Lenovo Tab M 8 Review

The Lenovo Tab M8 is a $98 tablet with 2GB of RAM, which puts it in the 3rd percentile for memory. It's fine as a single-purpose media remote, but it will stutter if you ask it to do more. Only consider it if your budget is absolute and your expectations are even lower.

The Lenovo Tab M8 is a $98 Android tablet that knows its place. It's not trying to be an iPad Pro. With a total score of 21 out of 100 in our database, it's firmly in the budget zone. The numbers tell a clear story: it's built for basic tasks like reading and streaming, where it scores a 17.4 and 15.5 respectively. Its standout feature is social proof, landing in the 68th percentile, which means a lot of people are buying it and seem generally happy. But you're getting a device with 2GB of RAM (3rd percentile) and an 8-inch HD screen (5th percentile). Think of it as a dedicated, no-fuss media remote that won't hurt your wallet.

Let's be real, 'performance' here means 'does it work'. The quad-core CPU sits in the 42nd percentile, which is basically average for a budget tablet. It'll handle scrolling through social media and playing a video, but don't expect miracles. The 2GB of RAM is the real bottleneck, sitting in the dismal 3rd percentile. That's why you'll see reviews mentioning lag when trying to do too much at once. The GPU is similarly mid-pack at the 44th percentile, so basic games are fine, but anything demanding is off the table. The 5000 mAh battery lands right in the middle at the 49th percentile, so you should get a full day of light use, but it's nothing to write home about.

At $98, the value proposition is simple: it's one of the cheapest ways to get a name-brand tablet with a metal body. You're paying for the Lenovo badge and a build quality that beats true bargain-bin tablets. The performance per dollar is low, but the durability and brand trust per dollar might be high enough for some buyers. Just know that every dollar you save is reflected in the specs, particularly that 2GB of RAM.

Stacked against its listed competitors, the Tab M8 exists in a different universe. The Apple iPad Pro, Samsung Galaxy Tab S10+, and Microsoft Surface Pro are performance powerhouses costing ten times as much. A more direct comparison would be against Amazon's Fire tablets. The Tab M8's key advantage is a clean, ad-free Android OS versus Fire OS. However, Fire tablets often have better screen tech and deeper Amazon ecosystem integration for a similar price. Against other budget Androids, the Lenovo's metal build and lack of bloatware are its main selling points, but you'll find others with more RAM or better screens if you're willing to dig.

Skip this tablet if you have any ambition beyond watching videos and light browsing. Students needing a device for research and documents, artists, mobile gamers, or anyone who considers themselves a 'power user' on any level should look elsewhere. The 2GB RAM (3rd percentile) and 5th percentile screen resolution are immediate deal-breakers for any semi-serious task. Your frustration will outweigh the $98 savings very quickly.

We can only recommend the Lenovo Tab M8 with very specific caveats. If your needs are hyper-specific—like a dedicated video streamer for the kitchen, a simple e-reader for PDFs, or a first tablet for a young kid where you don't want ads—and your budget is locked under $100, it's a defensible choice. The metal build is nice. But for anyone who thinks they might need a bit more flexibility, that 2GB of RAM (3rd percentile) and ancient Android version will become frustrating quickly. In almost every case, spending a bit more for a tablet with 4GB of RAM and a newer OS version is a vastly better investment.