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The largest tablets › 13-inch tablets › Boox Tab X C / Note Max

Boox Tab X C / Note Max: specs, size and price

A thin 13.3-inch E Ink notebook with Android, Google Play and a pen, but no front light

Onyx Boox Tab X (e-book-reader)

Boox Tab X C / Note Max Photo: large-screens.com

Screen Size Rank
Size Rank
#39
of Letter Paper Size
of Letter Size
91%

Key specifications

  • Screen13.3″ E Ink Carta 1300
  • Aspect ratio4:3 (1.33)squarer, like the iPad: good for reading and drawing
  • Resolution3200 × 2400 pixelsvery sharp (301 ppi)
  • Screen area548 cm² · 91 % of a Letter sheet
  • SystemAndroid 13
  • ProcessorQualcomm Snapdragon 855
  • Weight615 g
  • Penincluded
  • Keyboardoptional
  • Statuscurrent model
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Author Johannes Eva (viola)I am a classical musician (violist) with 20 years of professional experience in orchestra and chamber music. For many years, I have been advising colleagues, students, and fellow musicians in the choice of their tablet.

Along with the many positives of using tablets, I’ve also seen the negatives: tablets crashing just before going on stage, batteries that don’t hold up during long rehearsal days, and missing page turner pedals in concert.

Overview

The Boox Note Max is a 13.3-inch E Ink tablet for reading documents and taking handwritten notes. It runs Android 13 with Google Play and comes with a pen. Pocket-lint gave it 4.5/5 and eWritable 88%, while The AU Review (3/5), Creative Bloq and MobileSyrup found it too slow for anything beyond reading and notes.

The monochrome Carta 1300 screen is slightly larger than the 13-inch iPad Pro and has the same 4:3 shape, a tall format that suits documents and sheet music. At 3200 × 2400 pixels (300 ppi), text is very sharp and full-page PDFs fit without zooming. The reflective screen stays readable in sunlight, but there is no front light, so it needs a well-lit room. eWritable and The AU Review saw some ghosting, mostly with images.

For an E Ink device it is fast, but the slow screen refresh makes typing and many Android apps lag: MobileSyrup saw letters take seconds to appear, and Tom’s Guide notes that many apps do not work well on the monochrome screen. It has 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, without microSD. Boox promises free firmware updates for more than three years after launch.

The included Boox Pen Plus needs no battery and writes smoothly, say Pocket-lint and The AU Review, but Creative Bloq reported poor palm rejection. The optional $149.99 keyboard cover with touchpad adds about 600 g. The tablet is 4.6 mm thin and weighs 615 g, tiring to hold for long. Battery reports differ: eWritable measured about 6% per hour while writing (roughly 17 hours) and MobileSyrup charged it about once a week, but Pocket-lint was down to 10% within a workday. There are two speakers and one USB-C port.

Boox sells it for $599.99 in the US (October 2026), down from $649.99 at launch. The Tab X C variant adds a color Kaleido 3 screen with a front light for $759.99.

Pros

  • Large 13.3-inch screen with e-Ink technology
  • Very thin (0.27 in / 6.8 mm) and light (1.24 lb / 560 g)
  • Best outdoor readability, even on sunny days
  • Outstanding battery life
  • Best extra-large e-reader on the market

Cons

  • Display lag and poor reactivity compared to tablets
  • Poor performance
  • Outdated Android version
  • No cellular option (Wi-Fi only)
  • No camera (e.g., to scan sheet music)
  • Very expensive

Performance

Boox Note Max: Performance

The Boox Note Max is powered by the relatively old Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 processor, released in 2019 and built on a 7 nm process. It is fine for streaming, web browsing, documents and casual games, but it is not made for demanding games, video editing or heavy multitasking. Compared with other large tablets:

  • The Apple M5 in the Apple iPad Pro 13″ (M5) is about 5.5 times faster.
  • The Samsung Exynos 1580 in the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE+ is about 40 % faster.
  • The Boox Note Max is about 40 % faster than the Meswao MES-B3 (Pro) and its MediaTek Helio G99.

Size compared with the iPad Pro and a sheet of paper

The Boox Tab X C / Note Max drawn to scale with the 13-inch iPad Pro and a Letter sheet.

  • Boox Note Max
    10.6 × 8.0 in
  • iPad Pro 13″
    10.4 × 7.8 in
  • Letter sheet
    11.0 × 8.5 in

The Boox Tab X C / Note Max drawn to scale with the 13-inch iPad Pro and a Letter sheet.

Full specifications

Display
Screen size 13.3 inches
Screen area 84.9 in² · 548 cm² · 91 % of a Letter sheet · 105 % of the 13″ iPad Pro
Resolution 3200 × 2400
Pixel density 301 ppi
Aspect ratio 4:3 (1.33)
Panel E Ink Carta 1300
Surface matte
Performance and software
Operating system Android 13
Google services yes
Updates 3 years
Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
Class mid-range
RAM 6 GB
Storage 128 GB
microSD no
Pen and keyboard
Pen included — BOOX Pen Plus
Keyboard optional — BOOX Magnetic Keyboard Cover for Note Max/Tab X C
Built-in kickstand no
Design and battery
Weight (tablet) 615 g (1.36 lb)
Weight with keyboard 1,233 g
Thickness 4.6 mm
Dimensions 287.5 × 243 × 4.6 mm
Battery 3,700 mAh
Battery life 16.7 h (note-taking, about 6% per hour (about 3% per hour = 33 h when reading); extrapolated from the drain rate, eWritable)
Ports 1 × USB-C (OTG)
Headphone jack no
Speakers 2
Connectivity Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, none
Price and availability
List price (manufacturer) $599.99 · €629.99
Status current model
Released December 2024
Sold in USA, Canada, Europe, UK

Specifications checked on October 2, 2026. Prices are the manufacturers’ list prices (not Amazon prices) and change often.