When comparing iPad (2017) vs Asus ZenPad 3S 10 (2017), the Slant community recommends iPad (2017) for most people. In the question“What are the best 10" tablets around $650?” iPad (2017) is ranked 1st while Asus ZenPad 3S 10 (2017) is ranked 2nd. The most important reason people chose iPad (2017) is:
Costing just above $300 in its most basic version (the most expensive one costs $559), this iPad has a very attractive price tag for its features. It has a 9.7″ Retina display and comes with a 64-bit A9 chip that ensures a fluid performance and enough computing power for demanding games and other applications. Overall, its features and performance are equivalent to those of other tablets that cost at least $100 more.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Excellent value for money
Costing just above $300 in its most basic version (the most expensive one costs $559), this iPad has a very attractive price tag for its features. It has a 9.7″ Retina display and comes with a 64-bit A9 chip that ensures a fluid performance and enough computing power for demanding games and other applications. Overall, its features and performance are equivalent to those of other tablets that cost at least $100 more.
Pro Great power for games and media
This tablet uses a 64-bit A9 chip and 2GB RAM, which ensure fluidity when gaming, watching media, or even doing some light multimedia creation tasks (in GarageBand, for example). Evidently, it doesn’t perform as well as the iPad Pro, but it’s very noticeable that it’s more powerful than the previous iPad Air 2.
Pro Good for a pleasant media watching experience
The 2048x1536 display, with a 264 ppi pixel density, handles content reproduction quite well. Despite missing some importante features, such as True Tone technology or anti-reflective coating, it’s still a good screen that creates a pleasant experience, creating vivid and rich images. However, it’s noticeable that it’s not as good as the displays of the iPad Pro or of the iPad Air 2 from the previous generation.
Pro Camera is good enough for modest photography
The iPad 2017’s camera is quite decent. It’s 8 MP sensor and good color reproduction capabilities allow for some good photo-taking. Still, it’s not as good as the iPad Pro’s 12 MP camera.
Pro Long battery life
The iPad 2017's battery lasts up to 10 hours (while doing tasks equivalent to regular internet browsing, watching videos or listening to music). It's a lithium-polymer battery with a capacity of 8,800 mAh, which represents a great improvement from the iPad Air 2's battery, which only had 7.340 mAh.
Pro Powerful enough for the majority of people
One may decide to go for a more expensive, more premium option capable of better performance, but for the vast majority of users, this Asus tablet is more than enough. Its processing power comes from a 1.8 GHz Qualcomm MSM8956 S650 Hexa Core and 4GB LPDDR3 RAM. When it comes to graphics, it has an Adreno 510 GPU.
Pro Outstanding value
This Asus tablet offers amazing value. It’s not the most powerful or more premium option on the market, but it’s definitely one the tablets with a more balanced mix of features, power and price. What if offers to users for under $300 is definitely more than enough for most needs.
Pro Perfect for working on the go
The Asus ZenPad 3S 10 is ideal for working on the go, even while commuting or traveling. Its 7800 mAh battery lasts for 16 hours on a full charge, which is more than enough for a workday. When it comes to its size and weight, it’s quite portable, despite not being the most compact (242 x 164 x 5.8 mm) or light (490g) option of its generation.
Pro Realistic, vivid image
This tablet’s 9.7 inches screen is really good and capable of high-quality, clear images with striking, bright colors. It has an IPS panel with a 2K resolution of 2048 x 1536. It uses Asus’ VisualMaster and Tru2Life+ technologies: the first one optimizes the display’s configuration according to the content being displayed, and the second one assures vivid colours and high contrast levels. It counts with 178º viewing angles to ensure a precise images from any position.
Cons
Con No accessory connector
There’s no connector for accessories: to connect them to the tablet, Bluetooth is the only possible option.
Con Storage options could be better
32GB and 128GB are the only storage options available, with no possibility of expansion (via SD cards, for example). This means there’s a huge gap between the lowest option, which will feel like not enough for lots of people, and the highest one, which has too much space for those same users. A 64GB version would probably be more balanced and the most suitable for the majority of users.
Con Takes too long to charge
This iPad's battery takes around 4 hours to completely charge, which can feel like too long in many situations where you don't have that kind of time to spare.
Con Battery charging could be faster
Despite using Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 3.0, it can take a while (around 3 hours) to completely charge the battery.