You can find dozens of e-textbooks on Amazon. In general, textbooks in eBook format is cheaper than its hardcover or paperback editions, so you may save some money if you get them in digital format.
In addition, regular textbooks are heavy in weight, it’ll be much easier if you can carry them all around in a single lightweight device. However, is the Kindle Paperwhite a good device for this?
Should You Get Kindle Paperwhite for Textbook?
First of all, you can find quite a lot of eTextbooks on Amazon, but not all textbooks are available there, so I would recommend you to check them at eTextbooks on Amazon. If you find a good portion of textbooks are available there, which is enough to give you benefit in long term, then it’ll be worth to consider getting a reading device for it.
However, the screen size of the Paperwhite is only 6″ and that may be small for some textbooks. You should also be aware that some textbooks have graphics and it’ll read better on color screen but not the black and white screen of Paperwhite. Moreover, some textbooks are only available to be read on the Kindle Fire tablets or other devices but not on the Kindle e-readers like Paperwhite.
You can see a sample of Kindle eTextbook here, which have a link “Available only on these devices”, and it may not include the Kindle eBook readers. Therefore, make sure to check if your textbooks are limited to certain Kindle devices.
Read this review from a college student on the Kindle Paperwhite, for future information on this:
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1ST3DUW0L4EAI…
Any Other Device that are also Good for Textbooks?
Indeed, the better device for textbook are the bigger screen Fire tablets such as the 8″ screen Kindle Fire HD 8. They can read almost all (if not all) e-textbooks available on Amazon, and they have color screen to display graphics on the books. They are easier to navigate, have a faster processor, and you can use them to take notes more effectively and even do some research work.
There’re many apps related to college to help in stuffs like scheduling and presentation, plus they have various apps for reading different formats (e.g. PDF, ePub, etc.) in a better way. Not to mention they have all the features for reading that Paperwhite have, like instant dictionary, bookmark, highlight, etc. To save more money, you can consider to rent e-textbooks as well.
A user review on Fire HD 8, with opinions on its use for student textbooks:
http://www.amazon.com/review/RYIDT9POUJR6K…