Are you looking to type notes, write notes, or both?
The 9th generation iPad (the last one with a home button) is $199 new right now, and the accessories for that model are both plentiful and being phased out, so those should be available for cheap.
Micro center has been selling the 10th Gen. for like $270 and it’s a nice upgrade over the 9. Plus USB c is cool. It’s been out for a while so accessories shouldn’t cost too much. But last year when I bought mine the only things I liked weren’t cheap.
Also the killed the folio cover which is stupid. I loved easily being able to pop on and off the cover so I don’t get it all nasty.
Xiaomi Pad 6
this is the only real answer as long as your check list includes not being killed with plastic explosives planted by terrorists
Xiaomi devices are manufactured in the same exact factory as most of these suggestions. If foxconn is compromised, everything is screwed.
Or even a pad 5 / pad 5 pro that you can get used really cheap now.
Stone. Soft.
If you can find a Samsung Galaxy Tab s5e, they’re cheap and remarkably functional for the price and size. I’ve been using one for years for light use. Mainly streaming media and internet browsing. Accessories can be a bit limited due to the age of the device.
Otherwise, an older iPad will not disappoint.
Tablets have really matured recently. Not all changes have been good but the average price for an actually usable tablet has dropped across the board.
I got a surface book. Runs windows but touch works amazing on it. I’m using it to read books. Battery lasts a long time and the keyboard is nice for typing. Mine is an older model (7) and you can find them used for pretty cheap.
The Surface Book is a distinct product line from the Surface Pro. The Pro series is a tablet form-factor and what most people think of when they talk about MS Surface devices. They’re on the ninth generation of these if you don’t count the Pro X (ARM) devices. I’ve used an old fourth generation recently and it holds up as long as the glued-in battery isn’t dead. The Surface Book starts at way too high of a price ($1200 IIRC) and has several anti-consumer tactics deployed in its construction. A cheap Surface Pro may be a good investment. A Surface Book is not, from my personal experience. There are also the Surface “Go” devices. These are built smaller and with cheaper internals. Not bad but definitely limiting compared to the Pro series. Think Apple-clone netbooks/tablets built by Microsoft…
Thanks. Yes I messed up. I have a surface pro. I do remember the surface book I thought it was bad ass but never could afford it. Anyways yes the surface pro has been very suprising. Unfortunately I have one with only 8gb of ram and it suffers because of it. Get the 16gb model if you can.
For awhile MetroPCS had a promo going where if you opened a tablet data line they would give you a galaxy tab a9 (budget Samsung tablet, but newest) for free, just pay 20$ for the first month and drop the line. Doubt that's coming back though...
Lenovo Xiaoxin Pad Pro is probably a good bet. Likely need to order from China and you'll have to install Google apps yourself if you want that but otherwise a good deal.
I bought a Lenovo tablet off aliexpress, they install the global android version, so everything is working fine. Same model if I bought it locally in North America was $100+ more expensive. Books, notes and movies, any decent tablet can handle that stuff.
For the ridiculous cheap broke option I'd recommend the fire 7th generation from 2017 since they're like 20 dollars tops on ebay or similar, flash lineageos so it doesn't have the Amazon trash.
The 5th generation is ancient from 2015, but does fine for reading (wouldn't recommend notes on something so old, its a battle and its not very responsive), had one for about 9 years before the battery finally died on me. I'd recommend getting a cheap phone repair kit along with a protective case if you go this route, since you may need the kit to flash the things anyhow.
For ones out of China, Alldocube and Blackview offer good value for money and they're mid-tier brands with regards to reputability.
The Alldocube iPlay50 or the Blackview Tab 10/Tab 11/Tab 18 and similar are decent and worth considering.
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