BOOX Note Max 13.3" 2024, Samsung, 6GB, 128GB

The BOOX Note Max gives you a deliciously big and sharp E-Ink screen, but the laughably small battery means you'll be charging it like a smartphone. If you can live tethered to a wall, it's a dream for reading and note-taking - otherwise, keep moving.

The screen is the absolute best-in-class. At 3200x2400 with BOOX's Super Refresh tech, text is razor-sharp and ghosting is minimal for an E-Ink panel. That 96th percentile ranking is no joke. Processing power is surprisingly decent, with its octa-core CPU keeping Android 13 and note-taking apps snappy. But the real surprise, and not a good one, is the battery. With just 3700mAh, it drains noticeably fast for an e-reader, especially if you use Wi-Fi or the front light. We expected an all-day marathon, not a sprint.

The obvious cross-shop is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra, which offers a massive 14.6-inch AMOLED screen, a far better battery, and a powerful Snapdragon chip, all with S Pen support. It runs circles around the Note Max for multimedia and multitasking, but it can't touch the eye comfort and paper-like feel of E-Ink. The iPad Pro M5 is another alternative: ludicrously fast with Apple Pencil precision, but again, it's an LCD-illuminated panel that will fatigue your eyes after hours of reading. If your only priority is a distraction-free, outdoor-readable, document-focused tablet, the Note Max is your only option of this size. Otherwise, those two blow it away.

Pricing is all over the place, ranging from $630 to $866 depending on where you shop. If you can nab it at the low end, it's a solid investment for the e-ink faithful. But at full price, it's a tough sell when a Samsung Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra with a stunning AMOLED display and a real battery comes in not that much more. The screen is unique, but the battery penalty is hard to swallow.

The BOOX Note Max is a niche beast: a 13.3-inch E-Ink tablet that gives you an A4-sized, 300 ppi canvas for reading and writing without the eye strain of a traditional LCD. It's the kind of device that makes academics, lawyers, and research-heavy professionals light up, because it handles PDFs like nothing else. But before you get too excited, there's a glaring flaw: a tiny 3700mAh battery that lands in the bottom 4% of all tablets we've tested. You'll be hunting for a charger far sooner than you'd like.

If you're looking for a tablet that can handle streaming, gaming, or even basic web browsing without constant charging, the Note Max is a terrible fit. Grab an Apple iPad Air or a Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE instead—you'll get a great writing experience and actual battery life, plus a color screen for everything else.

The BOOX Note Max is the best large-format E-Ink tablet you can buy, but that's a backhanded compliment because the bar isn't high and the battery is atrocious. We recommend it only for die-hard PDF annotators and researchers who will be near an outlet most of the day. For everyone else, the battery alone should steer you toward an iPad or a Galaxy Tab.