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Ask HN: A large tablet for PDFs?

12 points by 1024core ↗ HN
Black Friday is coming up (here in the US). I have a large and growing collection of papers (and some books), and I'd like to be able carry them around with me. I don't like the idea of reading PDFs on my MBP, so I've been considering a full-sized (12.9" of larger, which is the size of a US Letter sheet of paper) tablet.

I'd like to be able to annotate the PDFs, and search them. I used to use Goodreader on an iPad, but reading on the smaller-sized iPad feels straining.

One option is the new "iPad Pro", but the dang thing is $1200 if you include a stylus! That seems like a lot if you just want to have easy access to your papers and books. Sony's DPT RP1 is another option, but it seems like it's not well supported.

Anyone have any suggestions? Good battery life, and a large and readable screen are all I need.

Thanks for your time.

16 comments

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walterbell
A used iPad Pro 12.9" 1st generation will meet your needs. Same screen resolution, much cheaper, runs iOS 12. Devonthink has a local search engine for PDFs.
snazz
Agreed. Although the iPad Pro is large enough to display a whole sheet of paper at native scale, I find that the smaller 6th generation iPad works just fine too at less than $400 (it also supports the first gen Apple Pencil).

Apple Books (previously iBooks) works well enough for annotating and searching PDFs and ePubs, although Notability is much faster and works more like paper.

pepsi
Agreed on a refurb iPad Pro or even Surface depending on your needs.
tchaffee
After my Samsung tablet was stolen I ordered a cheapo (~$100) replacement tablet online without having tried it. Bad decision. The lower end tablets are horrible for reading due to the lower screen resolution. Movies and photos are fine. But with text you can see the individual pixels and it's almost unreadable. I just ordered another Samsung Galaxy S3 (less than $500) and will sell the cheapo brand I bought. I haven't really seen anything match Samsung's AMOLED displays, and it's half the price of the iPad Pro which has an LCD with less contrast.
DrNuke
My iPad mini 2 retina is so good for PDFs and casual surfing I still use it as my main device indoor, Apple even gave it new life with iOS 12, for which I’m grateful indeed. That is meant to say you should be fine with the very good and relatively cheap 2018 iPad entry level.
burtonator
You might like the app I'm working on:

https://getpolarized.io/

I've given up on the idea of using tablets for PDFs. I think the main issue is annotation.

I think you need a mouse and a keyboard.

This is why I stated working on Polar. I wanted to do my main reading on a laptop/desktop but sync my notes to a mobile app.

Right now the mobile sync is done by Anki but at some point I'll probably add a PWA or mobile app to sync directly.

A PWA is more compelling as it would work on ios + android of course but that requires more work.

hiaux0
This is amazing, thanks for sharing and creating!
alienreborn
I suggest iPad 2018 (330 but you can get it for 250 this Thanksgiving from various big box retailers) or iPad Pro 11 depending on how much you wanna spend. iPad 12.9 is too big and unwieldily to hold, its great if you mostly read/draw with it laying on a desk.

I just upgraded to iPad Pro 11 and its a great PDF reading device. I use PDF Expert with synced cloud folder so that any annotations or notes I made on iPad are available everywhere on the pdfs. LiquidPDF is another costly but more powerful PDF annotation tool.

Samsung make great tablets with AMOLED screens but please be aware that android has non existent tablet app ecosystem.

badpun
I read PDFs on regular iPad. If the text feels too small (which it often does), I crop its margins before uploading to the iPad.
dodgyb
I came across this beauty a couple of days ago> Not seen it in the flesh but is does seem to fit your use case.

https://remarkable.com/

Specs

https://support.remarkable.com/hc/en-us/articles/11500455428...

I use a refurbished 1st gen sony xperia 10.1 tablet that I bought for £100 on ebay. It is very light and has good resolution but the screen could be a bit bigger. The big plus is it takes an sd card and also a portable s/hdd can be attached so storage is no problem.

konradb
I have one of these; I got it specifically to read large PDFs on. I like it very much. The software has been a bit of a journey but broadly works. As a bonus you can ssh into it and screw around if you have the time or the inclination; there is a bunch of people who experiment with it. I just stick with the reading. It isn't backlit. But it is a beauty, having such a large e-ink screen is fantastic and being able to take notes/draw diagrams etc is great.
LarryMade2
I went with a low end Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1, the size is good, battery is great, the hardware is not beholden to the software (i.e. no lock-in with Amazon Kindle, Nook, iPad-iOS.) Good speed and google Play certified (that's the gotcha on cheap tablets make sure you can run google play) I know it is reparable (Have fixed friends Tabs'). Has a relatively new OS (Android Nougat)), SD card slot, dual camera.m Maybe not some of the other extras of higher end tablets like IR and extra ports.

In general usage has been great, and the benefit of PDFs on a tablet is being able to zoom and scroll (Got a scan of Computer Lib/Dream Machines in it, the zooming/scrolling is very helpful to read it.) Though if I had a choice I would prefer paper books if available the screen can affect your reading and also light reactions staring as the display closer than a monitor.

Beyond that I'm not too impressed by the ebook stores "buying" ebooks though them is no discount (plus you get the added dread of the e-book outlets still have complete control your "purchased" - er licensed content).

library ebooks are nice, and also magazines (though library e-editions seem more ad-riddled than print ones.)

Tablet apps are pale next to desktop stuff, and you may have to hunt to find tablet stuff that actually are comparative to good desktop FOSS.

In hindsight I like it, I would not have found more value in the bigger screen of a page size (except more heft and expense)

If unsure borrow a friend's and try it out. Though if they only have the supplies PDF viewer, I would get acrobat or some other more capable PDF reader to test the built-in ones are usually kinda lacking.

borncrusader
I use the larger iPad pro - I understand it's quite expensive but that's the only Apple device we have for our home and me and my wife use it for our own purposes and we find it to be worth the money. She uses it mostly for art while I use it for reading and taking notes - the split screen view is a really amazing with a PDF open and a note taking app (I use OneNote).

The iBooks app is also good for taking notes on the PDF - I usually use it to take notes of papers but prefer to use OneNote for the books.

rpeden
I got a used Surface Pro earlier this year for exactly this purpose.

It was the previous gen at the time - Surface Pro 4, instead of the newer 2017 Surface Pro. It looks the same as the 2017 model and the new SP6, though.

Since I mostly wanted it for PDF reading, I got the low end one with a core m3, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. It cost about $400 (Canadian) on eBay, and came with a Surface Pen.

If you don't mind buying something pre-owned, it might be worth a look. There seem to be lots of them on eBay that were leased by companies and then used very gently. The one I got looked like new and even came in the original box.

awaywopassd
I got 10.5" iPad Pro. I know it is expensive and not up to your requirements but I do find it very enjoyable for reading books and pdfs. Though it is pretty heavy for extended use.