The best tablets in 2024: our top picks

The best tablet for your needs can be tricky to find, regardless of whether you're looking to outfit the kids with cheap, durable tablets for school or just want a beautiful iPad to keep near the couch.

That's because there are so many tablets with different prices and features these days, which is why we maintain this regularly-updated list of the best tablets around, based on our hands-on testing. We can help you find the right tablet because we review the best from all the major manufacturers every year. We test them in our lab and in the real world, and we've come to a few key conclusions about the best tablets out there. 

Amazon tablets are generally great for kids and anyone on a tight budget, for example, while Apple's iPads are best for students and creative pros. That's especially true now that an M2 chip powers Apple's latest iPad Air, while the powerhouse M4 chip drives the latest iPad Pro. While most tablets are fine for browsing the web, reading books or watching movies, Apple's new iPads are so powerful they can almost replace your laptop.

I know because I've been reviewing tablets for years, and have reviewed many of the devices on this list myself. Together my team and I have decades of experience testing tablets, and based on our years of hands-on testing and reviews we recommend these slates as the best you can buy right now.  

The quick list

In a hurry? Here's a brief overview of the tablets on this list, along with quick links that let you jump down the page directly to a review of whichever tablet catches your eye.

The best tablets you can buy

The best tablet overall

The iPad Air 2024 is the tablet we recommend as best for most people because its light, powerful and delivers 11+ hours of battery life in our testing. This is also the first iPad Air ever sold in two sizes, the classic 11-inch and larger 13-inch, so it's the Air to get if you want the screen real estate of a 13-inch iPad Pro without the extra power.

The 2024 iPad Air is powered by the Apple M2 chip, which is more than powerful enough to fly through web browsing or run any app you can download off Apple's App Store. 

Plus, the screen looks lovely and the 12MP cameras on front and back do a great job of capturing detail, helping you look your best on video calls. While you can get almost as good of a tablet for $150 less if you go for a basic iPad, we think the extra cost is worth it (if you can afford it) to get the new iPad Air, as its a great tablet that's faster and more capable than the basic iPad.

See our full iPad Air (2024) review.

The best budget tablet

The Amazon Fire 7 tablet has one standout feature, and that's its $59 price tag. That absurdly low price gets you a surprisingly decent little slate, with a snappy quad-core 1.3 GHz processor, a headphone jack and a microSD card reader so you can slot in extra storage, and a remarkably light 0.6-pound plastic frame. 

Just don't expect any of the luxuries you get on more expensive, premium tablets from Amazon and elsewhere. For starters, the Fire 7 tablet’s sub-HD screen is not sharp enough for anyone used to an iPad, and its lock screen is filled with ads unless you pay extra. Still, it's a great choice if you need a cheap tablet to give a child without worrying about how much it'll cost to replace if they break it.

Read our full Amazon Fire 7 review.

The best Android tablet

The OnePlus Pad is a big Android tablet with a huge 13MP rear camera, attractive curved edges and a unique 7:5 aspect ratio on its display. With this unique look, OnePlus' first tablet really stands out from the competition.

Watching videos and reading ebooks is a great experience on the Pad's vivid 11.6-inch 144Hz display, and thanks to its MediaTek Dimensity 9000 CPU and Android 13 OS, apps and games run smooth and fast. This lightweight slate also has exceptional battery life, lasting over 13 hours in our testing (as you'll see in our battery test results chart below).

For all those reasons and more, if you’re looking for an excellent Android tablet for under $500 you'd likely be very happy with the OnePlus Pad.

Read our full OnePlus Pad review.

Best Windows tablet

The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is virtually the same as the Microsoft Surface Pro 8. We don’t have a problem with iterative releases, but we hoped Microsoft would do something to make the latest edition of their flagship Windows 11 2-in-1 more appealing. Sadly, that isn’t the case.

The Surface Pro 9 is available with your choice of either a 12th-gen Intel Core CPU or a Microsoft SQ3 ARM processor. 5G connectivity is only available on the ARM model, a first for the Surface line. And based on what Microsoft showed us at its Microsoft Surface event, the 5G model is also optimized for advanced neural processing unit (NPU) features.

We tested and reviewed the Intel version, and it's a good Windows tablet that's speedy enough to handle day-to-day work tasks. The touchscreen looks decent and feels responsive, and the whole package is light enough to comfortably carry to work or the coffee shop. The fact that neither the detachable keyboard nor the stylus does knock some of the shine off this otherwise solid Windows 11 tablet, however, so try to get it as part of a sale or bundle deal if you can.

Read our full review of the Microsoft Surface Pro 9.

The best big-screen tablet

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra ($1,199 to start) is the ultimate Samsung tablet for those who prize screen size above all else. If you want the biggest, heaviest tablet possible, this is the best choice on this list.

Like its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra, the Tab S9 Ultra features a gorgeous 14.6-inch OLED display, an ultra-slim svelte design and plenty of power thanks to its speedy Snapdragon 8 processor. 

Of course, Samsung’s massive tablet isn’t flawless. While you can use it as a laptop when it’s paired with the Samsung Book Cover Keyboard, the accessory adds an extra $349 cost to an already expensive $1,200 machine, taking the cost up above the price of some actual laptops which are more versatile and more powerful. 

Read our Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra review.

The most powerful tablet

Apple's iPad Pro 2024 is the tablet to buy if you all you care about is power, because the M4 chip inside drives it to new heights of performance.

As you can see in our breakdown of iPad Pro 2024 benchmarks, this new tablet blows every other slate out of the water in terms of raw speed. It's faster than any other tablet we've ever tested and lasts longer on battery to boot, going for 13-15 hours in our battery test before running out of juice.

But there's more to love about this premium tablet besides what's under the hood. The cameras are as good as ever and the display has been upgraded to OLED on both sizes of iPad Pro, so you can count on one of the best tablet screens ever no matter which size you buy. And while you pay a premium for these powerful, long-lasting OLED-equipped tablets, it's worth it if you want the best of the best. 

Read our full iPad Pro 2024 review.

Also tested

We test and review dozens of tablets every year, and even though they can't all make this list that doesn't mean they aren't good machines. There are also some really great slates that maintain their value over years, so we sometimes recommend them as good alternatives to the best tablets that are often sold at a discount.

So while these tablets didn't quite achieve the level of excellence needed to be leaders of the pack, they're good alternatives well worth considering if they meet your unique needs, or if you can't find your first choice on sale.

The iPad 2022 is a bit more expensive than its predecessors, but Apple justified the price hike with a sleek new redesign that slightly expanded the display, removed the Home button, upgraded the power button with Touch ID support and added USB-C charging. 

Sadly, you're still pretty limited in what accessories you can get for this basic iPad. It doesn't work with the new Apple Pencil Pro, for example, but does work with the 1st-generation Apple Pencil. These limitations are easier to stomach when you remember this iPad starts at $349, which is $250 cheaper than the entry-level iPad Air.

And while its shortcomings sting, we still feel the basic iPad remains the best iPad to buy if you want an Apple tablet, but can't justify the added expense of the iPad Air's $599 starting price. 

The interesting thing about the 2022 redesign of the basic iPad is that it brought it a lot closer to the iPad Air in terms of design (thinner, bigger screen, USB-C charging, etc), so for the $349 you're getting an iPad 2022 that's not far behind the iPad Air (our top recommendation for best tablet) in terms of capabilities. It lasted nearly 11 hours in our battery testing, too, so it's plenty long-lived enough to see you through a day on the couch.

Read our full iPad 2022 review.

The Google Pixel Tablet stands out from every other on this list by being the only one to come with its own speaker/charging dock. 

For some shoppers this will be a useless gimmick, but this obvious attempt on Google's part to stand out from the pack pays off if you want to get started with a Google smart home. This is the only tablet on the market that doubles as a solid smart home hub out of the box, and it's a great value.

The speakers on the tablet's charging dock are also great, delivering more satisfying bass at the expense of some treble. It's a good Android tablet too, comparable to Apple's iPad 2022 despite costing $50 less. But its support for various smart home technologies varies, and it's not a great choice for all smart home owners as it can't match the capabilities or sound quality of some of the best smart home hubs.

Read our full Google Pixel Tablet review.  

Take almost everything we know and love about the iPad Air, but shrink it down to a size and weight that's super-easy to use with just one hand and you have the iPad mini 6 (2021), which may be the iPad you've been waiting for. It has the Apple Pencil 2 support with the flat-edged design, the much-smaller bezels and nearly everything else we love about an iPad. Currently, Amazon has the market cornered on sub-10-inch tablets with the pricing of its Fire slates, but the new iPad mini gives quality-focused folks an alternative worth investing in.

On top of that, you've got the super-fast A15 Bionic system-on-chip, which outpaces the iPad Air and every non-Pro iPad out there. Its display is also super bright (over 500 nits of brightness), plus surprisingly good sound for a device this small. Oh, and speaking of outperforming its size, the iPad mini 6 has terrific battery life. The only thing that isn't small about the iPad mini 6? Its $499 price tag is a bit higher than the normal iPad, but it's another case of "you get what you pay for."

Read our full Apple iPad mini 6 (2021) review.

If you're a writer who loves pen and paper, you know that the iPad and its Apple Pencil don't really feel right. That's where the reMarkable tablets have jumped into the fray, offering a real-feeling writing experience, with a unique screen technology that uses digital paper and the Marker stylus, which feels more authentic when you press its nib against the screen. The reMarkable 2, however, is a much more seductive device, now measuring a sleek 0.2 inches and ditching its plastic frame for a sleeker metallic chassis.

Oh, and it's not just a notebook. Your documents sync to the cloud so you can read them on iPhones, iPads, PCs, Macs and Android. The reMarkable 2 also translates your handwriting to editable text, so you can share your notes with your whole team, or turn your draft ideas into a manuscript. And its two weeks of battery life means you can just leave it on your coffee table, for when inspiration strikes, rather than keep it plugged in all the time. 

Read our full reMarkable 2 review.

Battery life compared

Battery life is one of the key things to consider when buying a tablet, and you can't always trust manufacturer claims about how long they'll last on a single charge.

That's why we put every tablet we test and review through a series of battery tests, then average the results and compare them against the competition. I've assembled the tested battery life of every tablet on this page here in one handy chart, with the exception of the ReMarkable 2 since that e-ink tablet is designed to last up to 2 week on a single charge (according to ReMarkable) and we couldn't adequately test it using our testing regimen for tablets.

How to choose the best tablet for you

The best way to pick an ideal tablet for you is to look at what devices you already own and use on a regular basis. If you're an iPhone user and already tied into Apple's ecosystem, the iPads are a great choice that come in a variety of prices and will integrate more seamlessly with your day-to-day workflow than other tablets on this list. 

If you prefer Android you have a fair few Android tablets on this list, but only the Google Pixel Tablet offers the unique dual functionality of doubling as a smart screen for your home when not in use. It's only a killer feature for certain people, but if you're one of them then it's probably a better choice for you than Samsung's (also excellent) Android slates.

If you really love Windows 11 and like the idea of being able to use your tablet as a laptop, right down to being able to access your usual desktop email client and all your favorite Windows programs, the Surface Pro 9 is probably the right choice for you. It's not quite as slick or as polished to use as the iPads and other tablets on this list, but in return you get the versatility of Windows 11.

How we tested these tablets

As part of our review procedure we first open every tablet we receive, install our testing software and put it through as many tests as possible. The variety of tests we can install and perform varies depending on the tablet operating system (we have to run different tests on Amazon Fire tablets than we do on Apple's iPads, for example), and they allow us to see how different slates stack up. These tests also help us verify whether manufacturer claims about things like, say, brightness or battery life hold true.

We use professional-grade colorimeters to measure how bright the screen can get on every tablet we test, as well as how well it displays colors in the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamuts. And we don't stop there.

Depending on the operating system we will run performance tests meant to gauge how well a tablet runs games or loads webpages, and we also run every slate through a battery test to see how long you can expect them to last on a full charge.

Finally, after lab testing is complete to our standards we have one of our experienced reviewers (all of whom have spent at least 5-10 years professionally reviewing tablets, laptops and other personal computing gear) spend a week or more doing everything the tablet you would do. We're talking surfing the web on the couch, watching movies in bed, playing games in the back seat, reading books on the train and typing out emails on the plane. When possible we also try to hang on to review units for long-term testing, so we can verify these slates receive software updates in a timely manner and hold up to long-term day-to-day use.

For more information, check out our how we test page for Tom's Guide.

Written by

Written by

Alex Wawro

Alex Wawro is a lifelong journalist who's spent over a decade covering tech, games and entertainment. He oversees the computing department at Tom's Guide, which includes managing tablet coverage and reviewing many himself every year.