If you are reading on a proper* e-reader, eyestrain shouldn't be an issue.

*ie classic Kindle with e-ink or similar, not a tablet like iPad/Android equivalent or the annoyingly named Amazon "Kindle" Fire etc.

Not great for tech manuals, admittedly

Actually if you're willing to pay for it, you can buy 10+" eink screens with wacom digitizers on top (drawing pen support). They're quite good for tech papers and manuals because they're a similar size to real paper, no eye strain, you can draw notes directly on them, and ofc you can cram tons of papers/textbooks/manuals into something that weighs next to nothing.

Edit: if you're curious, look into the likebook mimas as a starting point. There are other options, that just happens to be the one I've used.

Thanks - I have the Kindle DX, but it's slowness and general lack of flexibility is a significant negative that doesn't really balance out its superior page experience compared to a tablet. This is much more of a thing with tech manuals where reading is far less sequential than fiction or articles.

I'm aware of the new breed of large readers but haven't been able to try any, and I'm concerned they won't be powerful or sturdy enough compared to the fragile, sloooow DX to justify the outlay. I don't have much use for notes.

I realise the DX is a dinosaur though compared to the new ones you are talking about, and would love to be pleasantly surprised by a quantum leap...

> I have the Kindle DX, but it's slowness and general lack of flexibility is a significant negative that doesn't really balance out its superior page experience compared to a tablet.

...I find it a bit amusing that its model forms an emoticon that fits your general sense of the device.

As a student that looks like exactly what I'm looking for, but I'm never going to shell out $400 for one when I can get an early-gen Kindle for free. Really hoping we will see prices decrease for higher-end e-ink displays.

Hi, a bit late now, but where can I get early-gen Kindles for free? I very much love the ones with hardware buttons (the cursor square, not necessarily the first gen with the keyboard) and without this annoying touchscreen, and I often find them offered for more expensive than they were new!

> Really hoping we will see prices decrease for higher-end e-ink displays.

Unlikely to happen: similar to silicon, eink's yield (that is, amount of parts produced with no errors) goes down quickly (quadratic if not cubic, I forgot) with increasing size.

A system based on lots of eink chiplets with small enough margins that you can tile them could scale up, but the margins are also a difficult area.

I don't think the eink part of it has issues with yields since it's essentially just conductive ink and a suspension of particles, but the fancy transparent transistors they sometimes use certainly do. The real issue with eink is the economies of scale will probably never kick in. Most people would rather have a color screen, or a screen that exceeds 10fps, or something that doesn't have artifacts like an etch a sketch, etc. There's only 1 oem for the entire eink panel market (over 6") last I checked.

The Kindle dx worked pretty well for tech books and manuals. It's been sad to see no replacement for that sized device.

Thanks - I've since related my experiences with the DX elsewhere in this thread, and as another poster has pointed out there is a new breed of large e-readers; I haven't used any of them though, I share your regret at the relative lack of progress, at least until recently.

If it hurts your eyes, you're likely not using an e-ink display. It's a reflective surface, just as paper is. It shouldn't hurt your eyes any more than paper will.

Distractions? Not in any of my e-readers.

Digital annotations suck, I'll grant that. But then again, I like my physical books and would never put markings on them, so for me this isn't a disadvantage.

Browsing is much better for physical books, but heavy hard bound books are much a pain to hold while reading.

Pros and cons to both.

When you get old, there may be a time when the ability to dial up the font size on any book is more important than all the things you list.

The accessibility benefits of a good ereader (ie not a phone or tablet) are important for a lot of people.

You might like a Kobo E-reader. Zero distractions and sneaky "special offers" options, and it has a traditional e-ink display.