Lenovo Idea Tab Pro Review: Budget Tablet for Students
My take on the Lenovo Idea Tab Pro after pairing it with a Bluetooth keyboard, testing the pen, and pushing the Dimensity 8300 chip.
The Lenovo Idea Tab Pro is worth buying if you’re a student who needs one device for notes, lectures and streaming. It’s a 12.7-inch tablet with 8GB RAM, 128GB storage and a MediaTek Dimensity 8300 chip, and the pen and folio case are included. Easy buy for school.
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How this review was made: written from my own video review of this product. Every opinion here is my own, from using it myself.
| Display | 12.7″ 3K LCD |
|---|---|
| Memory / Storage | 8 GB RAM / 128 GB |
| Chip | MediaTek Dimensity 8300 |
| OS | Android 15 |
| Battery | Up to 11 hrs video, 45W quick charge |
| Includes | Pen and folio case |
The Pen Snaps On Even Without the Case
The stylus magnetizes to the back of the tablet with the folio case stripped off, and that’s the detail that sold me. Most tablets this size make you buy the pen separately, then make you buy a case to hold the pen. The Lenovo Idea Tab Pro ships with both. The case has a dedicated slot, the pen magnetizes right in there, and it recharges over USB-C instead of some proprietary dongle you’ll lose by October.
Two hours into a lecture-notes session, I hadn’t adjusted my grip or tapped a setting once. For a bundled pen at this price, that’s not a given.
The Magnet Only Works One Way
The pen has a correct orientation, and if you drop it in the case slot backwards it won’t hold. I found that out the first time I packed up. If you’re the kind of person who shoves a tablet in a bag between classes without looking, you’ll lose a stylus eventually, the pen has a correct orientation and won’t hold backwards. Flip it, feel the click, then close the folio.
Also worth knowing before you order: the idea tab pro is sitting a bit above its typical price from the last three months right now. Check the live price at the link rather than assuming it’s at the usual spot.
Desktop Mode Triggers Automatically
Pair a Bluetooth keyboard and the tablet flips itself into desktop mode without you touching a setting. That’s the single most useful behavior on this thing. I paired mine with a Bluetooth keyboard and the whole interface rearranged into something windowed. Add a wireless mouse and it’s basically like you’re at a computer.
The fingerprint sensor lives on the side, built into the power key. You set it up once, put your finger on it, and it turns the tablet on and unlocks it in the same press. One of the coolest features of this thing, and the kind of detail that saves you four seconds forty times a day.
Writing with the pen has no lag between tip and ink, and you can adjust font thickness and style from within the notepad. You get a stack of font options and you can make your writing thinner or thicker, whatever you want to do with this thing. Nothing felt laggy between pen tip and ink.
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Where the Idea Tab Pro Sits Against the Idea Tab Plus
This is the budget-friendly end of the big-screen Android tablet shelf, not the premium end. The Pro sits a step above the Idea Tab Plus line, mostly on the strength of the Dimensity 8300 chip and the 12.7-inch 3K panel. Google Gemini comes baked in on the software side, which Lenovo leans on hard in the marketing. I didn’t push the AI assistant in my testing, so I’ll let you decide how much weight that carries.
Sales-wise it’s slowed down. Amazon has it around #7,613 in Electronics right now against a 90-day average near #3,696, so fewer people are buying it this month than were. More than 500 still sold in the past month, so it isn’t dead stock. Slowing momentum plus an above-average price is a reason to watch the listing, not a reason to write it off.
It Is Not a Laptop Replacement
Desktop mode is convincing until you need real desktop software. It’s Android 15 underneath, so you’re in the Play Store ecosystem no matter how much the windowed layout looks like a computer. If your major requires a specific Windows or Mac program, this is a second device, not your only one. And the keyboard isn’t in the box. The pen and folio case are, the keyboard isn’t, so budget for one if desktop mode is the reason you’re buying.
Snappy and Fast Under Multiple Apps
8GB of RAM and the Dimensity 8300 handled everything I threw at it without a stutter. I had Chrome, a PDF, and a game running split-screen and never caught a dropped frame. Budget Android tablets usually crack under that load. This one didn’t.
The speakers surprised me more than the chip did. There are speakers on the left side and the right side, so the sound actually has width to it instead of coming out of one corner. It’s tough for the sound quality to come through in a video, but I was very impressed with the sound quality on this tablet. Lenovo lists them as quad JBL units with Dolby Atmos, and for once the spec sheet matched what I heard.
Storage is 128GB. If you’re a student downloading lecture recordings and a few games, that’s workable. If you hoard video, plan accordingly.
Who Should Pick This One Up
If you’re a college student, this is a perfect tablet for that. You get a 12.7-inch screen for lectures, a pen that’s included and charges over USB-C, a case that holds it, and enough chip to keep up when you’ve got six things open. Then you pop it out of the keyboard setup and take it with you on the go.
The trade-off is real: Android isn’t a laptop, and the keyboard that makes desktop mode worth using costs extra. If you can live with both of those, there’s no better-equipped tablet at this size and price, pen, case, 3K screen, included.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Google Gemini need a subscription to work on this tablet?
Gemini comes preinstalled and Lenovo notes that compatibility and availability vary, so check what’s active in your region before buying for that reason alone. Google’s own tiers govern anything beyond the free assistant. The core tablet works fully without touching it.
Will any Bluetooth keyboard and mouse work with it?
Yes, it’s standard Bluetooth pairing, and mine triggered desktop mode automatically when the keyboard connected. You don’t need a Lenovo-branded accessory. A mouse pairs the same way and gives you a cursor in desktop mode.
Do I need the idea tab pro case to use the pen?
No. The pen magnetizes directly to the back of the tablet with the case off, so you’re covered either way. The case just gives it a dedicated slot that protects the tip. Both ship in the box regardless.
How long does the stylus charge last and how do you recharge it?
It recharges over USB-C, same cable family as the tablet, so there’s no coin cell or proprietary puck to track down. Lenovo doesn’t publish a pen run-time figure and I didn’t run it flat, so I won’t guess at hours. One cable for both devices is the practical win here.
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