Lenovo P11 Pro vs Samsung Tab S7 and S7+ (artist review)

Thinking of getting an Android tablet for drawing? This comparison review is for you as well as for people who just want to know the main differences between these two tablets.

I've already written in-depth reviews for Samsung Tab S7+ and Lenovo P11 Pro.

Background

I've been using the Samsung Tab S7+ for several months and the Lenovo tablet for several weeks. For this review, I'll talk about the Tab S7 more than the Tab S7+ because the latter is US $200 more expensive, and significantly more expensive than the Lenovo.

Pricing

The lowest price I could find for the Lenovo P11 Pro is US $428 (6GB RAM + 128GB storage) on AliExpress. If you get the stylus bundle, it's US $482. Price on Lenovo's website is at least $120 more expensive.

Samsung Tab S7 (6GB RAM + 128GB storage) is US 549 on Amazon.com. And the Samsung Tab S7+ is US $749.

With tablet and pen, we are looking at Lenovo's $482 vs Samsung's $549.

Bottomline is if you can stretch your budget just by $67, you are going to get a significantly better tablet with the Samsung Tab S7.

The Samsung Tab S7 has a better display even if it's a LCD, screen refresh is 120Hz, battery life is longer (I got 10 hours easily with normal use), longer support (currently Android 11 vs 10 on Lenovo), less glitches, better desktop mode and just better performance overall.

Samsung Tab S7 is more expensive but it provides more value for money, perhaps even so compared to the larger Tab S7+.

Design and build quality

Both tablets look terrific. Both are slim, have thin bezels, four way speakers (good audio quality), rounded corners, fingerprint sensor on power button, compact and lightweight. Build quality is excellent.

Display

Lenovo P11 Pro's OLED display is beautiful but there are many downsides:

• Pentile matrix so text have fuzzy edges
• Wobbly jelly effect when scrolling in portrait orientation
• Image retention under certain circumstances
• PWM

Samsung Tab S7's LCD colours and brightness are fantastic too. A good LCD can definitely rival a low quality OLED and that's seems to be the case here. You get none of the OLED downsides with Samsung Tab S7's LCD.

The other visible difference is the Samsung Tab S7's 120Hz refresh rate just makes the whole experience smoother when it comes to drawing, writing, using apps (scroll, pan, zoom). And the amazing thing is the 120Hz does not adversely affect battery life. You can easily get 10+ hours of usage with above average brightness.

Overall performance and battery life

Snapdragon 865+ offers at least 30% and 50% more performance on single and multi-core performance respectively compared to Snapdragon 730G.

You probably won't notice much difference with general usage like browsing the web, checking email, social media, watching videos, scroll, pan, zoom, launch and switch apps. You can get around 10 hours battery life on both tablets.

Where you may notice difference is when it comes to gaming with demanding games. I don't game so I can't tell you much about gaming experience but Snapdragon 865+ is probably the best mobile chip currently on Android tablets and phones.

Pen

Samsung S Pen

Both Samsung S Pen and Lenovo Precision Pen 2 support tilt and pressure sensitivity. Both are sensitive and accurate stylus. Perfect palm rejection is possible with these two active stylus. S Pen does not require battery while Lenovo pen needs to be charged (100 hours battery life).

The one issue that concerns me is it's difficult to find replacement tips for the Lenovo pen. Replacement pen tips for the S Pen are easy to find and very affordable.

Drawing performance

Lenovo P11 Pro

Drawing performance on both tablets is quite similar good but there are glitches with some apps.

On the Lenovo P11 Pro, Clip Studio Paint would occasionally freeze but thankfully it's a not a hard crash. You can move the cursor to the menu to unfreeze the app thereby introducing a stray stroke you have to erase later. Clip Studio Paint is the best drawing app on Android so to have this glitch is quite unfortunate.

The other glitch is sometimes apps will detect finger gestures incorrectly. For example, sometimes I get undo even if I did not use double finger tap. This random glitch happens with specific but not all drawing apps.

On Samsung Tab S7 and S7+, Medibang Paint Pro would occasionally zoom to different area. That's the only glitch I experience.

Lenovo Productivity Mode and SamsungDex

Lenovo Productivity Mode and SamsungDex are the desktop user interface for Android.

Lenovo's implementation isn't that good. Some apps are unable to open fullscreen and will show you the phone UI of the app. Some apps have glitches when opened in Productivity Mode.

When you connect to external monitor, you can only mirror. You can't use your extended monitor as extended desktop.

App compatibility is much better with SamsungDex. Most apps can open in fullscreen fine, have less glitches. When connected to extended monitor, you can really use the tablet as a desktop, and your tablet can be used to show something else (not just a mirror mode). E.g. You can edit photos on the external monitor and check email on the tablet.

Conclusion

Between the US $549 Samsung Tab S7 (S Pen included) and $482 Lenovo P11 Pro (with Pen bundled), it is definitely worth spending a bit more to get a better display, processor and performance, longer future updates and desktop mode.

If you're in the market to get a tablet, I highly recommend you top up the extra $67 to get the Samsung Tab S7.

The US $349 Samsung Tab S6 Lite is worth considering as well. Performance and display is not as good compared to the Lenovo that's for sure but it's $133 cheaper and still comes with the S Pen.

Availability

If you do decide to get the tablets, consider buying your tablet through the affiliate links below. I earn some commission at no extra cost to you. It helps me put out more reviews like this.

Affiliate links:
Lenovo P11 Pro on AliExpress
Samsung Tab S7 and S7+ on Amazon