Kobo makes the best linux-based readers, but they're somewhat more expensive (I have a Libra 2 and a Sage, my only complaint is lack of a good web browser). Onyx Boox has some nice android readers (I have a Poke 3 that I took everywhere until dropping it one too many times killed the screen), and they are generally slightly cheaper in comparable hw classes to Kobo.
Consider getting an Ipad mini with liquid retina display. This is the best device display out there with the highest resolution. It is not an ereader, but it provides the same or better resolution and you can write with it.
There's two types of color e-ink displays on the market.
ACEP displays use different sized CMYK pigments in the display, which can be selectively exposed or hidden. They provide a similar resolution as well as brightness and contrast to monochrome e-ink displays, with high color saturation, but a slower refresh rate, and poor color accuracy, especially on primary colors of light (RGB).
CFA displays use a standard monochrome e-ink, overlaid with an RGBW color filter. They have the same speed as the underlying monochrome e-ink displays and high color accuracy, but the saturation is low, and the image is blurier, darker, and lower contrast than monochrome or ACEP panels.
If you must have vibrant colors, at any price, don't need particularly responsive scrolling animations, and want to be able to use the e-reader indoors with the frontlight off, get an ACEP display.
If you want the most accurate colors, don't mind low saturation and contrast, and will be using the e-reader outdoors or with the frontlight on when indoors, get a CFA display.
If you want an e-ink display that is really fast or one that is easy to obtain and visible indoors without a frontlight, your only option as a monochrome display.
I've used all three technologies, and I selected a monochrome display for my daily driver, a HiBreak Dual cellphone. If there were an ACEP version available, I would have bought it, but it's almost never an option, and the darker and blurrier CFA display wasn't worth the small amount of color it provided.
I'm very happy with Onyx Boox, always getting a new one when visiting family for CNY. It's a pretty much stock Android, you have adb, a choice of readers, can do whatever Syncthing/Dropbox you like, read DRM PDFs, watch Youtube, read HN.
Don't get color unless you read a lot of comics, color film compromises B&W contrast a lot.
I have a Kobo which has worked well enough for me. I have ebooks in Calibre, which I use to sync them over to the Kobo.
I think I have the Clara.
There are a couple ways the Kobo will render an ebook. If not in a Kobo format, it is pretty ugly, so converting them is worth it. I read thousands of pages before realizing this.
I don't know the exact model, and I bought it 5-10+ years ago, so I don't know the current models are, but I've been really happy with my Kobo. It's as easy as drag-and-dropping files. But I do use Calibre to manage them.
I use Remarkable 2. It's not exactly an e-reader, but more of a notebook and sketchbook with a paper-like surface. It is, however, quite expensive. It's definitely too much money just for reading.
Kobo is the only answer here. Get any of the older non-color versions. Very hacker friendly. The stock OS is serviceable, it's not ad riddled or enshittified like Kindle or any of the other popular alternatives. If the stock OS does not work for you, you can install KOreader and you will be set.
Kobo makes the best linux-based readers, but they're somewhat more expensive (I have a Libra 2 and a Sage, my only complaint is lack of a good web browser). Onyx Boox has some nice android readers (I have a Poke 3 that I took everywhere until dropping it one too many times killed the screen), and they are generally slightly cheaper in comparable hw classes to Kobo.
Consider getting an Ipad mini with liquid retina display. This is the best device display out there with the highest resolution. It is not an ereader, but it provides the same or better resolution and you can write with it.
There's two types of color e-ink displays on the market.
ACEP displays use different sized CMYK pigments in the display, which can be selectively exposed or hidden. They provide a similar resolution as well as brightness and contrast to monochrome e-ink displays, with high color saturation, but a slower refresh rate, and poor color accuracy, especially on primary colors of light (RGB).
CFA displays use a standard monochrome e-ink, overlaid with an RGBW color filter. They have the same speed as the underlying monochrome e-ink displays and high color accuracy, but the saturation is low, and the image is blurier, darker, and lower contrast than monochrome or ACEP panels.
ACEP displays are also more difficult to get, as far as I know only available in the now-discontinued BigMe Galy (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bigme/galy) and the in-production Remarkable Paper Pro (https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro) and Pro Move (https://remarkable.com/products/remarkable-paper/pro-move) devices.
If you must have vibrant colors, at any price, don't need particularly responsive scrolling animations, and want to be able to use the e-reader indoors with the frontlight off, get an ACEP display.
If you want the most accurate colors, don't mind low saturation and contrast, and will be using the e-reader outdoors or with the frontlight on when indoors, get a CFA display.
If you want an e-ink display that is really fast or one that is easy to obtain and visible indoors without a frontlight, your only option as a monochrome display.
I've used all three technologies, and I selected a monochrome display for my daily driver, a HiBreak Dual cellphone. If there were an ACEP version available, I would have bought it, but it's almost never an option, and the darker and blurrier CFA display wasn't worth the small amount of color it provided.
I'm very happy with Onyx Boox, always getting a new one when visiting family for CNY. It's a pretty much stock Android, you have adb, a choice of readers, can do whatever Syncthing/Dropbox you like, read DRM PDFs, watch Youtube, read HN.
Don't get color unless you read a lot of comics, color film compromises B&W contrast a lot.
I have a Kobo which has worked well enough for me. I have ebooks in Calibre, which I use to sync them over to the Kobo.
I think I have the Clara.
There are a couple ways the Kobo will render an ebook. If not in a Kobo format, it is pretty ugly, so converting them is worth it. I read thousands of pages before realizing this.
I don't know the exact model, and I bought it 5-10+ years ago, so I don't know the current models are, but I've been really happy with my Kobo. It's as easy as drag-and-dropping files. But I do use Calibre to manage them.
I use Remarkable 2. It's not exactly an e-reader, but more of a notebook and sketchbook with a paper-like surface. It is, however, quite expensive. It's definitely too much money just for reading.
I'm a fan of Boox although I have the larger model.
Kobo is the only answer here. Get any of the older non-color versions. Very hacker friendly. The stock OS is serviceable, it's not ad riddled or enshittified like Kindle or any of the other popular alternatives. If the stock OS does not work for you, you can install KOreader and you will be set.