For Asus to hit the $99 US price point, obvious sacrifices were made. In fact, just $20 to $30 more can get you a tablet in a higher class in terms of specs. Because we’re talking such a fine line, we don’t want to look at tablets selling above $100 US. If we did that, then we are simply not comparing apples with apples. We simply want to give you an idea of how the ZenPad C 7.0 stacks up against the competition. We are doing a comparison of quality, brand name tablets and not the less known/quality brands that exist on the market.
ZenPad C 7.0 (Z170C) Specs:
- $99 US
- Android 5.0
- 1.1GHz processor, 64-bit
- 1024 x 600 resolution
- 1GB RAM
- 16GB storage
- microSD slot: yes
- front facing speaker: yes
- weight: 9.44 ounces (0.59 pounds)
- thin: 0.35 inches
- rear camera: 2.0MP, front camera: 0.3MP
Lenovo Tab 2 (7-inch)
- $79 to $99 US
- Android 4.4 (update coming)
- 1.3GHz processor
- 1024 x 600 resolution
- 1GB RAM
- 8GB storage
- microSD slot: yes
- front facing speaker: yes
- weight: 0.59 pounds
- thin: 0.35 inches
- rear camera: 2.0MP, front camera 0.3MP
Asus MeMO Pad 7 (ME70CX)
- $89 to $99 US
- Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean)
- 1.2GHz processor
- 1024 x 600 resolution
- 1GB RAM
- 16GB storage
- microSD slot: yes
- front facing speaker: no
- weight: 10.08 ounces
- thin: 0.49 inches
- rear camers: 2.0MP, front camera 0.3MP
HP 7 G2-1311
- $99 US
- Android 4.4.2
- 1.2GHz processor
- 1280 x 720 resolution
- 1GB RAM
- weight: 8.8 ounces
- thin: 0.34 inches
- rear camera 2MP, front camera 0.3MP
Summary and Conclusion: It’s a bit tricky comparing tablets that are right around the $99 price point. Sure, at times you may find that $120 or $130 US tablet selling for around $99 US. That’s difficult for us to track and compare for a number of reasons, and plus we feel that the $120 to $140 Android tablets in the 7-inch size are more comparable to the ZenPad 7.0 (Z370C) and not the ZenPad C 7.0 (Z170C).
What we can conclude is that there are plenty of no name Android tablets that run at or below $99. Cheap parts, cheap specs and non brand recognition. However, for any current release with the newest Intel processor and 16GB storage? There aren’t many comparables. The Lenovo tablet is a fair comparison for the price range and is also a newer release.
It’s quite clear, outside of the HP tablet, that the resolution at this price point is going to be 1024 x 600. In the case of the higher resolution HP tablet, it’s running an older Android OS and comes with 8GB storage.
Speaking to the tablets at $99 or less that have 8GB onboard storage. Yes, you could expand that storage with a microSD card, but then you are adding to that sub $99 price point to get it to or above the Z170C’s 16GB onboard storage. So consider that it might be on sale slightly cheaper, but it has half the storage. At 8GB, you’re certainly likely to need a microSD card which is still going to eat away at the money you saved in the first place. Sure for around $10 or so, you can get a microSD card, but keep in mind the cards rated transfer rate and failure rate.
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