I am looking for a cheapish, close to DIN A4 sized tablet to write on

[salatji]

Hey there. I am currently looking for a fairly big tablet I can write on. I have considered several options, but as a student my budget is limited.

 

Right now I am kinda thinking about getting myself my first Apple product, the new iPad. With student discounts, it'll be roughly 300€ for me plus the pen. That's 400€ in total.

 

The alternative I've been thinking off was the Surface Go, but  that's already 450€ and I have to get a typecover and a pencil, so it'll probably total around 600ish€.

 

Are there more options I have yet to find or are there other budget friendly tablets that are good to take notes on and have a paper page sized screen?

 

 

I only plan to  take notes during classes, so as long as you can write on it (and feels as close to paper as possible), any tablet will do...

[GrockleTD]

1 minute ago, salatji said:

I only plan to  take notes during classes, so as long as you can write on it (and feels as close to paper as possible), any tablet will do...

literally why are you switching then

[Brennan Price]

I could perhaps understand needing a tablet if you draw a lot for an art class etc, but if you just need a tablet to act like pen and paper... Then just buy the pen and paper. It costs a lot less than the price of a tablet, plus it's much easier to collate everything when it comes to revision and the like. Why make life harder for yourself and lose money at the same time? 

[Necrovarius]

With Tablets, you will never get close to Pen and Paper. Stack that up with input issues and such, you are better off as all the others have said to save the money and buy a nice notebook and pen/pencil. 

From personal experience I used to have a gateway laptop that had a swivel screen and a decent pen (XP era). It was nice, but I had nothing but problems with it either not picking up what I was putting down or distorting my pen strokes. Even now with my Drawing tables, writing on them sucks. 

[salatji]

Ok, first: i am asking for recommendations, so I would love to get some input or suggestions for tablets up to 600ish € that have a responsive pen for writing. 

 

Secondly: it is not my first year, but I realized that it always goes like this: I print out the handout, write some notes on it. Then I copy it and port them in a pdf/word file and condense it and print it out to learn. With a tablet to write I immediately have them in a digital form. Plus I am fairly chaotic when taking notes, so the ability to cut out part of my notes and put them in the right spot seems pretty helpful to me.

[Necrovarius]

Allow me to suggest an alternative to writing, what about a small factor notebook loaded up with Microsoft One-note?

As a previous student who did what you are trying to do, unless you have beautiful handwriting, tablets are ass for note taking.

[salatji]

The problem is I have to draw diagrams as well from time to time or extend existing ones, that's why I am trying to find a tablet with fairly large screen. 

 

I am also deciding if it is worth it in the end or not, but so far I only really consider either the iPad or the surface, so I was hoping to get other tablets to try out an take into consideration. 

[Teddy07]

Quote

I am currently looking for a fairly big tablet I can write on

Have you looked into an Ipad pro 12.9 first gen?

There are a few comparison videos on youtube between new and old ipad. It still has the newest OS version, the recently Ipad OS.

 

I am also a student and recently bought a used one this year on ebay for ~350 € + pen. I only use it for writing and browsing and did not notice any lag whatsoever. Battery depends on the previous usage of course but mine still lasts 10+ hours with low backlight (no need for high backlight when writing in my eyes). It is still a great tablet.
The only problem is that repairing the tablet is not an option as even third party repair charges more than the tablet is worth. You can however change the battery if you want. The cheapest option is Apple with 99 €. Yes newer Ipads have a better screen but it is still fine, nothing to complain about.

 

You might ask why I didn´t buy the new Ipad? It was because of the size. I prefer to have a DIN A4 Tablet to write on so I don´t have to scroll as much.

 

[Zando_]

12 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

The only problem is that repairing the tablet is not an option as even third party repair charges more than the tablet is worth.

^^ Just here to back this statement up. I've opened up iPad Minis and that's not something I want to repeat ever again, an iPad Pro would be a nightmare. They're held together with glue so they're properly rigid, but once you crack them it makes repair a nightmare. Which makes it take a long time (and you have to go even slower to avoid breaking it more), add the cost of parts on top of that and it adds up to a pretty expensive repair. They are excellent tablets though, I had a 1st gen 12.9" (it died, but was to be expected because it had some wacky issue that was temporarily solved by actually freezing it for 3 days then thawing it out) and lordie they're damn good. The screen is impressive, battery life was excellent, they're snappy AF, and the speakers are incredible. I mostly used it for mucking around and some racing games, but it would indeed make an excellent drawing surface. Just follow the most important rule of mobile device repair: don't break it in the first place.