Which tablet under 30K?

Kevin Lane

Kevin Lane

Level G
My daughter has started medical college this year. I am looking to get her n tablet. Primary use will be reading e-books and notes. Secondary use will be entertainment, watching OTT.

What are my options currently? I would like to get as big a screen as possible with decent processing power.

Wife strongly opposes pre-loved, so brand new is the only way.
 
Is this going to complement a Laptop that she already has and this will be a secondary device or it will be a primary one which will need to act like a make shift laptop if need arises?

For really large screen, iPad Pro 12.9 is an option if you are comfortable with iOS / iPadOS. I have no much knowledge on android side of things so have nothing to say.

Also good for not going for "pre-loved". You have no info on what you are getting especially on olx and such. First people like to ask ridiculous prices and they will not reveal all details. Battery may be shot as well. New tablet, if used properly with nice case and all and maintained well, will serve a long time. Of course this is personal opinion on used tablets.
 
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raksrules said:
Is this going to complement a Laptop that she already has and this will be a secondary device or it will be a primary one which will need to act like a make shift laptop if need arises?

For really large screen, iPad Pro 12.9 is an option if you are comfortable with iOS / iPadOS. I have no much knowledge on android side of things so have nothing to say.

Also good for not going for "pre-loved". You have no info on what you are getting especially on olx and such. First people like to ask ridiculous prices and they will not reveal all details. Battery may be shot as well. New tablet, if used properly with nice case and all and maintained well, will serve a long time. Of course this is personal opinion on used tablets.
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She won't have a personal laptop. Tablet is all she will have.

She shares one of parent's laptops if needed.

iPad 12 pro would be way out of budget! :(
 
2021 iPad fits the bill. It is about 28k-ish after the HDFC discount. However, the screen is about 10.2 inches. With the A13 Chip, It should serve 3-4yrs easily.
 
@Kevin Lane Is there any bias towards / against any OS? Because if you have not decided on iPadOS or Android then that is first thing you need to decide. Obviously Android will give more freedom than iPad but I personally like iPad as I use one daily and I am more of Apple person. I do own Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 which is almost untouched since my kid's offline school started. I have tried my level best to utilize for my video watching needs but just cannot use it (personal bias, nothing wrong with product) and I just keep going back to iPad and I feel home.

Also, have you decided on budget? For reading eBooks, the 4:3 format of iPad will suit really well. I personally dislike one thing about android tablets is they are more "long" and less "wide". I am fan of more width as it helps with magazines reading and all. But yes, the android tablets are great for media consumption and on iPad, more black bars are shown. I have got used to it so no issue for me.
 
Android - Mi Pad 5 (finally a good android tab for this price, earlier ones were just not good enough)
Apple ecosystem - iPad 10.2" (has its cons like low storage & other OS-related ones)

Apple has apps better optimized for tablet layout compared to android, might change with android 12L update, but it is not here yet. For me, cons of Apple's OS keeps me away from Apple.
 
OMEGA44-XT said:
Android - Mi Pad 5 (finally a good android tab for this price, earlier ones were just not good enough)
Apple ecosystem - iPad 10.2" (has its cons like low storage & other OS-related ones)

Apple has apps better optimized for tablet layout compared to android, might change with android 12L update, but it is not here yet. For me, cons of Apple's OS keeps me away from Apple.
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Since the base iPad comes with 64GB now, I personally don't think storage will be a big issue. I understand it is as per use case. I have 32gb one and only time I felt that it is low when I intended to download several videos for offline watching. But if it is streaming and such, no issues with 64GB.
 
raksrules said:
Since the base iPad comes with 64GB now, I personally don't think storage will be a big issue. I understand it is as per use case. I have 32gb one and only time I felt that it is low when I intended to download several videos for offline watching. But if it is streaming and such, no issues with 64GB.
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Beebom's comparison is good, OP can use that for reference.

Mi Pad has an aspect ratio is better suited for watching videos though. OP has to take call on storage, for me, 128GB is minimum these days if you are spending a decent amount of money, considering future use cases, like rising app sizes, people will download videos, at times, and so on.
 
Kevin Lane said:
My daughter has started medical college this year. I am looking to get her n tablet. Primary use will be reading e-books and notes. Secondary use will be entertainment, watching OTT.

What are my options currently? I would like to get as big a screen as possible with decent processing power.

Wife strongly opposes pre-loved, so brand new is the only way.
Click to expand...
If you decide to go with the iPad base version, which will come for around 30.5k without any discount, you can consider the following things:

- Build quality and longevity ( I am thinking entire duration of med school years) of the Apple device should be more than an Android device. Regular updates on Apple vs. no guarantee of OS updates on Chinese tabs.
- Storage could be an issue or might not be. You will get around 52 GB of usable space out of the 64GB. One easy way of getting an extra 20Gb of space is to sign on to the Mega App. Mega ( unlike dropbox & others) gives you 20Gb of free storage. You can store on Mega and transfer easily between devices.
- I assume note-taking will be an essential part of med school so another software I suggest is the WPS office where one can write using a pen or type as per convenience. The default Apple Notes are always there but compatibility & transferring those notes to windows devices in the future can be a headache.
- Also recommend the CaseU pen as an alternative to the much more expensive Apple Pen.
P.S. All the above-recommended software & the CaseU pen are what I use and I am recommending them after using them. Not based on hearsay.

Best of luck to your daughter. Hope you make a good purchase.
 
A lot of med students I know end up buying ipads over android tabs. I'm not entirely sure if that's just because of a personal preference they all happened to share or if ipados is objectively better for some particular use case that med students face. Ask your daughter too maybe.
 
What about the samsung Tab A8



I used the note 10.1 back in 2012 and it worked great. i'd look at an S series these days if i needed a tab
raksrules said:
For reading eBooks, the 4:3 format of iPad will suit really well. I personally dislike one thing about android tablets is they are more "long" and less "wide". I am fan of more width as it helps with magazines reading and all. But yes, the android tablets are great for media consumption and on iPad, more black bars are shown. I have got used to it so no issue for me.
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You mean to tell me you can't view in 4:3 in portrait on an android ? It will be smaller but if that's your preferred aspect ratio isn't there software that can do it.

You can use the space underneath or above for something else through multi window
Kevin Lane said:
My daughter has started medical college this year. I am looking to get her n tablet. Primary use will be reading e-books and notes. Secondary use will be entertainment, watching OTT.

What are my options currently? I would like to get as big a screen as possible with decent processing power.

Wife strongly opposes pre-loved, so brand new is the only way.
Click to expand...
Did she mention a preference ?
 
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Have the Samsung A7 and its great. quad speakers so never felt the need for bluetooth speaker indoors. Does well with multitasking too.
 
puns said:
Have the Samsung A7 and its great. quad speakers so never felt the need for bluetooth speaker indoors. Does well with multitasking too.
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I have same tablet which I bought mainly for the quad speaker setup for my kid's online class. It worked really well for the purpose and the camera on the long edge is also apt for video calls and online classes. Videos also look great on this and is a good multimedia consumption device. I didn't knew but I could also mirror the screen of this tablet to my fire tv so it was useful sometimes if I want to watch something and app isn't there on my TV.

Personally though, I never use the tablet as I am not a fan of long wide tablets and I am more comfortable with iPad like design and form factor. But obviously, it is only the way it works for me (or doesn't in this case). I am just biased towards iPad as I am more comfortable using it and don't really want to take effort to make myself comfortable with android tablets.
Overall samsung a7 tab is great.
 
raksrules said:
I have same tablet which I bought mainly for the quad speaker setup for my kid's online class. It worked really well for the purpose and the camera on the long edge is also apt for video calls and online classes. Videos also look great on this and is a good multimedia consumption device. I didn't knew but I could also mirror the screen of this tablet to my fire tv so it was useful sometimes if I want to watch something and app isn't there on my TV.

Personally though, I never use the tablet as I am not a fan of long wide tablets and I am more comfortable with iPad like design and form factor. But obviously, it is only the way it works for me (or doesn't in this case). I am just biased towards iPad as I am more comfortable using it and don't really want to take effort to make myself comfortable with android tablets.
Overall samsung a7 tab is great.
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it was just cheaper than an ipad and serves my requirement for work related apps that are more android friendly and ott viewing without any hassle of bluetooth speaker
 
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