I ended up going with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e 64GB. Got it from Amazon Renewed for $269, quite a deal...after seeing some recommendations in this thread. 288ppi so also 299ppi like the Nexus 10, and went with this case. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07SPZ7LDF so far, been working pretty dang well for the family member it was replaced for.

Bummer that they changed the navigation bar and switched with gestures, not a fan of it, and not all apps show the full area with the bar. Apps out there to help with that.

Now I have the Nexus 10 as a playground... not sure what I'll do with it, haha.