Ask HN: What device do you use to read academic papers with? - jingwen
======
StreakyCobra
The device? My laptop.

The setup on my laptop:

\- Zotero ([https://www.zotero.org/](https://www.zotero.org/)) A software that
allows you to easily keep references to academic papers right from your
browser. Available as standalone app with multiple browser extension, or
directly integrated into firefox. When you are on a paper's webpage, clicking
on the button extracts its information, its PDF (if available) and do a
capture of the webpage and store everything structured. You can then copy
citation directly from zotero, generate a bibtex file, or use libreoffice
extension. It also allow to sync between computer up to 300M, and extending
the storage is quite cheap.

\- Zotfile
([https://github.com/jlegewie/zotfile](https://github.com/jlegewie/zotfile))
An Zotero extension that monitor the download folder to let you attach
downloaded PDF to existing entries. It also rename PDFs with the pattern you
want. And the killer feature: It is able to extract what you electronically
annotated on the PDF (Highlights, comments)!!

\- Okular ([https://okular.kde.org/](https://okular.kde.org/)) For reading and
annotating PDF. Straightforward use, nice annotations tools (F6 to open,
double click items to make them permanent). Ctrl-S to save the annotation to
file (otherwise stored somewhere in the user home file).

All these are open source software and are available on Linux!

~~~
ropeladder
If you want to sync larger Zotero libraries for free between computers you can
use SyncThing to sync the libraries and then let Zotero sync up the database.
SyncThing isn't cloud based, so your machines have to be on at the same time,
but otherwise it works great.

I posted instructions on the Zotero forums a while back:
[https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/50191/syncing-zotero-
wi...](https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/50191/syncing-zotero-with-
syncthing)

~~~
StreakyCobra
Yes, I know this is possible, and as I mentioned in a response to a comment
below:

«I thought about doing so with owncloud, then I decided that paying when I
reach the syncing limit would be a nice way to encourage the project.»

------
teekert
A printer.

What I need is an e-ink device that lets me take notes on it and is large and
fast and shows the images in color. Zooming would make it superior to paper.
It's just not there yet. I tried to read articles in NCBI's ebook format on my
kindle but you can't hop back and forward easily on a Kindle and note taking
is of course not an option.

~~~
f_allwein
Have you tried a tablet? I'm really happy with my iPad for academic paper
reading. Yes, eInk is very nice, but today's tablets are good enough for
reading as well. Plus, it's a different kind of reading compared to, say, a
novel. I tend to read academic papers quite quickly to glean the main bits of
information. For leisurely reading, paper or Kindle would be better.

~~~
f_allwein
just realized there's also
[https://getremarkable.com](https://getremarkable.com) , which looks
promising. Has anybody tried it?

~~~
dx034
They must spend fortunes on Facebook ads, don't think I've seen any advertiser
that often.

Sounds interesting, but for $420 I doubt it would pay off compared to printing
(black&white anyway).

~~~
victorhooi
I pre-ordered one earlier - for me it's not just about costs, but also about
replacing all my notebooks and pieces of paper everywhere.

If the stylus is as real-time as they claim (input latency of 55 ms) - it's
basically my holy grail device - e-ink that is just like real paper.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34I27KPZM6g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34I27KPZM6g)

Device is shown with drawing on it at 0:41.

------
kijin
A dumb old laser printer that doesn't know I've been feeding it cheap
aftermarket toner for more than 10 years.

It's not a waste of paper if paper is the most efficient way to get my work
done. Paper has a large viewport and unlimited battery life, while only
weighing a fraction of most electronic alternatives.

The only thing that a computer does better is searching, but this problem can
be easily solved by having a PDF open on some other device as well. You don't
have to choose one or the other.

------
rleigh
Print out onto paper, then I can read it anywhere, annotate it and file it
away if I will need it for future work. I vastly prefer it to reading on a
screen.

------
crieff
Had a library of about 800 articles that I read on a laptop with a large
format external monitor.

Related question: doing the above had some pain points so I wrote an app to
give me the ability to give files and directories human readable names. Read,
annotate, and bookmark the pdf within the app. Then be able to search across
the whole library on annotations and keywords which would open the pdf to the
page and paragraph the annotation referenced. The big thing it does is answer
the question: I have read something that I need right now, but where in this
huge pile of paper (or directory) is it?

I have gotten the app to the MVP stage, is there any other functionality that
would be useful, and would anyone else find this useful?

~~~
cr0sh
I would find such a thing useful, if it worked on Linux. I don't even know how
many academic papers (and datasheets, and other PDFs) I have - but it's a ton,
and increasing all the time.

Ideally, it would be nice if the app could do a search across a drive (or NAS,
or whatever) for PDFs, pull out a summary and title, and then use that for
naming/search/etc. Maybe your app already does this?

To be honest - what I wish I had was a personal Google Search appliance
spidering all of my data on my NAS, which was also linked to normal Google,
with priority of search results given to local information.

Maybe something like that already exists - I've found open-source solutions
that come close, but all for the search/spidering typically required a machine
waaaay better than my desktop...

~~~
crieff
There are some applications that will do a full text search of pdfs across
directories, but seem geared towards server rather than desktop, with
commensurate levels of cost and complexity. Conceptually you could use image
magik and lucene to make a Linux solution, but without any added features such
as summary or title.

I am experimenting with a lightweight solution, but am working out which
compromises are reasonable to take so that it is worthwhile but not
overwhelming of the machine it runs on. Still have to give it a real test with
a large number of files as well.

~~~
cr0sh
After I posted, I did some searching, and it appears like something could be
made using SOLR or Elasticsearch. Both seem to have methods/plugins for
filesystem indexing and document importing/analysis, as well as easy
interfaces to allow for any language to be used for development. Combining all
of that, plus some dev work and such a search appliance looks doable for a
home system, using only a single node.

For the hardware, I figure I could potentially use some old stuff I have
(thinking like a Core2 Quad with 16gb RAM and a large hard drive would be
fine). I could probably stuff it into an old half-depth 1u server case. The
problem now is finding the time to build it...

~~~
crieff
Thanks, I had missed SOLR and TIKA even though I had investigated Lucene.

One criterion I had for a lightweight solution was to not require Java. No
problem with Java, just that it is a big dependency and my perception is that
it is not a common install on the laptop or desktop of people reading pdfs, at
least out side of the STEM stream.

------
ridgeguy
Device is a MacBook Pro running Papers [1] to organize and read references.
Works well with over 18,000 references and their pdfs in my database.

[1] [http://papersapp.com/mac/](http://papersapp.com/mac/)

~~~
100ideas
Me too, but god the UI is buggy! Shamefully so for the price.

~~~
ridgeguy
I agree. Version 2 was the absolute worst, v.3 is better, but still needs
work.

------
ChuckMcM
These days I read them in Drawboard PDF on a Surface Pro 4. Easy to write
notes on. I keep them in Evernote in notebooks by topic. I'd really prefer a
better indexing scheme but that is what I have. As a small product idea I
expect that a way to both manage a library of papers and let me write notes on
them and let me cite them easily when writing a paper, would be a handy thing
to have.

------
rgejman
I find it much more difficult to read long sections of academic text on a
computer or tablet than on paper. When I need to read a paper thoroughly, I
print it out.

For storage I use Papers ([http://papersapp.com/](http://papersapp.com/)).
Highly recommended if a little pricey.

~~~
EdwardCoffin
I've been using Papers on the Mac and on iOS since they came out, I second the
recommendation. I, too, will print out a paper if I really want to go over it
thoroughly.

------
nwuensche
I really tried to use a 6'' kindle for that, but it just doesn't work. I tried
it with .pdf, but the screen is just to small and scrolling is not really
comfortable. When I tried to convert them to .mobi with calibre, all formulas
just looked nasty. Today, I read them on my 14'' ThinkPad with Redshift
installed. It does its job well, but it isn't as handy as a Kindle would be.

~~~
TheCowboy
What is Redshift? (Tried Googling it.)

~~~
JD557
[http://jonls.dk/redshift/](http://jonls.dk/redshift/)

(If you know f.lux, it's an open source version of that)

------
probably_wrong
Kindle DX, the discontinued one with the really big screen. It fits a whole
page nicely.

One day its battery is going to die, and I have no idea what I'll do then.

~~~
jofer
Yeah, I have one that I loved for reading papers. My only gripe was that it
gets heavy/awkward for "light" reading at night. I wound up switching to
reading fiction on my phone and papers on the DX.

It really is perfect for PDFs. I'm sad they never made an updated version.
I've stopped using mine as much after grad school, but I do miss it quite
often.

------
merraksh
Sorry for nitpicking: shouldn't the question be

 _What device do you use to read academic papers?_

or

 _What device do you read academic papers with?_

Non-native speaker here, so my nitpicking might actually be useless.

~~~
mdlap
In this case your correction is better, and would probably be more acceptable
to most educated English readers (especially in formal contexts). But the
original is still fine, in this informal context.

What you're nitpicking is a common and frequently-taught misconception. You
_can_ end a sentence with a preposition. Some elitists in the 17th century
tried to make English conform to the rules of Latin and those rules have stuck
around even though they weren't necessary in the first place, unlike in Latin
where a sentence doesn't make sense if you don't follow the rules.

This article gives a few examples of when it's more natural to end a sentence
with a preposition (and mentions the history):
[http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-
pre...](http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2011/11/grammar-myths-
prepositions/)

~~~
merraksh
Thanks for the link. I do know that prepositions are just fine at the end of a
sentence (and I often use them that way), in fact the second version I propose
has one. I think my nitpicking is at the presence of the preposition itself,
not its position. Replacing it with "With what device do you use to read
academic papers?" would be equally wrong.

------
wycx
Portrait orientation 24" Dell Ultrasharp monitor, with the page fit to screen.
I find viewing at >100% scale makes a difference.

Zotero + Zotfile + Dropbox keeps my papers synced across all devices. PDF
X-change is such a good PDF editor/viewer that I happily pay for it.

As as aside: Why do journals permit authors to submit plots and other line art
as raster images. Have they no shame?

------
mwest
To organise/track papers:

I’m currently using Mendeley[1]. Previously, I used Papers[2]. Unfortunately,
the latest version of Papers (3.x) is terrible compared to how slick the old
version (2.x) was. I’ve tried ReadCube[3], but somehow I find Mendeley easier
to work with. I used EndNote[4] before I discovered Papers, and wouldn’t
recommend it. I keep all my .pdf files in Dropbox.

Discussions/recommendations for papers:

In-person, well run, reading groups still seem to work best. Although I’ve
seen good discussions on /r/maths and /r/physics on Reddit. ResearchGate[5] is
useful for finding recent papers, while Mendeley is good for more historical
connections.

Reading papers:

I’ve tried a Kindle, but having to convert with Calibre adds too much friction
to the process, and the result still isn’t that easy to work with. Reading for
long periods of time on a laptop or desktop monitor is painful. An iPad with a
Retina display comes close, but old school paper printout still wins the day.
You can carry paper anywhere and scribble annotations on it with ease. I also
find being able to have multiple pages “in view” at the same time is sometimes
helpful for understanding. Not easily (cheaply) done with iPads or laptops.

[1] [https://www.mendeley.com/](https://www.mendeley.com/)

[2] [http://papersapp.com/](http://papersapp.com/)

[3] [https://www.readcube.com/](https://www.readcube.com/)

[4] [http://endnote.com/](http://endnote.com/)

[5] [https://www.researchgate.net/](https://www.researchgate.net/)

~~~
ericbrow
I'll second Mendeley. I've used several other options, but Mendeley has a
Chrome plug-in that will download the PDF as well as try to read author and
other bibliographical info. The desktop app helps in searching for key words
within all documents as well as individual documents.

~~~
Y_Y
Combining the mendeley plugin with the automatic .bib generator and LyX means
I can cite stuff pretty much as quickly as looking at the page.

------
izym
Mendeley. Not the nicest UX, but it syncs, has tags relevant for academic
papers and can export everything as a bibtex file.

~~~
rmm
I second Mendeley. Highlighting features, sharing. Awesome software

I only wish it had pen support (surface). If I could markup papers as I go
with my pen it would be the ultimate tool.

~~~
therobot24
try qiqqa

------
acveilleux
HP LaserJet 4200dtn and 20 lb white paper.

------
jedisct1
I use an iPad 1. The very first one.

Apps don't support its completely obsolete iOS version any more, but the
device itself works perfectly well.

I only use it to read academic papers, but it's still fine for that task.

------
ktaylor
I've just recently started to read academic papers and have fussed a bit with
the best workflow. My hardware that I owned when I started the process were a
Macbook Pro and Android Samsung Tab e 8.0. I've avoided purchasing any new
hardware so far but may end up going with an iPad Pro or iPad Air if I cannot
get satisfactory results with my Samsung Tab.

My software setup currently includes: \- Zotero -- reference management \-
Zotfile -- pulls annotations out of the PDF for saving in Evernote, among
other things \- Evernote -- The workhorse of my setup. I use this for both
organizing my research projects, task lists, etc and also for notetaking while
reading a PDF. This includes pulling annotations out of the PDF with Zotfile
and storing them in an Evernote note. \- Google Drive -- for storing my PDFs.
Each PDF has an Evernote note linked to it. This allows Evernote to full text
search all my PDFs that are stored in Google Drive with OCR, so it will even
detect any handwritten notes in a PDF. \- XODO -- I've tried many Android PDF
annotation tools and currently XODO has been the best as far as UX while
reading/annotating and also stability and integration with Evernote via Google
Drive. Ideally I would use the built in annotation tool in Evernote but it is
frustratingly slow on my Android device and the UX is suboptimal.

I've had a few issues with the Samsung Tab \- It is only 8" so it involves a
lot of zooming and panning while reading. \- It has a split screen mode so I
can have my notetaking app in one pane and my pdf annotator in the second
screen. This works well except that, again, there is limited screen space \-
I've struggled with finding an acceptable PDF annotation tool on Android.

------
chubot
I print them out on paper. I have a huge bookshelf full of them which is not
ideal...

I stare at a screen for way too long otherwise, so my eyes need a break.

------
Schiphol
Laptop when I'm at my desk, but otherwise I actually use my smartphone. It's a
biggish one, and in landscape orientation it's enough to fit the (printed area
of) the width of a pdf page in a decent font size.

The convenience of just taking the phone out of my pocket and start reading
more than compensates for not having a whole page in view.

------
robotiamsowhat
Notes & tracking: emacs + org-mode. Not ideal, but I can have it and it does
60% of the job out of the box.

Storing: filesystem (notes include where I stored it).

Reading: E-ink.

I started with Pocketbook 622 (a 6", 800x600 display). Worked very well. Can
open many formats _natively_ (doc, rtf, djvu etc, check specs for full list).
One of the first docs was anatomy atlas from 19century via archive. Rendered
only decently, required huge magnification/landscape mode/margin cutting to be
of any use. I had varying experience with other pdf/djvu documents - depending
how they were created. Some djvus rendered excellently on 6", despite being
meant for bigger (close to a4) page size. No problem with rtf/epub and other
such formats. Magazines in pdf (a4) very hard to read, not worth it really.
Arxiv's pdfs looked good/very good, sometimes they could be reflowed or put
into column view, which helped a lot but with reflow I learned math not always
shows up properly. Old computer manuals (my hobby, they are just scaned
typewritten books) - not good enough.

Next model was Inkpad 840 (a 8", 1600x1200 display). What looks good on Pb622,
looks good too on Ip840. Magazines look better, but they require a good light
for really comfortably reading. Otherwise, I can go with dim night light. This
model has backlight, but I don't like the idea of shining into my eyes.

Huge plus: sd card slot. I go on for months airgapped. Huge minus: maybe it is
just me, but reading html docs almost always sucks one way or another. What to
look for: external hard case so I don't have to be oh so wary. It was a PITA
trying to find case for Ip840 thanks to its nonstandard dimensions. I settled
down with some oversized tablet case. Ip840 feels a bit slow and awkward
(compared to Pb622) but I got used to it. If I had to buy again, I would have
had a closer look on Kobo models too. Kindle does not cut it for me - requires
too big commitment.

All of this just MHO, of course.

------
kiliantics
I tried using docear for a while but couldn't get into a good groove with it
so I'm still stuck in ad-hoc mode with a side of zotero. Has anyone found a
good workflow with docear and mind sharing? It seems like it could be pretty
powerful for projects with a lot of literature reading (like a PhD...)

------
victorhooi
I'm a big fan of e-ink devices for reading - I've gone through Nooks and
Kindles.

This upcoming one looks interesting - 10.3" E-Ink tablet, with a stylus - and
they claim they've got input latency down to 55 ms:

[https://getremarkable.com/](https://getremarkable.com/)
[https://blog.getremarkable.com/better-paper-better-
thinking-...](https://blog.getremarkable.com/better-paper-better-
thinking-432d8a283300#.kp7wkjftl)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34I27KPZM6g](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34I27KPZM6g)

The YouTube video above shows them drawing with the device at 0:40 - I asked,
and apparently that's the actual device in use.

------
billconan
this device looks nice:
[https://getremarkable.com/](https://getremarkable.com/)

~~~
dx034
But $400? Seems incredibly expensive for a device that is just able to display
text and take notes.

~~~
mrmondo
$400USD is with 40% off too! and it's really low ppi, not even up to my
personal minimum of 350ppi which really makes for decent, clear reading.

~~~
Tepix
PPI really depends on the viewing distance. You're usually very close to a
phone but much further away from a 27" monitor and further away still from a
65" TV.

I'd say for a large 13-inch ebook reader, a 167ppi grayscale display (for
anti-aliasing) is pretty good.

Until very recently all ebook readers were around 167ppi (most of them 6
inches diagonally) and most people were OK with it.

The high prices are due to the eInk panels, they must have a very low yield at
large sizes making them very expensive.

~~~
mrmondo
I agree on distance but there is a _massive_ difference between an 8" device
with 300+ PPI and one that's 224~ PPI, and if I'm getting a slightly larger
device I'm going to want it as sharp as possible, it's a bit like having a 27"
monitor - they look dreadful at 1080P, and I think they're only just good
enough at 2160p which is generally 163 PPI - now you can _really_ see the
difference between that and a 27" 5K display at 218 PPI which lots a lot
clearer.

------
Rainymood
Laptop, but in all honest I am still waiting eagerly for a good and fast
enough e-ink second monitor, reading on a Kindle is such an improvement over a
regular screen but the sluggishness is horrible ...

~~~
mdibaiee
I have a Kindle but I would never use it to read academic papers. Reading a
PDF on Kindle is a real pain as

1\. The screen size is too small for a readable, fit-to-screen experience

2\. Scrolling is too sluggish to even try, you don't want to scroll
horizontally and vertically on a PDF which is zoomed a few levels

Currently, laptop works much better I'd say.

~~~
Rainymood
There are some tools which can turn an academic pdf (i.e. double column,
images) into a nicely formatted epub/mobi file, look into it. It makes it
somewhat bearable.

~~~
ralfk
can you recommend one in particular?

~~~
parmegv
I used to use K2pdfopt,
[http://willus.com/k2pdfopt/](http://willus.com/k2pdfopt/)

~~~
ralfk
Thanks, that looks awesome!

------
terminalcommand
My laptop, I use SumatraPDF with bookview (Ctrl+8).

Seeing two pages side by side, like a book, even on small screens makes a huge
difference for me. Also the ability to switch between documents easily
(ctrl+tab and ctrl+shift+tab) is really handy, when I am researching a topic.

I haven't figured out the annotation and highlighting part yet. I just copy
and paste important parts into an Emacs org-mode document and summarize the
article I read.

It's also easier to remember, what I tought when I read the article at the
time, if I take extensive notes.

~~~
martinralbrecht
I have some code for extracting PDF annotations into markdown or org-mode:
[https://github.com/malb/emacs.d/blob/master/malb.org#pdf-
vie...](https://github.com/malb/emacs.d/blob/master/malb.org#pdf-viewer)

------
afandian
Let me piggy-back on this question: What platform do you use to discuss /
recommend / get recommendations of academic papers?

(I see Mendeley mentioned for example; there's some overlap here)

------
coverclock
I'm a little surprised at the number of people that are saying "paper" or
"printer". I agree. The technology to read complex technical topics online
just isn't there yet, remarkably. I do plenty of reading online as I'm working
on stuff, and I read recreationally (fiction and non-fiction) almost entirely
on a Kindle. But for some stuff, there's just no substitute yet for paper.
High contrast, portable, annotatable, and persistent.

~~~
milesrout
Yeah there's this weird attitude that's quite prevalent that there's something
wrong with printing things out on paper. There isn't. Paper that we buy in the
west to use for printing things out on is almost all sustainably farmed
timber, and consuming it promotes the creation of sustainably farmed young
growth wood, which absorbs CO2 very effectively.

------
neutralid
Macbook:

\- Bibdesk ([http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net](http://bibdesk.sourceforge.net)):
archiving papers (automatic rename / custom citekey generation), Google
Scholar bibtex extraction, and bibtex interface w/ TeXShop

\- Google Drive: storing archive ... it's not a great archive solution because
of google's special system of renaming files, however stuck with it because of
work

iPad:

\- Goodreader: fast PDF renderer

I wish there was a bibdesk app for the ipad linking to goodreader.

~~~
goerz
There's an app "PocketBib" that synchronizes Bibdesk to the iPad (through
Dropbox or Google Drive). It has a basic reader built in, but you can open
individual papers in Goodreader (or any other reading app). Of course, if you
have the papers in Dropbox/Google Drive anyway, you could also open them
directly in Goodreader. In that case, PocketBib is just an interface for the
database.

------
saurabhjha
I like to print them out. Reading from any type of screen hurts my eyes. Has
anyone got experience reading papers in Kindle. How does it feel like?

~~~
robotiamsowhat
They feel like paper to my eyes. Sometimes like a xerocopy. See above for a
bit longer reply:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13591030](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13591030)

I had some doubts myself before buying my first e-ink based device. It helped
a lot to watch movies on y-t where guys were test driving them.

Not all e-ink displays are of equal quality. The newer ones should be ok,
those claiming 16 levels of grey. However the definitive test should be made
by your very own eyes.

Edit: I don't have a Kindle.

------
santaclaus
An iPad for the initial pass. If it looks interesting and in depth, I'll print
a copy so I can mark it up and take tons of notes.

------
cube2222
I'm always using my Surface Pro 4 in tablet form, it's great for that. (And I
can also mark up using my pen)

------
gcb0
not a kindle.

their stupid idea to make it just small enough to not fit a page from a pdf,
and the completely broken scrolling killed it. even tried the larger one. same
problem.

they may have prevented the two people that would have read a pirated pdf of a
novel instead of buying it from amazon. but it cost them the entire academia
market.

~~~
csydas
It's hit or miss, but sometimes Calibre's conversions for native formats is
pretty good at getting the conversion+scaling right. My partner is a chemist
and she's had a lot of luck with various ACS publications rendering right
after a conversion

~~~
gcb0
most older papers are pdf images. I know it's a dumb format but the screen
scroling were not purposeful broken, it would have been fine.

------
Fannon
A Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5 (2015?) with Xodo PDF Reader. The screen is very
good and big enough to read and highlight/comment PDF's, even for todays
standards. Xodo also saves the annotations directly back to the original PDF.
Using Dropsync/Dropbox for syncing with the PC.

------
iopuy
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5ssv16/what_are_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5ssv16/what_are_some_websites_that_dont_usually_show_up/)

~~~
iopuy
[https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5tmxzh/what_webs...](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/5tmxzh/what_website_is_not_very_well_known_but_is/)

~~~
iopuy
[https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/5v4cq6/per...](https://www.reddit.com/r/personalfinance/comments/5v4cq6/personal_finance_loopholes_updated/)

------
fsloth
IPad Pro 9.7 but if I need to actually understand what I'm reading on a deep
level I print it.

------
sweetdreamerit
[Boox
M92]([https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Boox_M92](https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Boox_M92))
It is great to study academic papers or read any pdf document.

------
cicloid
Off topic: I expected to see more iPad instead of laptop as a response.

Would the reason be economical, information density (more real state on a
modern laptop/desktop) or something else?

~~~
hurbledr
Latency is the biggest issue with ipad for me. Laptops and desktops respond
almost instantly when you type or scroll, while ipads and other tablets have a
lot of latency built into the OS. I know an extra 20-60 milliseconds doesn't
seem like much, but it definitely adds up, and it really ruins the feel of
things.

When you read a physical book, you can flip through pages instantly and scan
the contents with zero wait time. A laptop is much closer to this ideal than a
tablet.

------
bane
Ubooquity to organize them, tablet to read.

[https://vaemendis.net/ubooquity/](https://vaemendis.net/ubooquity/)

------
plg
HP laserjet + red fineliner pen

Sometimes iPad Pro

More rarely, on a desktop or laptop

------
rahimnathwani
GoodReader on iPad

~~~
CapTVK
Agreed, an iPad with goodreader is the way to go (in particular its notetaking
and extensive file management options). I might even go for the 12.9" pro
model at some point but the standard 9.7" model is enough for most pdf's.

~~~
rahimnathwani
GoodReader's zoom in-out is so fast (at least on iPad Air 2), even on complex
PDFs, that it's easy enough to zoom in on the occasional thing that's too
small to read.

I've been thinking about upgrading to a 12.9" iPad Pro myself, but the
additional benefits (larger screen, Apple Pencil support, better colour
fidelity) aren't worth it for my use cases.

~~~
macintux
I tried switching from an iPad Air 2 to a 12.9" iPad Pro primarily because I
wanted something larger to read PDFs with, and quickly discovered it was too
large to be my iPad for everything else.

So, I'm waiting for a refresh and then I'll decide whether I can justify
having two iPads.

~~~
rahimnathwani
"too large to be my iPad for everything else"

Because it's too large to carry around all the time, or because it's not
comfortable to use when lying down, or something else?

~~~
macintux
You nailed it. Too large to casually take with me when I leave, too
large/awkward to comfortably use lying down.

I don't remember whether there were other problems because it took all of 15
minutes to realize I couldn't sell my smaller iPad to help pay for it and
still have an iPad to use most of the time.

------
brtknr
I use Mendeley on my desktop which has a big screen and allows me to take
notes side by side with a text editor.

------
chriswarbo
I find kbibtex quite nice, and emacs for editing the raw bibtex if I feel like
it.

mupdf is pretty lightweight for skimming.

------
EvgeniyZh
I'd really love to have A4 sized e-book, with colorful screen if possible.
Meanwhile, printer

------
theaustinseven
My desktop. Adobe Acrobat Reader DC is actually really nice for reading and
annotating pdfs.

------
porker
If you've tried the Kobo Aura One (7.8" screen) would love your feedback.

~~~
marten-de-vries
I've been using this e-reader to read papers last semester. In short, the
screen is still a bit small to read A4 sized papers without zooming, but it is
actually possible, while I didn't do so with the smaller Kobo's I had before
(Aura HD/H2O).

I much prefer the e-reader over a laptop (14" Thinkpad), but there are some
downsides. Taking notes on the e-reader is clunky (so I don't do that), and
the battery life is less than that of the earlier models (still workable,
though).

The color-adjustable backlight is quite nice. The only e-reader I've seen
that's better for this kind of thing is the Sony DPTS1, but then you are
talking about a completely different price class.

------
yanhangyhy
SONY DPT

~~~
jesuslop
A4 size, pdf scribbled annotations with stylus, synched with a 20GB Box.com
account

~~~
Tepix
It's more than 12% smaller than A4 size. (13.3 vs 14.32 diagonally)

~~~
jesuslop
thanks for the correction

------
mrcactu5
i read arXiv on my android smart-phone using Xodo PDF viewer , which lets me
highlight and underline in color.

Reams of paper saved and I can read anywhere... but I can't do scratch-work on
my cell phone!

------
dvfjsdhgfv
Kindle Voyage. A bit slow for some graphics-heavy papers though.

------
ftkr0
iPad. It's can use multiply purpose and it's already installed "iBooks" App.
So, It's useful.

------
f_allwein
iPad plus iAnnotate. Syncs with Dropbox and works brilliantly. GoodReader
would work as well apparently.

------
sriram_malhar
12" iPad Pro + Apple Pencil.

Really a game changer.

------
kyrre
X1 Yoga + Mendeley or paper printout

------
apas
Print.

------
therobot24
qiqqa - has bibtex support and decent ocr

------
general_ai
If I'm working with a paper (i.e. running experiments, writing code) then my
workstation. If I'm just reading a paper, then iPad Pro.

------
ouid
I usually read with my brain.

~~~
ComputerGuru
You're new to HN, but as you'll find out, we don't really recommend posting
jokes or wisecracks in the comments in an endeavor to keep the signal-to-noise
ratio a little higher.

~~~
ouid
it was definitely glib, but I was trying to make the point that there's only
one device that matters for such things.

