ASUS MeMO Pad 7 Review: Intel Bay Trail Inside

Name: ASUS MeMO Pad 7 Review: Intel Bay Trail Inside
Brand: ASUS

by Joshua Gulick — Friday, July 11, 2014, 01:00 PM EDT

You may not expect a $150 tablet to be particularly stylish, but no one wants a cheap plastic feel, either. The ASUS MeMO Pad 7 comes across exactly as it should: unassuming, but sturdy. The back of the chassis has a smooth finish that looks fine, but is a little slippery. An aluminum band around the display gives the tablet just a little flair and also adds to its overall tough-tablet image.

The ASUS logo appears on the front of the tablet, just under the display, and on the back of the device, just under the camera. Aside from the logo, camera, and a thin speaker opening near the bottom, the back of the MeMO Pad 7 is empty.

The sides of the tablet are also clutter-free. The built-in mic and the mic/headphone jack sit at the top of the device, along with a micro USB port for the power adapter. The only thing on the tablet’s right side is a micro SD card reader, which doesn’t have a cover. The left side has only the power and volume buttons.

The MeMO Pad 7’s screen is reasonably bright and clear. Movies on Netflix looked good, though some detail seemed to get lost in the shadows during dark scenes. The screen's native resolution of 1280x800 isn't terribly inspiring, but on a display this size, it still offers excellent clarity and sharpness. The speakers are loud enough to hear when you are alone, but when you’re in a room with other conversations taking place around you, you’ll want headphones. The screen picked up fingerprints, but only after lots of use, and it was easy to clean.

Tags: Intel, Asus, tablet, Silvermont, Bay Trail, NASDAQ: INTC

Joshua Gulick

Josh cut his teeth (and hands) on his first PC upgrade in 2000 and was instantly hooked on all things tech. He took a degree in English and tech writing with him to Computer Power User Magazine and spent years reviewing high-end workstations and gaming systems, processors, motherboards, memory and video cards. His enthusiasm for PC hardware also made him a natural fit for covering the burgeoning modding community, and he wrote CPU’s “Mad Reader Mod” cover stories from the series’ inception until becoming the publication editor for Smart Computing Magazine. A few years ago, he returned to his first love, reviewing smoking-hot PCs and components, for HotHardware. When he’s not agonizing over benchmark scores, Josh is either running (very slowly) or spending time with family.