Black Box Corporation MCX-S9-DEC

It's a $914 network AV decoder, not a tablet. Great at 4K60 over 10-GbE, useless as a portable device.

The screen output is the star here. 4K60 over HDMI 2.0 with scaling means this thing can handle high-res video without breaking a sweat, and our database puts its display capabilities in the 97th percentile. That's top of the charts. But everything else is a different story. The GPU, CPU, RAM, and storage all sit in the 30-36th percentile range, which is fine for decoding but laughable if you try to use this as an actual computing device. The connectivity score is a 9th percentile, which makes sense for a decoder with limited I/O, but it's a real limitation if you're expecting tablet-like flexibility.

Stack this against an iPad Pro M5 or a Galaxy Tab S11 Ultra and it's not even the same sport. Those are actual tablets with real CPUs, real batteries, and real app ecosystems. The Surface Pro 11 at least tries to be a computer. The MCX-S9-DEC is a decoder, full stop. The only fair comparison is against other network AV decoders, and in that space, the 10-GbE port and 4K60 scaling put it ahead of cheaper HDMI-only boxes. But against the tablets it's listed beside, it loses on every metric except raw display output.

At $914 USD, this is not a casual purchase. But for a commercial decoder with 10-GbE and 4K60 scaling, that's actually reasonable. The problem is you're paying for specialized AV hardware, not a general-purpose device. If your job is moving video across a network to a big screen, this earns its keep. If you're shopping for a tablet, you're about to spend $914 on something that can't do tablet things.

Let's get one thing straight: the Black Box MCX-S9-DEC is not a tablet. It's a network AV decoder that happens to be listed under tablets because someone's category tree had a bad day. What you're actually getting is a 4K60 decoder box with HDMI 2.0, DisplayPort 1.2a, scaling, USB, and 10-Gigabit Ethernet. It's built to pull video streams off a network and push them to a display, not to run apps or browse the web. If you need a decoder for a commercial AV setup, this is a serious piece of hardware. If you want a tablet, keep scrolling.

If you're looking for a tablet for entertainment, reading, or art, this isn't it. Go get an iPad or a Galaxy Tab instead. If you want a media streamer for your TV, buy a Roku or Apple TV and save yourself $850. This is for AV professionals running network video distribution, period.

Buy this if you need a network AV decoder with 4K60 output and 10-Gigabit Ethernet. It's a niche tool that does its niche job well. Do not buy this if you want a tablet, a media player for your living room, or anything with a battery. The category listing is misleading, and the low social proof means you're trusting specs over real-world feedback.