Why I pick this ultraportable Lenovo tablet over the iPad Air for entertainment – and it's on sale
ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Lenovo’s Tab Plus is a mid-range pill at the moment promoting for $330 on Finest Purchase.
- Opposite to its small dimension, the mannequin homes a booming eight-speaker system and a long-lasting battery.
- The MediaTek Helio chipset and dim show will not be successful any awards.
extra shopping for decisions
What is the deal?
Despite the fact that the Lenovo Tab Plus is new, it is already been discounted. The pill has dropped down $250 on Finest Purchase and Lenovo’sdigital retailer.
It is the tip of the yr, and meaning lots of people are in search of vacation presents. If you happen to’re having a tough time deciding what to present, might I like to recommend the Lenovo Tab Plus? That is Lenovo’s newest light-weight pill, able to doubling as a mini-home theater. All the pieces that you may need in an leisure system is right here.
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The Lenovo Tab Plus is compact, measuring 11.5 inches and weighing about 1.4 kilos. It is related in dimension to an iPad Air, however in contrast to Apple’s gadget, this pill does not have a easy again as the underside half juts out. The decrease part measures 13.58 mm thick, whereas the higher half is barely 7.7 mm. There is a good cause Lenovo designed its pill with this distinctive look as the underside half homes two of the mannequin’s excellent options.
First, there’s the built-in kickstand that sits flush with the pill’s rear. Popping it out supplies a steady base and lets the gadget tilt as much as 175 levels. Praising a kickstand could appear foolish, however keep in mind that most tablets — with out the addition of a protecting case –don’t have a method to prop themselves up. It is a terrific quality-of-life function that enhances the viewing expertise, and it is one I want different producers capitalized on.
Additionally, when mixed with smartphone assist, the Tab Plus can double as a strong Bluetooth speaker.
Talking of audio, the sound system is my favourite function of the Tab Plus. It has eight JBL audio system consisting of 4 tweeters and 4 woofers, all finetuned by Dolby Atmos. Compared, the M4 iPad Professional, Apple’s present premium pill, solely has 4 audio system.
I discovered the system’s audio efficiency excellent. As a part of the testing, I watched your entire second season of Arcane on Netflix. From the primary episode to the final, I loved crystal-clear sounds highly effective sufficient to fill a room. That mentioned, the bass is a little bit missing — it is nowhere close to as punchy as bass from a soundbar.
The display high quality is nice, too. It is a 2K show working at a refresh charge of 90Hz, delivering brilliant colours and easy animations. It carried out nicely throughout most purposes. Nonetheless, I did not like how dim it seemed. The display’s brightness peaks at 400 nits, which is ok for indoor viewing however not open air. The show struggled to shine in a brilliant surroundings.
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Underneath the hood is the MediaTek Helio G99 SoC (system on a chip), together with 8GB of RAM — {hardware} that is typical in finances gadgets. The G99 is not a really highly effective chipset, and it is a few years previous, nevertheless it will get the job finished. I by no means as soon as bumped into efficiency drops whereas casually looking with Google Chrome or taking part in cell video games.
The Lenovo Tab Plus capabilities decently nicely as a piece pill. You’ll be able to join equipment like keyboards by way of Bluetooth. Because of Android 14, there is a desktop mode for mimicking desktop setups. The working system additionally delivers participating gesture controls. My favourite is the place swiping up sends you to a carousel of open apps, and you’ll hop between any one among them. Smartphones have related performance.
Android 14 brings with it years of updates. Lenovo has pledged to constantly roll out safety patches to the Tab Plus till June 2028.
A number of equipment can be found, however even with all these devices geared up, do not anticipate Lenovo’s machine to be a powerhouse. I ran the PCMark Work 3.0 benchmark exams to see how nicely the pill would carry out throughout a number of workflows. On the time I carried out the exams, the Lenovo Tab Plus did fairly nicely, incomes thirty second place out of 200 on the developer’s finest tablets record for November 2024. Nonetheless, it fell far behind contemporaries just like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE and the OnePlus Pad 2.
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These numbers inform me that the Tab Plus will not be superb at tackling powerful workloads like video modifying, nevertheless it will not be horrible both. {Hardware} efficiency could also be middling, however the battery positive is not. On common, the pill lasts 15 hours on a single cost. I left it working one afternoon and was pleasantly shocked to see it nonetheless taking part in the take a look at livestream the next morning.
The cupboard space is unsurprisingly small, at 256GB. It will’ve been good to have entry to an even bigger drive, however with a pill this low cost, you need to anticipate some cuts. Fortunately, you possibly can develop storage by inserting a 1TB mini SD card into the slot on the high.
ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation
Lenovo’s Tab Plus usually retails for $330 at Finest Purchase. Even at its full worth, I might suggest this gadget. Fortunately, you should purchase this mannequin from Lenovo’s storefront at a reduced $288. It is a nice Christmas current for family members who get pleasure from watching the most recent reveals on Netflix or desire a multimedia pill.
The MediaTek Helio G99 is not one of the best work gadget. These in search of a pill with muscle ought to try Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S10 Plus. The OnePlus Pad 2 is one other strong, midrange choice for many who do not thoughts spending further money.
