A small dashboard. Off the phone.

01Why this is a useful gift

The student won't buy it for themselves. They probably should.

Many students wouldn't buy something like this on their own. They'd keep using a phone calendar, miss the lab report, and panic in the library at 1 AM. A small, single-purpose dashboard on the desk fixes a problem they've stopped noticing.

An app, an alert, another tab open in Chrome: those things add to the noise. A piece of e-paper that sits beside the laptop and quietly says this is due Tuesday takes some of the noise away. That difference is what you'd be buying.

And it asks nothing new of the student. It only reflects what's already in their class portal and their Todoist: no new app to open, no habit to keep up, nothing to remember to check. It can't become one more thing they fall behind on. At worst, it's a quiet object on the desk; at best, they stop missing things.

02What it actually does

One screen. Everything due. Organized by course.

Margin is a small e-paper screen that sits on the student's desk. A browser plugin on their laptop reads their school's online class portal (Canvas, Blackboard, D2L, or Moodle) and writes every assignment into their Margin task list as a real task, sorted into one section per course automatically. The device reads that list on every refresh and shows today's tasks at the top, this week below, and a small status footer. It doesn't do anything else.

It doesn't make sounds. It doesn't perform. There are no notifications, no feed, no scroll. The screen draws zero current between refreshes, so you can leave it plugged in all semester without thinking about it.

One quiet upside of organizing by course: when the student is sitting in PHYS 211 and the professor adds a problem set, it shows up under their PHYS 211 project on their phone, on the device, and anywhere else they use Todoist. Same task, three places, one list.

If you want the longer version, the FAQ has the answers we'd give a friend.

03What it isn't

When not to buy it.

Margin isn't a smartphone replacement. It won't read email. It won't text you back. It won't help if the student isn't already trying to keep up. It doesn't track grades, and it doesn't pester anyone to study.

It also won't solve a procrastination problem on its own. If the student is academically struggling, a desk object is one helpful piece of furniture, not a tutor. Please don't buy this hoping a single device will turn things around. Buy it because it removes a small daily friction. That's all it claims to do, and that's all it does.

If the student already has a paper planner that works for them, they don't need this. The honest answer is: stick with the paper planner.

04The practical bits

What to expect, plainly.

One free Todoist sign-in, once. The Margin task list is powered by Todoist (the popular task app), which the student can also open on their phone and laptop. Margin keeps everything in a single list and sorts each course into its own section automatically, so it fits Todoist's free plan even with a full four-to-six-course schedule. The one-time Todoist sign-in is the only Todoist step — accounts can't be created automatically — and the setup walks through it; the list stays theirs after graduation.

Setup. Plug the device into USB-C (the cable comes with it) and, from a phone, give it the home or dorm Wi-Fi through a short on-screen prompt — about ninety seconds, and the only thing the device itself needs. The rest happens on the student's laptop: a small browser plugin, a sign-in, and one free Todoist sign-in, after which the plugin builds the Margin list and files each course into its own section. Five to ten minutes, one time. The first assignments settle onto the screen within the hour, not the instant you finish.

Size. Roughly the footprint of a small hardcover book. Sits beside a laptop, not in front of it. Black anodized aluminum bezel, black plastic back housing, a red line down the left side of the screen that's the whole brand.

Price. Expected $189. The final number lands at the Kickstarter launch; the first ones come in 2028. We'll write the day pre-orders open. No newsletter, no marketing blasts.

Packaging. Kraft cardboard, unmarked enough to wrap directly. A real gift-wrap option comes with batch two.

Warranty. One year limited, thirty-day returns (you cover return shipping). If something breaks in normal use within the first year, we repair or replace it. Full terms on the specs page.

If we disappear. The fair question to ask of a one-person company. The hardware keeps working. The student's assignments never run through us, and the device reads Todoist directly. And if we ever wind down: at least six months' notice, and the plugin and the device's software go open-source so the device outlives the company. The full answer →

Enough to go on? Join the waitlist →

05If you're still reading

A small note, from one of us to one of you.

I'm a physics major. I built Margin because my own mornings started with five tabs and a guess. Most of the first fifty are going to students like me. A few are going to students whose parent or grandparent decided to put one on their desk. That's a different kind of gift, and we think about it while we pack the box.

If you have a question that didn't get answered here, write to hello@margin.computer. I read everything. If a Margin isn't right for the student you're thinking of, I'll tell you that, too.

— Mitch