivity we found. Plus, we loved how there are so many applications that can be used to enhance your experience.
The choice of storage is something we liked but the fact that we couldn’t expand the memory further was disappointing. We feel that the additional monthly charge of any extra iCloud storage could be unfair for some, especially considering you want to write notes on this digital writing pad.
Something we didn’t like too much is that the Apple Pencil is sold separately but is lightweight and works incredibly well, but only with the iPad Pro. Unlike the Samsung which includes the S Pen with their S7. This device does have an LCD screen which did make us battle with the glare at times, but there are some tablet covers available that can help this. Overall the iPad Pro is a quality product that lives up to the exceptionally high standards that Apple is renowned for.
A feature that we loved about the iPad Pro is that you can use the new Magic Keyboard and effectively transform this digital writing pad into a small laptop. So you can have a computer screen of sorts while typing away, saving you from having to carry a writing pad and laptop at the same time.
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Moleskin Pen & Smart Writing Set Review
- The companion app saves notes automatically
- Affordable
- Good combination of analog and digital components
- Works with iCloud, Google Drive, Windows10, and Adobe Suite
- We can’t think of any!
- Pressure Sensitivity: N/A
- Included Stylus: Yes
- Workable Area: 8 x 11 Inches
- Battery Life: 1 Battery required – not included
- Operating System: Any mobile platform
The best feature of the Moleskin writing set we think is the seamless page-to-screen transfer. Rather than capturing notes with our phones or uploading them manually, we could write freely knowing everything is being stored digitally. This is something different about this pen tablet and really set this digital writing pad apart from the rest.
We think that the Moleskin is definitely the most efficient digital writing pad for this reason. Sure, it doesn’t have storage, something that did bother us a little, but the companion app negates the need for that altogether. Something that we didn’t like either is that once the book is full, you will need to get a new book, there is no way to re-use any of the pages once you write on them.
We loved that this versatile and unique writing tool can also record audio, which you can sync with your notes. If you are busy with any online learning, this feature will be greatly appreciated for any notes you are taking. A feature that we also loved was the ability to understand over 15 languages, which we tried from English to German and more and it worked amazing for us.
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Rocketbook Fusion Smart Notebook Review
- Paper to pen feel
- Reusable templates
- Sync with Google Drive, Slack, Evernote, and iCloud
- Great for organizational purposes
- No device storage
- Only save function is with a smartphone
- Must allow 15s for the ink to dry
- Pressure Sensitivity: N/A
- Included Stylus: Standard pen can be used
- Workable Area: Entire page
- Battery Life: No battery
- Operating System: N/A
This is one of the most unique writing pads out there that we tested because it combines digital and analogue functionality. If you enjoy taking physical notes like us, but also need to be able to save them digitally, then this is the perfect notebook for you.
We loved how the Rocketbook Frixion pens use actual ink, which can be wiped away with a microfibre cloth. While we think this isn’t entirely necessary, it certainly appeals to people who have never used an e-writer before. We found it simple to scan our documents to save them to the cloud, wipe the ink, and start fresh.
There are 42 template pages we played around with, including a blank one you can sketch freely in, which can appear quite limiting at first. However, we think the set templates actually give this digital writing pad a competitive edge. It looks and feels like a physical, weekly diary or writing pad that you can grab from any store.
The one catch with this notebook how discovered is how you save your documents and notes. What we didn’t like is that we needed to scan our notes from a smartphone in order to save them. This can become quite tiresome we think, especially if you are like us and fill your templates up quickly.
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Wacom Bamboo Slate Smartpad Electronic Notebook with Pen Review
- Affordable
- Sleek design
- Pen and paper feel
- Great laptop writing pad
- Handwriting recognition only available for subscribers
- Limited app support
- No storage
- Pressure Sensitivity: N/A
- Included Stylus: Yes
- Workable Area: 10 x 13 Inches
- Battery Life: Wired
- Operating System: Windows, Android, iOS
The Bamboo Slate Smartpad allows you to write naturally. It even allows you to flip over to the next page, mimicking the real notebook experience, something that we love. You can also easily convert handwriting to text (but only with a subscription), an additional feature that other writing tablets for PC do not require.
If you like to capture your notes with your smartphone, then we think you will like this as you can easily transform them into digital files. These files can be shared and edited in JPG, PDF, PNG, and SVG formats. You can also save notes using the device’s save button, which stores your docs in the cloud, a feature we appreciated and something we discovered a little too late after some trial and error.
This is a great pad to write on a computer with, and Wacom has been around for ages, especially with their Wacom Intuos, but for those looking for a more budget laptop writing pad, this is the one to use. This is a notepad that connects to laptops with ease and is a great addition to anyone looking to move into the digital age and not worry about losing their notebooks in a cupboard somewhere.
This external writing pad for laptop is also a favorite for those who are wanting a tablet for photoshop of sorts but also are on a strict budget.
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ReMarkable Paper Digital Writing Pad for PC Review
- Distraction-free
- Closest feel to pen and paper
- No backlight
- Only syncs to ReMarkable cloud services
- Pressure Sensitivity: 226 DPI
- Included Stylus: Yes
- Workable Area: 3 Inches
- Battery Life: A Week
- Operating System: Codex
ReMarkable is an established brand and we think that the digital paper tablet is a great option for pure note-taking. The price point is high but this pen tablet has the benefits of active handwriting-to-text conversion, as well as sharing capabilities as we discovered.
We liked how we could store notes on the device or share them via email so storage was not an issue for us on this writing pad. We discovered how the ReMarkable tablet also supports e-book and PDF formats, which makes for a versatile contender for digital writing pads in our minds.
For us, we think this is the perfect writing pad for someone who likes the feel of traditional writing but wants to come into the modern digital world. Believe it or not, we found that it really feels as if you are writing on paper. We didn’t like how you need to be connected to a network or WiFi to be able to transfer files as there is no Bluetooth connection.
We noticed that after extended hours of use, it can freeze, and then all your progress on your notes will be lost. So we recommend saving continuously to ensure your notes are always there. You will also need to have the app on your phone to transfer the files over.
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Digital Writing Pad Accessories
Digital writing pads come with a variety of stands, covers, and more. Read about the best digital writing pad accessories we found below.
Lamicall Adjustable Tablet Stand
This tablet stand is adjustable and can hold your drawing tablets, writing pads, and cellphone. It’s a great companion for using your tablet and laptop at the same time and supports a multi-angle view.
The stand is portable and can be folded up neatly into your laptop case or bag. It’s also durable with a rubber protector for your tablet or writing pad.
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ESR Pencil Holder
This adhesive pencil holder sticks to any tablet or e-writer case you’re using. It’s a great way to store your stylus if your device doesn’t come with a magnetic grip for it. The lycra-leather material is sleek and stylish, as well as compatible with a number of different stylus sizes.
This holder was designed for the Apple pencil, but no need to worry, any stylus will fit. It’s all about the details.
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Kaitiaki Folio Cover
Taking the Rocketbook on the go is a great thing but just like any traditional notepad, we need to keep our pens and book organized. We loved this cover folder, it kept everything nice and neat, everything has a spot, and was where it needed to be.
It is a small investment but worth it in our minds with everything we need to be kept in a sleek and fashionable design.
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Why Trust Our Reviews
At Pixelsmith, we use and test a variety of products to provide you with all the necessary information to make an informed purchase decision.
In addition to being experts in the field, each member of Pixelsmith has a strong passion for technology, design, and gaming. As such, you can count on us to have tried nearly everything when it comes to digital assets, including the best digital writing pads.
It’s worth mentioning that Pixelsmith does receive payments in exchange for product reviews. We also do not have any deals with companies to provide positive reviews. We have gone out and purchased nearly all the products featured on our site, so you can expect the most unbiased reviews possible.
When looking for the best digital writing pads for laptops, we tested out many different options from leading brands. Each product was tested and reviewed based on our own criterea to help identify the very best picks on the market.
Have any questions about our review process or the products discussed? Be sure to contact us—we look forward to interacting with our fellow techies and creatives!
Digital Writing Pad Buyer’s Guide
Naturally, your preferences and priorities will guide your ultimate decision on which digital writing tablet to buy. Below is a breakdown of key elements to look out for when weighing up your options.
Sync Capabilities
If your digital notebook doesn’t have internal storage, you must ensure that it syncs with the applications you need on a day-to-day basis. This is particularly important if you need to save and send documents online. You want to ensure you can upload your notes in the format you need.
Also, keep in mind the operating system the device uses and choose something in your comfort zone.
Advanced Features
In more concrete terms, ‘advanced’ means customizable or versatile. The more you can do with your tablet, the better value for money. Think about the kind of projects you’ll be working on and what tools you’ll need to bring it to fruition.
Some notable features to look out for are programmable hotkeys – these will save you time and you can modify them as needed. Also check for multi-touch displays, which will allow you to scroll and zoom.
Specs
Portability is a key consideration, so get a sense of the weight and dimensions of the writing tablet relative to your phone. If you can sneak it into your pocket, all the better. Look out for the surface area, though, as there are drawbacks in resolution and detail the smaller you go in size. Although these are not as important as gaming tablets, some good specifications are a must.
Stylus
Even the best writing pad won’t impress without a decent stylus. The whole point of using a digital pad is to retain the natural feel of handwriting. Of course, this boils down to the grip, weight, and size of the stylus (or pen) your tablet comes with.
Pens vary from rubber to metal, with either nibs or actual ink depending on the product. If you like having something tangible to work with, a smart notebook may be more suited to you than a fully digital tablet.
You’ll also need to ensure that either your stylus or your digital memo pad has an app for handwriting recognition. Converting handwriting to text is often needed when sharing notes and documents.
Summary of the Best Electronic Writing Pad
Whether you’re in the market for a digital writing pad for work or for personal use, it’s important that you take stock of your priorities. Consider your needs and how you plan to use the device.
Make sure you understand our buyer’s guide to get a sense of what components to look out for. This way, you’ll be able to compare the best digital writing pads and tablets for photo editing and make an informed decision you won’t regret.
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