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!
That's only 800x480 though. The BOOX ultra has a screen resolution of like 1900x2400 IIRC.
plus it has other nice features like it's already made and it's much thinner than your rpi version, and runs a custom android ROM so you can just install android apps.
Op wanted something cheap, not the best option. You also dont need HD quality for a portable e-ink writer.
It is thinner but the raspi pi isnt exactly thick, and your android apps aren't an advantage over a linux OS which you have full control over.
It's also funner to build your own.