Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus 12.4" Mystic Black 2020

The 12.4 inch OLED screen is the absolute best right now, landing in the 95th percentile of our database. The 10090mAh battery is also impressive at the 88th percentile. But the Snapdragon 865 Pro CPU sits at a mediocre 35th percentile, so this is a media tablet first and a productivity machine second.

Let's talk about that screen first because it's the star of the show. 2736x1824 resolution on a 12.4 inch OLED panel puts this in the 95th percentile of every tablet we've tested. That's top of the charts territory. The 120Hz refresh rate (standard on this model) makes scrolling and the S Pen feel responsive, and the 9ms pen latency is genuinely impressive for note-taking and sketching.

The Snapdragon 865 Pro is where things get less exciting. It lands at the 35th percentile for CPU and the 36th percentile for GPU in our database. That's mediocre by today's standards. For everyday tasks like browsing, streaming, and light productivity, you won't notice much lag. But push it with heavy multitasking in DeX mode or demanding games, and you'll feel the age. The 8GB of RAM sits at the 66th percentile, which is solid but not standout. The 256GB of storage at the 74th percentile gives you decent breathing room.

Against the Apple iPad Air M4, the Tab S7 Plus wins on screen size and battery but loses badly on processing power. The M4 chip in the iPad Air is in a completely different league than the Snapdragon 865 Pro. The Lenovo Yoga Tab Plus and Xiaomi Pad 7 both offer newer processors and better connectivity, though neither matches the S7 Plus's display quality. The Microsoft Surface Pro 11th Edition runs full Windows, which makes it a better laptop replacement, but you'll pay significantly more. For pure media consumption at this price, the S7 Plus holds its own. For anything demanding, the newer competitors pull ahead.

At $300 USD for a Geek Squad Certified Refurbished unit, the value proposition is interesting. You're getting a 95th percentile screen and an 88th percentile battery for less than half the price of a new flagship tablet. The 90 day warranty is shorter than we'd like, but that's the trade-off for the refurb discount. If you're buying this primarily as a media consumption device or a digital notebook, the price per performance ratio is genuinely good. If you need it for business or heavy productivity, the 38.7 business score should give you pause.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus is a tale of two tablets. The screen is the absolute best right now, a 12.4 inch 2736x1824 OLED panel that lands in the 95th percentile of our database. That's the kind of display that makes you want to rewatch every movie you own just to see it again. But the internals tell a different story. The Snapdragon 865 Pro sits at the 35th percentile for CPU performance, which is a weak spot for a tablet that Samsung marketed as having PC performance.

At 581 grams with a 10090mAh battery, this thing is built for long sessions. The battery ranks in the 88th percentile, so you're getting genuinely impressive endurance. But the connectivity is middle of the pack at the 48th percentile with only Wireless-AC and Bluetooth 5.0. No Wi-Fi 6 in a flagship tablet feels like a miss, even for a refurbished unit at this price point.

Skip this if you need real processing power. The CPU at the 35th percentile and GPU at the 36th percentile are disappointing for a flagship tablet, even at this refurbished price. The business score of 38.7 out of 100 is the weakest area, so anyone planning to use this as a laptop replacement should look at the Surface Pro 11th Edition or iPad Air M4 instead. Also skip if you need Wi-Fi 6 or modern connectivity, the 48th percentile connectivity score with only Wireless-AC is a weak spot.

The Galaxy Tab S7 Plus is a screen and battery showcase wrapped around aging internals. If you want a gorgeous OLED display for streaming, reading, and light note-taking, this refurbished unit at $300 USD is a solid deal. The 95th percentile screen and 88th percentile battery are genuinely impressive. But the 35th percentile CPU and 36th percentile GPU mean this is not the PC replacement Samsung claimed it was. For media and casual use, it's a strong buy. For productivity or gaming, look elsewhere.