Your Distraction-Free Writing Device
Your Distraction-Free Writing Device
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There are a bunch of distraction-free writing devices, from the BYOK to the Freewrite. They range for $100 - $500.
List here: https://kadavy.net/distraction-free-writing-devices/
To me, YAGNI.
Let me suggest two cheaper alternatives (battletested by me):
1. Fountain pen and a nice notebook with nice paper (Mnemosyne, or Rhodia)
2. A foldable Bluetooth butterfly keyboard ($43 on Amazon) paired to an old tablet (I have an old iPad Air 2) with Wifi turned off and no apps except a writing app. Google Docs works in offline mode! (this is what I use in cafes when I’m traveling). I recommend a Samsers keyboard. This is what I have:
I love good typography and I just can’t with these distraction free devices. The iPad Air 2 has a retina screen that displays beautiful typography.
Forget e-ink devices — they might sound like a good idea at first, but their refresh rate is slow enough to be annoying.
If you don’t need portability, an old DOS PC running Wordstar or WordPerfect is also distraction free. I used to write long articles for my school newsletter using nothing but Wordstar.
100% agreed. Save your money. That's also my opinion after spending several thousand on a couple of these devices over the years, only to find that they don't solve my problems.
E-ink is slow and is hard to read because of the low contrast. And contrary to all the marketing it actually increased eyestrain for me because it's so dark.
Not to mention the software on all the tablets I had was severely lacking, slow and buggy, and the subscriptions tacked on top felt outright offensive to me.
1. I'd go one further and say the nice paper notebooks and pens haven't worked for me either. Instead I just use a free A5 paper notepad and pen I have laying around.
2. Agreed with iPad + keyboard as an actual alternative. The retina 120Hz screens of the Pro models really help. Reading PDFs is a joy, even when compared to a large A4 e-ink device I had. It's just so much faster on the iPad.
Although I use it with Wifi on, I don't have many apps installed on it and basically all notifications disabled. I'm in the iOS ecosystem so everything just syncs, which means less work and mental overhead organizing my notes and reminders.
I'd recommend the iPad Pro Magic Keyboard though, it's expensive but snaps in place and feels great.
By john_the_writer 2025-06-2410:02 I find a clipboard is nicer than a notebook. Pen and a folded A5 works nice. I learned Gregg (or partly learned it). I do use my iphone and bluetooth headset to isolate. Phone stays in the pocket.
By ciupicri 2025-06-2511:31 > an old DOS PC running Wordstar or WordPerfect
Like George R. R. Martin? (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7744952)
1. Fountain pen and a nice notebook with nice paper (Mnemosyne, or Rhodia)
Spending money is overrated. The pen at the back of your junk drawer from a hotel you don’t remember staying at will do just fine. There’s a notebook in there too that’s as good as new if you just rip out the first page.
By teo_zero 2025-06-247:01 > The pen at the back of your junk drawer from a hotel you don’t remember staying at will do just fine.
Vehemently disagree! Few things hurt on my nerves more than a pen that leaves ink spots behind, or works intermittently, or needs excessive pressure on the paper...
By john_the_writer 2025-06-2410:33 Agreed, but sometimes a nice pen, and a paper makes the task more fun.
By tomjen3 2025-06-249:42 You can get any old thinkpad, remove the WiFi module and then you have the full choice of any writing app you want to use.
By Workaccount2 2025-06-242:101 reply The question is how gimped the device is going to be if you don't want to lease their software monthly?
There is a special place in hell for people who make hardware that runs static software, but still withhold ownership just so they can indefinitely bilk money from you.
By ddejohn 2025-06-243:23 > so they can indefinitely bilk money from you
Or just stop supporting altogether, a la Spotify Car Thing.
By joeblubaugh 2025-06-241:362 reply If you’re charging $200 you should really be able to see more than 15 lines of text at a time.
I know the idea is to be distraction-free but it’s hard to justify over a basic writing app on the phone you already own, which includes a nicer screen.
Where do you see 15 lines?
In the video they show the 3 text size modes. The smallest text size only shows 8 lines, even though the text on the screen claims it goes to 11: https://youtu.be/5hV8xfhdk7c?t=208 (3:28) I can't imagine 15 lines of text on a low resolution screen like that.
I like the concept of the device, but I must not be the target audience at all. I can't imagine spending time writing on a low-resolution, tiny LCD display like that for any extended period of time.
Even the response time of the LCD looks painfully slow in the video. The letters slowly fade into view as they're being typed. They only show the typing for a couple seconds so if you blink you'll miss it in the demo video. This is in contrast to the campaign's claims of zero latency and high responsiveness
Apparently there's a market for it, though, because they have a lot of Kickstarter backers.
By joeblubaugh 2025-06-244:11 I was being generous by guessing based on the small font, and what I think would be the bare minimum for myself.
By PStamatiou 2025-06-242:12 Yea for me having lots of vertical real estate is important while writing. iPad Mini (or Daylight Computer if you care about working outdoors) in portrait orientation combined with any number of writing apps seems like a great solution.
