Right now is the only good time to buy a Kindle Scribe

• Why right now is the best time to get the Kindle Scribe
• The Like-New Kindle Scribe is an even better deal
• Why I wouldn’t buy a Kindle Scribe at full-price

I’m the Kindle Scribe’s newest fan, though I used to swear I’d never trade my pen and paper for a digital notebook. After spending the last month with the device, though, I can confidently claim that the E Ink tablet has completely revolutionized my productivity and workflow. It’s silky smooth, convenient, and breaking it out in my local coffee shop makes me feel quite posh, I must admit.

The Kindle Scribe’s price really does hit that posh mark, too. Starting at a staggering $400, the digital notebook’s cost is hard to swallow — especially as a single-use device. For that price tag, you could walk out of the Apple Store with a new iPad that has ten times the functionality and still have cash to blow at the Auntie Anne’s down the hallway. The Kindle Scribe is a productivity superpower, but definitely hard to justify to your wallet.

Luckily, right now, the Kindle Scribe can be yours without depriving your pockets of so much cash. For Amazon’s Black Friday sale, you can score a brand-new model for $120 off and at the only price I would personally buy one again: $280.

Why right now is the best time to get the Kindle Scribe

Black Friday brings bounties

For Amazon’s Black Friday sale, the Kindle Scribe is selling for what I would call a steal:

The best deal by far here is the 32 GB Kindle Scribe — it’s the same exact price as the 16 GB model and double the storage. While it’s almost impossible to max out a Kindle’s storage unless you’re reading graphic novels (I’d love to talk to anyone who has — your brain is probably brimming with knowledge), raising the storage ceiling always offers better peace of mind. If they’re the same price, why not?

I also think that $280 is actually more than a fair deal for the level of convenience that the E Ink tablet offers. The normal $400 asking price is less realistic in my book, although it does prove its worth over time.

Plus, many users forget that it’s first and foremost a Kindle e-reader. The Scribe’s biggest — and least utilized — functionality is reading actual e-books on it instead of just using it for note-taking. While it isn’t as pocketable as a base or Paperwhite, reading an e-book is an absolute pleasure on its 10.2″ display.

The Like-New Kindle Scribe is an even better deal

Talk about deal of the year

Amazon’s Like-New program puts devices through a full diagnostic test, cleaning and inspection, and basically gives all the tech their own spa days to make sure that returned items are fully functional and look exactly like new before going back up for sale.

The Like-New Kindle Scribe is on sale for $213. It looks and works like a brand-new device but a dramatic $67 less than the current brand-new 16 GB Scribe’s sale price ($280). It usually retails for $310, so it’s already $97 off the normal asking price in general. That makes the refurbished model almost half the price of a full-price Kindle Scribe on a normal day.

This is exactly the model I’d purchase if I were buying the Scribe again.

Why I wouldn’t buy a Kindle Scribe at full-price

The value is there, but so are the deals

Like I said, I adore my Scribe — I might even call it my favorite device right now. But the way it fits into my workflow isn’t necessarily worth dropping a bag of cash. I use the Scribe to replace my checklists, agendas, weekly planners, and lined notebooks — all primarily things I could do in a basic paper notebook from the office supplies store.

Like regular Kindles don’t ruin a classic hardcover book, the Scribe doesn’t ruin paper for me. But, having all my handwritten notes being immediately digitized and synced across my devices is a level of handiness my analog notebooks could only dream of. That in and of itself is worth its weight in gold for me (granted, I’m a journalist).

Amazon is historically excellent about marking down its Kindle prices.