NVIDIA Tegra Note 7 Review
by Brian Klug on November 12, 2013 9:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Mobile
- Tegra 4
- NVIDIA
- Tegra Note
It's hard to conclude the review for the Tegra Note since my thoughts focus mainly on its competition. For a while now, it's been hard to recommend any tablet in the 7-inch class that wasn't the Nexus 7, and the refresh made it even harder to do so. At present, the Tegra Note 7 enters a market that its predecessor arguably defined, but it's much more crowded now. At the high end we have the iPad Mini which just was refreshed with a retina display, in the middle we have the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 with active stylus, and then finally the refreshed Nexus 7 and now the Tegra Note 7.
It's a market where what product makes the most sense ultimately depends on what you want to do with it. If you want a smaller iPad, buy an iPad mini in one of the two flavors it now comes in. If you want an all around great 7-inch tablet, go for the Nexus 7. If you want to take notes or to save a bit more money versus the Nexus 7, the Tegra Note has a strong value prospect with a lower cost stylus solution that works surprisingly well and solves one of my main complaints with the other note-taking devices – fast pen tracking almost devoid of latency. If you absolutely need an active digitizer with hover capabilities, Galaxy Note 8 will do the job.
NVIDIA's Tegra Note 7 undercuts the refreshed Nexus 7 by $30 and comes in at just $199 from partners who will soon be making them available to shoppers. But that $30 savings comes at a price – that dollar amount means you lose the high DPI display, 5 GHz WiFi connectivity, get slower internal storage, and trade some battery life off. What you do get in its stead is what we've touched on – an even faster hardware platform with faster CPU and GPU, reasonably well executed note taking capabilities, and audio that sounds better, even if it isn't necessarily louder. Like anything, which combination of tradeoffs is "better" really is a story of tradeoffs.
This has to be frustrating for NVIDIA, because with Tegra Note 7 it has arguably built the original Nexus 7's spiritual successor, though I couldn't imagine Google ever being happy without a high resolution display. What it has done however is give all of its partners a tablet that they can sell, bundle, and use to differentiate their current lineups. I suspect building NVIDIA's brand in the mobile space and at the same time making the traditional GPU partners happy with a tablet platform they can somewhat call their own is the real success story for Tegra Note.
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bleh0 - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
No reason to get the Nexus 7 anymore. Outside of the display and a few other things the Tegra Note seems to be the superior device.Pirks - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
yeah, and especially for gaming it's absolutely top notch, just like iPad, but more than twice cheaper, I'll preorder a couple more Tegra Notes today for my buddies in commie-infested Canada LOLDa W - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
Commie-infested Canada? What Canada you talkin' bout? Sure ain't good ol western Canada, we shot all those damn commies a while ago!Pirks - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
I'm talking about high taxes and "free" waitlist laden healthcare, smells like a commie to me :Pquickbunnie - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
One of the pictures says tegra note 3 instead of 7.Also, shouldn't the white point average be a deviance from 6504 and ordered from smallest to largest? Currently the worst offenders are on top, inconsistent with all the other display graphs.
Hrel - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
Not even past the first page, Asus Nexus 7 wins. Resolution, by far. It doesn't even cost more, it costs less... wtf?UpSpin - Wednesday, November 13, 2013 - link
Out of the resolution (and with it the required more RAM) I don't see any other advantages the Nexus 7 offers.The Tegra Note 7 is, prorably, more intended for young people, maybe those who study, with a small focus on gaming:
- Much faster SoC
- Pressure sensitive note taking to properly annotate PDF documents or take notes (awkward on the Nexus 7), the only other option to take proper notes is the the much more expensive Galaxy Tablet with a WACOM digitizer.
- better sound, due to stereo front facing speakers
- SD-Card support, which, in my opinion, for a tablet, is major advantage to load larger movies etc. on the tablet.
- $30 less expensive
So considering the price and the features, I think it's a great tablet, and depending on the usage, offers more than the Nexus 7.
Still, I hope they also release a Tegra 10 Note, for maybe $300, with a HD Display and note taking capability, the would be awesome and a Galaxy Tab Note killer.
Yojimbo - Friday, November 15, 2013 - link
<quote> The Tegra Note 7 is, prorably, more intended for young people, maybe those who study, with a small focus on gaming </quote>True, except for one thing. A 7 inch tablet seems small for full-time note-taking. 7 inches is a good size for using at various times throughout the day, but if I were a full-time student using it hours each day and expected to do so for years, I would definitely demand something at least 10 inches, preferrably larger, say 12 or 13.
Hrel - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
Nvidia is doing something kinda weird lately. They're taking chances, very safely. It'll be very interesting when all these products reach a stage of maturity. 2015/2016 maybe?andrewaggb - Tuesday, November 12, 2013 - link
I agree. They are interesting to watch at the moment. Losing out on all 3 console deals and the vast majority of the tablet/phone market leaves you with a hole to fill. I hope they pull through.They're in a similar situation to AMD, but seemingly doing more about it.