BOOX Note Max with 13.3-inch E-Ink Display Launches Worldwide

[GGforever]

E-Ink aficionados have been on the rise in recent years, and for good reason. E-Ink displays, despite their undeniable downsides, are excellent for note-taking and reading without having to worry about eye-strain. The 13.3-inch BOOX Note Max is an excellent option for its targeted demographic, and is now available for purchase worldwide for a relatively affordable price of $649.

The Note Max sports Android support, specifically Android 13. Needless to say, this means that a plethora of apps and functionality can be installed separately. The 13.3-inch capacitive touch display with 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity sports a resolution for 3200 x 2400, amounting to a commendable PPI value of 300. An octa-core 2.8 GHz CPU takes care of all the computing needs, paired with 6 GB of memory. Of course, the Note Max is not meant to be a powerhouse, but decent performance is always welcome.




That said, there is no front light, which makes it rather tedious to use at night. Basically, E-Ink display do not have a backlight, which means late-night reading and note-taking will have to be accompanied by external light source, which may be to the annoyance of people around. A 3,700 mAh battery is included, which should allow for decent runtimes. At 615 grams, the Note Max is certainly on the heavier side, but that is to be expected considering its 13.3-inch form-factor.

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[Nostras]

Btw no frontlight means that the distance between the pen nib and the tablet's display is closer. Some swear that this is a big enough difference that is is a dealbreaker or -maker.
Supernote is a notable company that does this for all their products whereas Boox is typically more in the frontlight camp because it's closer to a real tablet.
They do have some cheaper devices with no frontlight which seems to suggest it's done for cost savings, which makes this choice somewhat odd.

 

[kondamin]

Might be nice for a writer on the move, but the price is just to high

 

[phanbuey]

I hope they have a game boy emulation program on it.

 

[kondamin]

I hope they have a game boy emulation program on it.

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I doubt the refresh rate is fast enough

 

[Chrispy_]

I know people who carry a Kindle and an iPad. One of them switched to a reMarkable and an iPad.
If smooth video playback isn't required, the iPad isn't required.

It's a bit high-end, IMO. They could do with a smaller, cheaper variant. A 256GB iPad with pen and keyboard cover is ~$675, and half of that cost is the pen and keyboard at Apple's typical obscene markup for extras.

I doubt the refresh rate is fast enough

It's maybe 10fps, and the pixel response is fast enough in several modes that ghosting isn't too much of an issue for casual video playback like news clips, you're right about gaming though - nowhere near the 30fps you'd want for OG Gameboy emulation.

Here's an example of their last-gen display doing video playback in various modes:

Video Playback on Boox Note Air3 C (a quick example)

More eink tablet stuff at https://eWritable.comAn quick example of video playback on the Boox Note Air3C e-ink tablet across all refresh modes; HD, Balanced,...

www.youtube.com

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

Might be nice for a writer on the move, but the price is just to high

Agreed, at this proce point your competing with things like the iPad Airwith an M2 inside of it (I actually just got one for my niece on sale for $499), so I feel like this price limits this product entirely to the consumers that specifically want an e-ink device and ONLY want an e-ink device.

 

[londiste]

A 3,700 mAh battery is included, which should allow for decent runtimes.

Considering E-Ink power draw this does make me wonder what "decent" would mean for this device.

 

[Nostras]

Agreed, at this proce point your competing with things like the iPad Airwith an M2 inside of it (I actually just got one for my niece on sale for $499), so I feel like this price limits this product entirely to the consumers that specifically want an e-ink device and ONLY want an e-ink device.

I feel like anyone unironically comparing an e-ink device to an ipad/android tablet doesn't quite understand why this market even exists.
But admittedly the price is too high.

I doubt the refresh rate is fast enough

Refresh rate is actually fine, pixel response times and intense ghosting however... Don't even try.
You can make it work yeah sure, but it looks worse than a 50$ tablet from 15 years ago.
E-ink is actually a great showcase why refresh rate is deceptive and won't tell the entire story.

Considering E-Ink power draw this does make me wonder what "decent" would mean for this device.

Boox's track record is a bit all over the place. Typically it's great, but at times... not so much...

 

[L'Eliminateur]

i'm sorry but "relatively affordable" and an insane bonkers "649usd" do not belong in the same sentence.
It's not affordable no matter what you relate it to in the same product category.

and... NO LIGHT at all at that insane price?, nuts, that's a dealbreaker, any e-ink of that size needs uniform adjustable all around lighting.
An "external light" might be an annoyance and a tradeoff on a 70USD device which you can accept, in this it's not acceptable

That price alone makes it a no-go for me