Lenovo Tab M8 8" ZABU0108US 2024, MediaTek Helio A22, 2GB, 32GB, Gray

The Lenovo Tab M8 is a budget tablet with a dead-last CPU and a dim screen, but it's light and has great claimed battery life. It's fine for kids' streaming and reading, but only if you find it near the USD 170 low end. At USD 249, skip it.

The MediaTek Helio A22 is a 1-core chip, and it sits in the 1st percentile of all tablets we track. That's not a typo. Apps open slowly, multitasking is basically a suggestion, and anything beyond streaming or light reading will chug. The 2GB of RAM is in the 5th percentile, so expect apps to reload constantly. The 8-inch 1280x800 display is fine for cartoons but sits in the 2nd percentile for screen quality, and 350 nits means outdoor use is a struggle. On the plus side, the GPU ranking is oddly high at 99th percentile, but that's more about the low bar of this category than actual gaming power. Don't expect to play anything demanding.

Stacked against the Apple iPad Air M3, Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, or Xiaomi Pad 7, this thing is not in the same conversation. Those are performance tablets with bright, high-res screens and enough RAM to actually multitask. The Tab M8 is closer to a Microsoft Surface Pro 7 in age, but even that has a better CPU and more RAM. The Vekfulpc T60 Pro is another budget option that likely outperforms this. If you need a tablet for work, school, or anything beyond YouTube and ebooks, spend more and get an iPad or a Galaxy Tab. If you just need a screen for a kid to watch Bluey, the Tab M8 is fine, but only at the right price.

Pricing is all over the place. In the US, we see listings from USD 170 to USD 249, which is a USD 79 spread for the same tablet. At USD 170, it's a tolerable buy for a kid's first tablet. At USD 249, you're getting fleeced. The Newegg listing is the one to watch if you're in the US. For that money, you could get a much better used tablet or a budget Amazon Fire. The value equation only works if you find it at the low end and your expectations are set to 'streaming and reading only.'

The Lenovo Tab M8 is a budget 8-inch tablet aimed at kids and casual media consumption. It's light, cheap, and has a battery Lenovo claims can hit 16 hours of streaming. That's the pitch, and for the right buyer it mostly works.

But our database is not kind to this thing. The CPU ranks dead last among tablets we track, the screen is nearly at the bottom, and 2GB of RAM is rough even for Android Go. This is a tablet you buy for a specific, low-demand use case, not a general-purpose device.

Skip this if you need to run more than one app at a time, edit documents, play games, or use it outdoors. The 2GB of RAM and 1-core CPU will frustrate you within minutes. Also skip it if you can't find it under USD 200, because at higher prices you're paying too much for too little.

Buy this if you need a cheap, light tablet for a young kid or as a dedicated e-reader and streaming device. It's not a productivity tool, it's not a gaming tablet, and it's not a laptop replacement. The battery life claim is the real selling point, and the eye care certification is a nice touch for parents. Just don't expect it to do anything quickly.