Why this reusable smart notebook is the perfect tech gadget for students (2024)

The Rocketbook Pro looks like any other notebook but it packs a beautiful secret: It's completely reusable, and the Rocketbook app makes it easy to transfer your notes from the pages to your phone.

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The notebook comes with a Pilot FriXion erasable pen, a microfiber cloth to wipe the pages clean, a 40-page lined and dotted grid page pack, and a scratch-resistant cover.

Smart notebooks are one way to reduce your environmental impact, especially if you're one to buy a planner each year or a fan of journaling. Beyond their eco-friendliness, is the plain fact that a lot of people still prefer to handwrite their notes, journal entries, lists, and planning rather than use a digital alternative.

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Personally, I have an easier time remembering things when I've handwritten them, which has been proven to be true for othersin medical studies.

The greatness of the Rocketbook Pro is in the two-pronged approach to a smart notebook; you get both the benefits of old-fashioned handwriting and the ability to digitally store and save your pages.

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How does that last part work? The notebook cover on the Rocketbook Pro features an embedded NFC chip that, when held up to an NFC-enabled smartphone running iOS or Android, leads to the Rocketbook app. This will then let you scan your pages and save them as a shareable PDF, individually or as a bundle. It can be preset to automatically send the scans to different destinations, like OneDrive, Evernote, Slack, email, iCloud, Google Drive, box, OneNote, and more; all with different codes that are at the bottom of each page.

After you're done with your notes and satisfied with how they got scanned into the app, you can wipe down your Rocketbook Pro page clean with a damp microfiber cloth.

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Rocketbook has also taken a step towards a more professional look with the Pro smart notebook, by doing away with the spiral binding and flexible cover in favor of a hard, scratch-resistant portfolio-style cover made of vegan leather.

The hardcover on this newer option is one thing that many users of previous Rocketbook versions had requested. The Pro version can also lay completely flat when open for easier writing and bends in 360 degrees to take quick notes on the go.

As a fan of bullet journaling and organization in general, I love how customizable a blank or dotted notebook is. My bullet journal serves as an all-in-one for planning, writing down work tasks and meetings, lists, to-dos, budgeting, and random annotations.

The Rocketbook Pro has a variety of page packs from planners to blank pages for sketching, so the ability to customize my planner is there. Pilot also offers different types of the erasable Frixion pen, like clicker colored pens, markers, pastels, and more options to make my journaling heart flutter.

I like keeping my old journals as snapshots of my life at that stage, but scanning and saving my pages serves the same purpose and the fact that I can just wipe down the pages to start over is so convenient.

Bottom line

Having used it for a number of weeks, I can't say for sure that I'll never go back to my pen and paper notebook, especially my beloved bullet journal. But I can definitely say I won't for a good while. I love the fact that the Rocketbook Pro is versatile so I can create my own layouts on the dot grid, and I can wipe off any errors I make -- something I can't do on my paper bullet journal. For now, I find myself reaching for my Rocketbook exclusively whenever I have to take down a quick note or try to organize my thoughts, so it's been a win in my book.

The Rocketbook Pro is available in letter size, 8.5 inches by 11 inches, which retails for $60; and a 7 inches by 9 inches executive size, priced at $55.

For more back-to-school recommendations, check out ZDNET'sultimate tech deals list.