What's the cheapest E-reader (type thingy) that can read PDFs?

[Rune]

As I've backed the current ENWorld kickstarter, I'll soon(ish) be acquiring a large number of PDFs. That being the case, I'm really considering picking up a portable reader.

My problem, though, is that I am about a decade behind, technologically speaking, so I really have no idea what I'm looking for.

I have seen the cheap, black-and-white kindle in person and I am impressed by it's lack of a lit screen, but I somehow doubt that I could get a reader that would display PDFs without one.

More important to me is the cost. So, as the title says, what's the cheapest electronic reader that supports PDFs?

 

[GSHamster]

I think most E-readers on the market right now should handle PDFs.

One word of caution. PDF seems to be the format that requires the most processing power to view. So the cheapest E-reader might greatly struggle with PDFs. I know my old E-reader would sometimes take 10s or more to change the page.

 

[trancejeremy]

The trouble with e-readers is that they tend to be extremely underpowered by design, so as to give better battery life.

For displaying novels and such that are mostly text and just simple pictures once in a while, it doesn't take a lot of computer power. But for PDFs, it does.

There's also screen size, 6" screens can only display about what, 1/3 of a pdf that is 8.5" x 11"?

So you're really best looking for a tablet with a fairly large screen if you really want to use PDFs. And unfortunately, those really aren't cheap by any measure.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Here is a compare/review you may find helpful... http://ebook-reader-review.toptenreviews.com/

 

[Janx]

yeah, a true e-ink book won't really handle PDFs that well. just about all the eBooks can load a PDF, they just don't display very well. They aren't built for active graphics (as in scrolling and resizing in a timely manner).

an iPad or Android tablet will do a better job as it has a "real" screen and is built for it. The Google Nexus 7 my buddy got last year was about $250, which was a pretty good price for a pretty good machine.

 

[SkidAce]

The Nook HD+ tablet is doing a great job for reading ebooks and PDFs. Around $260 for the 16gig model.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Kindle Fire: $199 -- iPad mini $329

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Yeah, my Kindle Fire (8.9" version) does a pretty good job with *.pdfs as well as other media. Not sure what your budget limit is.

 

[freyar]

One question you need ask is whether you just want a reader or a tablet. You'd probably find the e-reader to be a bit lighter if you want something portable. The other big difference (besides price) is e-ink vs active screens. I'm at the computer for work most of the day, like I suppose many people are, and I don't want to do much serious reading on another active screen. So I'd never trade an e-reader for a tablet.

I can only directly compare two types of e-readers for PDF support: Kindle (from about 1-1/3 yr ago, so maybe a model or two old) and the Sony reader (currently 2 years old). The Sony has much, much better PDF support than the Kindle. Specifically, even on the 6 inch screen, it has landscape mode (good for single-column documents) as well as 2-column and 3-column portrait modes. These focus on one portion of the page at a time, effectively breaking each page up into 2, 4, or 6 "mini-pages." That way you end up with an image anywhere from slightly smaller to slightly larger than a regular letter-sized page. There is also a separate pan-and-zoom setting. In comparison, the Kindle has a landscape mode, but you have to scroll left and right to read a full line (from my wife's experience). Anyway, I use my Sony reader very heavily as I read a lot of journal articles -- all PDF -- for work. I've also read many RPG PDFs on it, including a full Pathfinder AP, a number of DCC adventures, and a big chunk of the Tome of Horrors, and I couldn't be happier with it. Page turn time is also usually a fraction of a second, though page resizing and sometimes page flips with heavy graphics "hang" for a while. So that's my 2 cents. I'm not sure if the new models are quite as good from the comments on Sony's page, but I'd at least see if I could try one out. Before I got mine, the local Sony store let me bring in a PDF or two to try out.

 

[Obryn]

Nexus 7, hands-down. It's similar in price to the Fire, but vastly more capable.

-O