I recently picked up a cheap Android-powered tablet. How affordable? $200. This thing has an 8-core Mediatek Helio G99 CPU, 512 GB of internal storage, and 8 GB of RAM. The impressively large 12-inch display has a resolution of 1200x2000, and everything is wrapped within an aluminum shell. It feels and looks far more expensive than the price tag, but it's stuck on Android 14, which is the only caveat of this otherwise amazing value.

It's so good that the Doogee T40 Pro might even replace my laptop.

Using a laptop is a subpar experience

Battery life and cooling

I've always struggled with laptops. The battery life is average at best, and if you're not near a power outlet, you often have to monitor what you're doing and ensure as few apps and services are being used as possible. That's not a great user experience, but this all changed with the Apple MacBook Air with the M2 chip. This was an absolute beast in terms of battery life. I frequently saw around 30% left after a full eight hours of work and some light website browsing.

The only drawback with this laptop was the fact that it runs macOS and only has 4 GB of RAM. Swap filing helped with the latter problem, but this causes increased wear on the SSDs ... which just so happen to be soldered to the PCB. Planned obsolescence? Possibly, but the rest of the laptop was almost perfect. Fanless, didn't get hot and could even run a game or two. The fact it ran Football Manager and didn't completely decimate the battery was incredible.

For the OS, macOS isn't terrible, but it has many of the same issues I have with Windows. Linux is simply where I prefer to reside, having more control over every part of the device and how I want the OS to run — that notion is inverted with Microsoft and Apple. So, I was elated when Framework announced the AMD-powered 13 with full Linux support. It's a solid laptop and one I reviewed positively, but the battery life isn't amazing, and it gets a little too warm even at idle.

My esteemed colleague, Alex Dobie, even handed me a Windows on Arm laptop, which is fine, but again, it's locked to Windows, and I haven't quite gotten round to booting Linux on it — it's still not seeing any boot drive even after a few UEFI alterations; a work in progress for sure. Although it does have active cooling, the Snapdragon chip at least runs cooler than the AMD CPU inside the Framework 13, but because official support for Linux is lacking, I doubt I'll get everything working.

This all led me to purchase a cheap Android tablet over Prime Day.

$200 of amazing value

Beefy specs and performance

I kept an eye on the countless tablet deals that took place through the Prime Day week and had the Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ shortlisted alongside the Doogee T40 Pro. I understood the T40 V Pro was already out with the same hardware and Android 15, and so I thought I could be cheeky and go with this variant and attempt a software upgrade further down the line. The jury's still out on that one, unfortunately. The Doogee tablet won over Samsung due to the specs.

The Mediatek Helio G99 won't win any awards for breaking benchmark records, nor will it best the Apple M2, Snapdragon X Elite, or AMD Ryzen 7 7840U in the laptops I have at hand, but what it does do is offer some incredible battery life when paired with a 10,800mAh power pack. It's also good enough to run countless apps, including some productivity solutions and even access self-hosted services I run from home. There's no heat issues or active cooling to contend with either.

The Doogee T40 Pro has double the RAM of the MacBook Air with an additional 12 GB, should it be required, though this is virtual, so it acts just like a swap. The display is actually better than I thought it would be with most cheaper tablets and phones sacrificing panels for other specs, but the 12-inch IPS LCD does well both at night and out in the sun. Wireless capabilities are okay with support for Wi-Fi 5, though it does have SIM support for WLAN, which will be interesting.

But it's the CPU, GPU, and storage that shine here. Responsiveness is smooth, and I can open large spreadsheets, countless tabs, and more without it feeling bogged down. Everything that I usually do on a laptop can be done on this Android tablet with an accompanying Bluetooth mouse and keyboard. And that's without a fan struggling to pull in some air on my lap or battery life taking a hit due to the web browser deciding it wants to completely drain the pack.

Some additional nice touches include the versatility of an Android tablet, how stable the OS runs compared to prior generations, and how capable the form factor is these days versus laptops. There's even stylus support, which is great for those times I don't fancy mucking up the display with my oily fingers or fetching the keyboard and mouse. Although far from perfect, it's a vastly superior experience at a fraction of the cost ... until I want to run some software only possible on a PC.

It's also great for the grind

OSRS runs like a champ

Not needing to spend time at the PC to play OSRS is a huge win here. It's great on mobile, and while the S23 Ultra from Samsung does have a hefty display, it's still a little too small for my liking. That's where the mighty 12-inch tablet comes into play, allowing me to grind some experience while around the house. Once I grab a data SIM, the Doogee T30 Pro will allow me to scape while out and about, which is going to come in handy for those downtime moments.

Overall, this is probably one of the best devices I've bought from Prime Day, though I am a huge fan of the new juicer for a slightly healthier lifestyle, and nothing will beat the usefulness of a USB Zigbee receiver. I've now gone almost two weeks without touching a laptop, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.