Reddit reviews ASUS Zenpad 7" (1024X600) 16GB Black Tablet - Z170C-A1-BK

Could have been an older model of something like this;

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B010FGJKWC/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

It doesnt look like they're making many quality 7" tablets any more. 7" post 2014 generally seems associated with low end tablets with weak specs and poor build quality. A lot of the "decent" ones are 3+ years old. Stuff like the nexus 7, or my current memopad 7 im looking to upgrade, or the tegra note 7 (early shield type tablet), etc.

Most quality tablets these days are like 8-10". ASUS looks like they have decent 8" tablets around $150ish. THe nvidia shield K1 used to be an amazing buy but they discontinued it and they're extremely hard to find it seems. In the $200-300 range you sometimes start to get some more quality builds, with the hauwei mediapad m3 being one of the strongest options I can see for my own upgrade needs (although also the most expensive at $300).

And yeah. Tablets are in a weird place. They're killing off a lot of the good models, severely nerfing new ones coming out, especially in terms of ram and storage space, and my $130 tablet from 2014 still looks as good or better than $130 tablets today of the same size. it's really weird.

But yeah, just to show what im talking about, here's my model.

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ME176CX-A1-WH-7-Inch-Tablet-White/dp/B00LSS1412?th=1

At the time one of the best tablets at that price range.

But you'll see its discontinued and out of stock, and replaced with some other asus 7 inch model.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010FGJKWC/ref=psdc_1232597011_t1_B00LSS1412

And people report that this model is a piece of junk. So something weird in the 7" market, idk why, they're being reduced to crappy budget models that kinda suck. Maybe consider like a fire tablet if you want something decent?

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ME176CX-A1-BK-7-Inch-Tablet-Black/dp/B00KD5SER8 This one is $108 (I know that's well above your budget, but believe me, you are not going to find a good tablet for $70 unless you are God of Discounts)

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ZENPAD-Z170C-A1-BK-16-Tablet/dp/B010FGJKWC/ref=dp_ob_title_ce (This is slightly weaker than the one listed above I believe, but it's $80 right now (it's on discount), I know that's also over your budget but not by much) Edit: This one is your best bet, the processor is clocked a biiiit slower, but it's running a newer version of Android

You can get a keyboard for taking notes. I used a tablet last year for my textbooks computer sciences and math, was pretty good. However notes were annoying. I had emergency coding apps but honestly, I'd rather go to the computer lab and work on theirs or remote into my home computer and type stuff up. Android / iOS does not have a great amount of coding IDEs.

I used Anki for flashcards for languages. You can use Onenote / Evernote for notes but writing was easier. I did however use it to keep up with the slides and note the PDFs and my notebook to remind me to print little sections of code.

I ordered a ASUS ZENPAD Z170C-A1-BK 7" to replace my old 10 inch one as my sister took it. I would suggest aiming for 150-250$ range if you can afford it. I inherited an old 40$ NOBIS tablet and I wanted to throw it out a window. It's now living as a picture frame on my desk.

Honestly, a laptop is far better. But it's much heavier. I have a 17' laptop so fuck it I got a tablet. I would definitely look into hiding YouTube and Netflix. You can use Widgets to either time when you see app links or set Tasker context cues ie if on school Wifi. Or hide apps in a custom lancher so you have to type the app name into search. Or just use willpower.

If you're an amazon prime member, this actually looks to be quite a good deal if you only need a temporary substitute. If you scroll down and look at the "compare to similar items" section, you can check out other tablets in the same price range.

The thing to keep in mind is software version. Android is currently up to 7.0, and this tablet is running 5.0. If I recall, SIF doesn't support under 4.0 anymore. This is important because if you pick up a tablet running Android 4.0, it might not be able to run SIF after whenever the next SIF update is.

I read your other comment, and if you prefer iOS and aren't actually looking towards an android device, I'd honestly recommend just keeping your money in your pockets. It's honestly not worth picking up a low end device if that's not what you're specifically targeting.

Just my 2 cents, but ultimately your decision in the end. Best of luck~

Thanks a lot.

Do you think that I should look at this instead? I can get it for $30 more. I'm just wondering if it's going be more snappy performance wise.