06-26-2024, 10:46 AM
G'day Prof,
tl;dr:
If you're going to play outside very much, get an E-Ink device (this pretty much means a Boox Tab-X), otherwise it's dealer's choice.
Long version:
I only have one observation for you:
About 10 years ago I dipped my toe in the waters of electronic music stands. What I found was that the platforms available didn't work very well outside (I play in outside venues a lot) because the displays would wash out and often couldn't be seen in bright sunlight. I simply couldn't make the screen bright enough so I gave up on the idea completely. Also, the batterys would deplete very quickly with the brightness up as high as it would go.
Recently I discovered the Boox e-Ink series of tablets. Long story short, I now have a Boox Tab-X and I love it - extraordinary battery life and the brighter the incident light the easier it is to see the screen, AND if I happen to be playing inside in poor light the frontlight works just fine.
Downsides? It was very expensive (though not as much as an iPad), screen refresh/update is slow and artifacts can sometimes be left behind (a press on the redraw button fixes this but I've never found it to be a problem anyway), and no colour* (which makes some MS features less effective, but not so much as to be a problem if you use the E-Ink version). No colour also means that most apps on the Play store are pretty useless as they expect colour. On the upside, this means my device doesn't get co-opted for other activities.
*There are now smaller, Boox colour E-Ink devices available. Two are 10.3" and one is 7.8", but given your size preferences these are not suitable. I also haven't physically seen one so I have no idea how good the colour E-Ink displays actually are.
tl;dr:
If you're going to play outside very much, get an E-Ink device (this pretty much means a Boox Tab-X), otherwise it's dealer's choice.
Long version:
I only have one observation for you:
About 10 years ago I dipped my toe in the waters of electronic music stands. What I found was that the platforms available didn't work very well outside (I play in outside venues a lot) because the displays would wash out and often couldn't be seen in bright sunlight. I simply couldn't make the screen bright enough so I gave up on the idea completely. Also, the batterys would deplete very quickly with the brightness up as high as it would go.
Recently I discovered the Boox e-Ink series of tablets. Long story short, I now have a Boox Tab-X and I love it - extraordinary battery life and the brighter the incident light the easier it is to see the screen, AND if I happen to be playing inside in poor light the frontlight works just fine.
Downsides? It was very expensive (though not as much as an iPad), screen refresh/update is slow and artifacts can sometimes be left behind (a press on the redraw button fixes this but I've never found it to be a problem anyway), and no colour* (which makes some MS features less effective, but not so much as to be a problem if you use the E-Ink version). No colour also means that most apps on the Play store are pretty useless as they expect colour. On the upside, this means my device doesn't get co-opted for other activities.
*There are now smaller, Boox colour E-Ink devices available. Two are 10.3" and one is 7.8", but given your size preferences these are not suitable. I also haven't physically seen one so I have no idea how good the colour E-Ink displays actually are.
You're only paranoid if you're wrong 
I'm using an Onyx Boox Tab X, and play low brass: mainly 'Bone and Tuba
I'm using an Onyx Boox Tab X, and play low brass: mainly 'Bone and Tuba