The best tablets of 2024: Expert tested and reviewed

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Apple’s tried-and-true tablet, the base model iPad, is arguably the best value in the Company’s tablet lineup, especially thanks to its versatility and compatibility. Plus, Apple just lowered the price of this tablet by $100, making it affordable at $349.

When it comes to features, you essentially get the same suite as the more expensive iPad Pro and iPad Air models, but in a lighter form factor and a 10.9-inch Liquid Retina, True Tone display. Additionally, this model breaks out of the iPad’s traditional space gray and silver color palette, adding pink, blue, and yellow in addition to sleek silver. 

Review: iPad 2022 (10th Gen)

In his hands-on testing, ZDNET reviews editor June Wan determined that if you’re shopping on a budget, last year’s iPad should “make the most sense,” especially given the A14 Bionic processor, USB-C support, 5G support for on-the-go tasks, and a new 12MP ultra-wide camera. There’s also a Magic Keyboard Folio made specifically for this iPad. It includes an adjustable kickstand with a 14-key function row for shortcuts. 

However, Apple customers point out that this iPad doesn’t support the 2nd gen Apple Pencil, which means you’ll have to use a dongle to use it.

Apple iPad specs: Display: 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display with True Tone | Processor: A14 Bionic chip with 16-core Neural Engine | Storage: 64GB or 256GB | Biometrics: Touch ID | Colors: Silver, Pink, Blue, Yellow  | Cameras: 12MP f/1.8 wide, 12MP Landscape f/2.4 front | Weight: 1.05 pounds | Dimensions: 9.79 x 7.07 x .28 inches | Connections: USB-C, Smart Connector | Battery life: Up to 10 hours of video playback with USB-C charging

The Fire Max 11 is Amazon’s newest and best tablet yet. It still runs Fire OS, which means you’ll lose access to any of Google’s apps and services. However, Amazon’s own App Store has many of the same apps that regular Android devices have access to — including Netflix, Facebook, and Spotify.

With a starting price of $229, the Fire Max 11 brings an 11-inch display, 4GB of memory and 64GB of storage with support for 1TB of microSD card storage. If you’re looking for a tablet for work and play, the Fire Max 11 Productivity Bundle costs $329, but comes with a keyboard with touchpad, case and a stylus.

Review: Amazon Fire Max 11

ZDNET contributor, Jason Cipriani, went hands-on with the Amazon Fire Max 11 and said that it is “easily the best Fire Tablet Amazon has made yet.” “The Fire Max 11 productivity bundle provides everything you need to get some work done on the small and affordable tablet, as long as your work can be done in Microsoft’s suite of apps and services or in sites that work properly with Amazon’s Silk Browser,” he wrote.

Overall, 94% of Best Buy customers would recommend this tablet, giving it an average rating of 4.7 out of 5.

Amazon Fire Max 11 specs: Display: 11-inch, 2000 x 1200, 410 nits brightness, 213 ppi | Processor: MediaTek MT8188J, 2.2Ghz Octacore processor | Storage: 64GB or 128GB | Memory: 4GB | Colors: Gray | Cameras: 8MP rear and 8MP front-facing camera | Weight: 490 grams | Dimensions: 259.1 x 163.7 x 7.50 millimeters | Connections: 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C port | Battery life: 14 hours

If you’re looking for an Android tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra is one of the best Android tablets. The Tab S10 Ultra features a 14.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display, runs on the Android 14 operating system, and Samsung’s S Pen stylus is included in the box. 

The base model comes with 12GB of memory and 256GB of storage, and a microSD card for adding up to an extra 1TB of storage to the tablet, the combination of which should be enough for most. Plus, new for this generation is Galaxy AI capabilities thanks to the MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ processor. Among these AI features that the S10 Ultra can handle include Sketch-to-Image, an improved version of Note Assist, and Circle to Search.

Review: Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra

ZDNET’s Maria Diaz reviewed the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra and said she found it a superb option for creative professionals and productivity-focused users looking to take advantage of a strong processor and reliable AI features. She added, “Even those looking for an AI-powered tablet like an iPad Pro would do well to consider the Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra.”

If you opt for the $350 Book Cover Keyboard, you can effectively turn the tablet into an Android-powered 2-in-1 device with plenty of space for multitasking and using more than one app at a time. Just keep in mind the tablet isn’t as portable as some other options on this list–it weighs 2.35 pounds (compared to the S9 Ultra’s 1.6 pounds. 

Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 Ultra specs: Display: 14.6-inch, 120Hz refresh rate, Dynamic AMOLED 2X 2960 x 1848 display | Processor: MediaTek Dimensity 9300+ | Storage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | Memory: 12GB, 16GB | Colors: Moonstone gray and platinum silver | Cameras: Rear: 13MP main, 8MP ultrawide, Front: 12MP main, 12MP ultrawide | Weight: 2.35lb | Dimensions: 12.85 x 8.21 x 0.21 inches | Connections: 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi Direct Bluetooth v5.3 | Battery: Up to 16 hours

OnePlus is better known for its smartphone lineup and has led the way in producing phones that include a ton of features and performance while undercutting the competition when it comes to cost. And for the most part, that’s exactly what’s happened with the OnePlus Pad. 

This Android-powered tablet has month-long battery standby, along with impressive daily battery life. Cipriani reviewed this tablet and found it quick and snappy for daily tasks like checking your email, playing games or browsing the web, all on a display that looks fantastic. 

Review: OnePlus Pad

“One aspect of the overall experience I enjoyed using was the multitasking features built into OxygenOS, the operating system the Pad runs, Cipriani wrote. “More specifically, I found myself frequently using a quick gesture on the display to effectively split the display in half, putting one app on the left side of the screen and a second on the other half. A two-finger swipe down from the top of the screen was all it took.”

OnePlus also sells a keyboard case and a stylus for the OnePlus Pad, which more or less turns the OnePlus Pad into an iPad Pro dupe. However, verified customers who have bought and used this tablet say online that trackpad gestures and navigation are finicky, and a lot of the same interface features — such as the mouse pointer — on the OnePlus Pad come straight from Apple’s iPadOS interface for the same feature. 

OnePlus Pad specs: Display: 11.61-inch, 144Hz refresh rate, LCD 2,800×2,000 display | Processor: MediaTek Dimensity 9000 Mobile Platform | Storage: 128GB | Memory: 8GB | Colors: Halo green | Cameras: 13MP rear. 8MP front camera | Weight: 555 grams | Dimensions: 189.41 x 258.03 x 6.54mm | Connections: USB-C | Battery: 9,510mAh

The design hasn’t changed for the Go 3, meaning it should work with all of the original accessories, including the Type Cover keyboard. The Go 3 has faster internals that provide a better overall experience and performance, and this time around, all three configurations of the Go 3 use an SSD instead. Previously, the combination of slower storage via an eMMC drive and the Intel Pentium processor wasn’t an enjoyable experience. 

Review: Microsoft Surface Go 3

ZDNET’s Mary Branscombe tested the Surface Go 3 back in 2021 and said it “shines as a portable device.” It’s perfect for working on an airplane tray table or a crowded train, and for throwing in a backpack. It’s a small tablet, with a display of just 10.5 inches, but it runs the full Windows operating system that you can customize.

It can also run Windows 10 in S Mode, which limits you to installing apps from only the Microsoft Store, along with a few other security features. But you can opt for the full Windows 10 experience by leaving S Mode.

One Reddit user praised the Surface Go 3, saying, “No issues running a bunch of Edge tabs, Excel, Word, and PP docs all at the same time,” adding, “Even media consumption is way easier on the Go 3.”

Microsoft Surface Go 3 tech specs: Display: 10.5-inch PixelSense Display | Processor: Intel Pentium Gold or Intel Core i3 | Storage: 64GB or 256GB | Memory: 4GB or 8GB | Biometrics: Windows Hello face sign-in | Colors: Platinum | Cameras: 8MP rear, 1080p video. 5MP front-facing camera | Weight: 1.07 pounds | Dimensions: 9.65 x 6.9 x 0.33 inches | Connections: 1 x USB-C, 3.5mm headphone jack, 1 x Surface Connect Port, microSD card reader | Battery life: 11 hours

Apple’s 2024 iPad Pro lineup is by far the most capable and impressive iPad lineup we’ve seen, and it makes replacing your laptop with a tablet an easy decision. The design is much slimmer than previous Pro models, and you’ll find Apple’s powerful M4 processor. This chip consists of a new 10-core GPU, next-generation machine learning accelerators to handle a diverse range of tasks, and ProMotion technology, enabling variable screen refresh rates ranging from 10 to 120Hz.

Wan spent some time with the 13-inch Apple iPad Pro and was especially impressed by the new Tandem OLED screen. “In practice, Tandem OLED makes the iPad Pro a phenomenal tablet for visual experiences. I’ve been able to complete text-heavy and photo-editing work — which often require adequate viewing angles — under a New York City sun that thinks it’s already summer,” Wan wrote in his review. “Watching Netflix and Disney+ on the iPad is straight eye candy; colors pop, and the darker, moodier scenes have a level of shadow detail unseen on older Pro models.”

Review: Apple iPad Pro (7th generation)

The Pro also supports the new Apple Pencil Pro, which has a range of features, including a squeeze gesture for quick tool, color, and other changes, a gyroscope for precise control of pens and brush tools with a simple rotation, and custom haptic feedback that you can feel via a pulse. It also pairs with the newly revamped Magic Keyboard, which is thinner and lighter, has a larger trackpad, and a new row of function keys this year, making the keyboard case more essential than ever for the full iPad experience. 

Apple iPad Pro tech specs: Display: 11- or 13-inch Ultra Retina XDR OLED display with ProMotion | Processor: Apple Silicon M4 | Storage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB or 2TB | Biometrics: Face ID | Colors: Silver, space black | Cameras: 12MP wide (4K, ProRes), Landscape 12MP ultra-wide | Weight: 11-inch: .98 pounds, 13-inch: 1.28 pounds | Dimensions: 9.83 x 6.99 x .21 inches or 11.09 x 8.48 x 0.20 inches | Connections: USB-C connector with support for Thunderbolt / USB 4 | Battery life: Up to 10 hours of surfing the web

Google’s first Android tablet in years is exactly what Android tablets should have been all along. It’s true, not all apps are optimized for the larger screen, but Google’s gotten clever in the way it handles those apps, while also getting a bunch of developers on board with updating their apps for the bigger display. 

Review: Google Pixel Tablet

“When you open an app on the Pixel tablet, the app stays confined to a phone-like column view that takes up effectively a third of the tablet’s display,” Cipriani notes in his hands-on review. “The app can live on the left edge of the screen, in the middle, or on the right edge. You move it by double tapping in the blank space on either side of it.”

Not only is the app experience better with the Pixel Tablet, but it pulls double duty acting as a smart home hub when it’s not in use thanks to the included Charging Speaker Dock. The $129 accessory (if you want to buy extras) has a built-in speaker that ups the bass by 4x, while enabling a hub mode feature that effectively makes the Pixel Tablet more like a Nest Hub, instead of a tablet. 

Unfortunately, right now, there isn’t any sort of official keyboard or stylus for those who want to get some work done on the Pixel Tablet. Customers who have bought the tablet have voiced on Reddit that they mainly use it for media consumption and that it does the job for that purpose. 

Google Pixel Tablet tech specs: Display: 10.95-inch LCD, 2560×1600, 500 nits | Processor: Google  Tensor G2| Storage: 128GB or 256GB | Biometrics: Fingerprint sensor | Colors: Hazel, rose, porcelain  | Cameras: 8MP front, 8MP rear | Weight: 17.39 ounces | Dimensions: 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.3 inches | Connections: USB-C, pogo pins | Battery life: Up to 12 hours of video playback 

Apple’s latest update to the iPad Air is more of a catch-up announcement than anything. The 6th-generation iPad Air keeps the same design we saw Apple bring to the Air in late 2022, but it now boasts an M2 processor, two size choices (11 inches or 13 inches), and compatibility with the Apple Pencil Pro.

The Apple iPad Air still sits confidently between the base iPad and the iPad Pro when you look at the price, but it’s effectively caught up to the iPad Pro in terms of performance. Apple says you’ll get up to 50% better performance than in the previous model and much faster graphics performance for gaming or video editing. The big draw of the iPad Pro was always its bigger size, but that benefit has now come downmarket to a price tier that’s much more accessible.

Review: Apple iPad Air (6th generation)

Another standout feature is the iPad Air’s front-facing camera, which has been rotated to the side bezel for landscape mode, which means you’ll look a lot better during FaceTime calls.

Where the iPad Pro is the model for those who want nothing but the best, the iPad Air is the model for those who want to use the tablet for work and play without big sacrifices in performance or features. In our review, we said the iPad Air is “where your search should begin and, likely, end” if you’re in the market for an iPad.

Apple iPad Air tech specs: Display: 11-inch or 13-inch Liquid Retina IPS, 60Hz | Processor: Apple Silicon M2 | Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB | Biometrics: Touch ID | Colors: Space gray, starlight, purple, blue | Cameras: 12MP rear camera, 12MP webcam (landscape-oriented) | Weight: 11-inch: 1.02 pounds, 13-inch: 1.36 pounds | Dimensions: 9.74 x 7.02 x 0.24 inches and 11.04 x 8.46 x .24 inches | Connections: USB-C port and magnetic connector for Apple Pencil Pro | Battery life: 10 hours

The Kindle Scribe is perhaps the perfect example of part e-reader, part tablet to satisfy your reading and note-taking needs, and it recently got an upgrade. Most notably, it has new artificial intelligence features, a new display with flush white borders and a paper-like texture, and something called Active Canvas, a new experience for taking notes in books. 

The Active Canvas allows you to take notes and scribble your thoughts directly onto the pages of your book. ZDNET editor Kyle Kucharski put the Active Canvas to the test and appreciated the feature as an avid note-taker. 

Review: Amazon Kindle Scribe (2024)

“The cool design element here is that the notes you draw with the pan exist on another “layer” than the book text, allowing you to edit what you write without messing with the text in the book,” he wrote in his review, adding, “I actually found that I preferred using the sticky notes function, which drops a tiny icon on the text that, when tapped, opens up a floating window with your notes that can then be closed.”

There are also useful AI features that can summarize up to 15 pages in a notebook, extracting key takeaways from the text in a neat summary. These features can also transcribe handwritten notes into text, which might benefit those with chicken scratch handwriting. 

The Kindle Scribe now comes with the Premium Pen, which has more advanced features than the Basic Pen, like a dedicated eraser and a shortcut button.

Amazon Kinde Scribe tech specs: Display: 10.2-inch 300 ppi Paperwhite display | Storage: 16 GB, 32 GB, or 64 GB | Weight: 15.3 ounces | Dimensions: 7.7 x 9.0 x .22 inches | Connections: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB-C | Battery life: Up to 12 weeks (at 30 minutes per day)

Amazon just updated this tablet model in 2022, making it faster and with a longer battery life. Not only does it have a kid-proof case built to withstand 3 to 7-year-olds, but it also comes with a free one-year subscription to Amazon Kids+. 

The tablet also grants users an Amazon Kids+ subscription, which grants them access to thousands of kid-friendly, ad-free books, as well as movies, games, and other kid-friendly and educational content. Parents who purchased this tablet on Best Buy give it an average rating of 4.7 out of 5, and 95% would recommend it to other parents. 

Review: Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids Tablet

“The Fire HD 8 Kids tablet is a well-built, entry-level tablet that comes with a sturdy kid-proof cover and features useful parental controls,” wrote ZDNET’s Maria Diaz, who bought the tablet for her kids. “Its 13-hour battery life means that you’ll need to charge it less often than other competitors, and the combination of a durable case and screen ensures the integrity of the Fire tablet for years to come.”

The tablet’s kid-friendly case is also worth mentioning because it protects against drops and bumps, and it comes complete with an adjustable stand so your kids can go hands-free. But Amazon does offer you a two-year worry-free guarantee in case the tablet does succumb to playtime.

Amazon Fire HD 8 Kids tech specs: Display: 8-inch display | Processor: Hexa-core 2.0 Ghz | Storage: 32GB or 64GB (expandable by up to 1 TB) | Memory: 2GB | Colors: Blue, purple, Disney Mickey Mouse, or Disney princess | Cameras: 2 MP front and rear-facing cameras with 720p HD video recording | Weight: 18.3 ounces | Dimensions: 8.7 x 7.1 x 1.1 inches| Connections: 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C port | Battery life: 13 hours

When a tablet says it is “Wi-Fi Only,” it requires a wireless internet connection to access things like email, websites, and apps. There are models available that give you the option to use LTE cellular data to connect to the internet, but if you aren’t planning on traveling with your tablet, you can stick to a Wi-Fi only model.

That depends on what you want to use your tablet or laptop for. Digital artists tend to prefer tablets since they’re easier to draw on with a stylus. Tablets are also great for photo editing and streaming movies if you get one with a large enough screen size. But if you want to do things like create spreadsheets, type in a word processing program, or do intensive 3D animation or modeling, you’re better off with a laptop.

Our top pick for the best tablet for students is the 10th-generation iPad, thanks to its affordable price and versatility of use. However, we’d also recommend the Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ or the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 for students looking to buy a tablet. 

Also: The best tablets for students going back to school