What’s the best cheap tablet or e-reader for PDF files?

Thomas needs a device to read A4 PDFs of technical papers that is cheaper than a good laptop

I am looking for an e-reader for technical papers. These are usually only available in fixed, non-reflowable, PDF format and sized for printing on A4 paper. They cannot be read on a typical e-reader such as a Kindle because the text is too small. I don't need the fancy note-taking capabilities of options such as the Remarkable PDF reader. Can you recommend something that doesn't cost as much as a decent laptop? Thomas

The main attraction of Adobe's Portable Document Format (PDF) is that people can read the files on almost any kind of device. The corollary is that almost any device will work as a PDF reader, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops running almost any operating system. Indeed, so many people need to read PDF files for business and educational research purposes, there are e-readers designed for the task.