The 10 Best Tablets for the UK in 2023 Compared

The best tablet can help you complete work away from your desk or provide a portable solution for gaming or binge-watching your favourite TV shows and movies. Tablet devices have come a long way since the first iPad was released, though, and the market is now brimming with products for a wide range of needs, including travelling, business, gaming, and drawing.

To help you make an informed decision, we’ve found the best tablets to buy this year and have reviewed and compared them. Our top pick this year is the 9th-gen Apple iPad – the best tablet for watching movies and for everyday use – but you’ll also find a range of powerful picks that excel in a number of areas.

The Best Value Tablets in the UK for 2023 Ranked

Choosing the best tablet isn’t easy, as you’ll find many high-quality FireOS, Windows, Android, and iPadOS devices on the market. After carefully evaluating performance, value for money, and the reliability of dozens of tablets, we’re confident these are the best tablets to buy this year:

1. Apple 2021 iPad (9th gen) — Overall, the best tablet in 2023 with a beautiful 10.2-inch display and 256 GB of storage.
2. Amazon Fire HD 10 — A crystal clear 1080p 10″ display for professional and casual use that comes with native Alexa support.
3. Apple 2022 iPad Air (5th gen) — Ideal for professionals, artists, and remote workers with superb performance and second-gen Apple Pencil support.
4. Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE — Excellent rear-facing camera capabilities and great battery life make this a versatile device for personal and business use.
5. Microsoft Surface Pro 7 — The perfect tablet computer for business, school, and freelancing, with Windows 11 support.
6. Blackview Tab 15 Pro — Ideal for long gaming sessions, with powerful hardware and excellent battery duration.
7. Huawei MediaPad T3 10 — Budget-friendly Android tablet with excellent parental controls and an HD IPS display that includes an Eye-Comfort mode.
8. Samsung Tab A7 Lite — A balance between affordability and functionality, this easy-to-use tablet can handle light multitasking and other day-to-day tasks.
9. Fire HD 8 — Reliable, low-cost tablet for travelling and commuting – ideal for entertainment and ebooks.
10. Lenovo Tab M10 HD — A great pick for students needing a light tablet without breaking the bank.

Android, Windows, Fire OS, or iPad – What’s the Best Tablet Operating System?

The first choice you have to make when buying a new tablet is to pick an operating system and brand. Each operating system has strengths and weaknesses, and it’s important to pick the right one for your needs.

Android tablets offer the most diverse selection with affordable options and hardware from various manufacturers. They offer seamless integration with some of the most popular Google apps like Gmail, Google Maps, and Meet and access to many tablet-optimized apps on the Google Play Store.

In addition, Android tablets offer superior customization options, including support for multiple user profiles, which makes them ideal for families. However, you’ll need to know how to remove bloatware to free up some storage since Android devices often come with multiple pre-installed apps.

With iPads, you can download more than one million intuitive, optimized apps from the App Store. Although Apple uses high-quality materials to give their tablets a premium feel and make them tough to break, you also get less variety with iPads, meaning you won’t find budget-friendly options or a variety of screen sizes or aspect ratios.

Apple offers excellent value for money as it supports its devices for several years, while Android tablets may receive a shorter period of support.

Amazon’s FireOS, based on Android, replaces the Google App Store with Amazon’s Appstore and offers a unique home screen that’s ideal for accessing Amazon libraries. Although they don’t support as many apps as standard Android tablets, FireOS tablets are easy to use and excellent for streaming.

Windows tablets, meanwhile, are ideal for business use as they can run every desktop app, including Photoshop, Microsoft 365, and Oracle VM VirtualBox. These portable computer tablets also offer excellent multitasking options, and you can switch between tasks, add a new desktop, or even create a virtual machine on your tablet.

The Best Tablets to Buy in the UK Reviewed

Now that you’ve seen our list and know what each operating system does best, we’ll dive into the details of each device. Starting with the 2021 Apple iPad, we’ll look into what each device does best, its pricing, pros and cons, and more. So, let’s compare tablets.

1. Apple 2021 iPad (9th Gen) — Overall, the Best Tablet in 2023

The Apple 2021 iPad 9th-gen is the best tablet to buy if you’re in the market for a new iPad or an affordable premium device. It offers more value than other products in its price range and comes with an impressive 2,160 x 1,620 resolution and a bright, crisp display.

It uses Apple’s True Tone technology, which adjusts the display to match your surroundings. For example, if direct sunlight shines on your iPad, this feature will alter the temperature of your display to make colours appear more natural. That makes it ideal for carrying around or watching shows in either dark or well-lit rooms, as you’ll experience less eye strain.

One of the best features of this tablet is its front-facing camera which boasts a 122-degree field of view and delivers excellent performance in almost any light. This allows you to replace your laptop with this device for video calls or attending work or school meetings over Zoom and similar apps. It also features Center Stage, an Apple feature that helps your device keep you centred within the frame as you move around.

However, this 9th-gen iPad retains the design of previous iPad models, which Apple users often complain about. It doesn’t have thin, modern-looking bezels, and the Touch ID button remains at the bottom even though some of Apple’s other products have it on the power button.

Nevertheless, it boasts plenty of new features and a powerful processor. Although it won’t handle 4K video editing, this iPad can tackle almost every resource-heavy task effortlessly, making it ideal for business and entertainment.

If you’re wondering which iPad is the best iPad to buy, based on our research, the 9th-gen Apple iPad is the best value option out there.

2. Amazon Fire HD 10 — A Crystal Clear 1080p 10″ Display

The Amazon Fire HD 10 boasts a vibrant and responsive 1080p Full HD display making it the best tablet under £200 for watching movies, TV shows, and other online content.

Its impressive display has more than two million pixels, Dolby Atmos support, and a bright display that makes movies, games, ebooks, and songs look and sound better. Besides being the best 10-inch tablet for entertainment, it’s also reliable given that its 12-hour battery life allows you to binge-watch your favourite TV shows and rest easy while travelling, knowing your tablet won’t shut down.

If you’re an Alexa user already or want to make use of the reliable voice assistant, this device offers native Alexa support and hands-free Alexa usage. This makes it the best tablet for note-taking, calling, or controlling smart home devices without even touching your tablet.

Another one of its strengths is its multiple user profile support and in-depth parental controls. You can create different profiles for each family member and assign permissions if you’re a parent. For example, you can limit the screen time for your kids or decide what type of content they can watch and for how long, among other details.

You shouldn’t expect too much from its 5 MP rear-facing camera, though, which takes slightly washed-out pictures. However, its 2 MP front-facing camera delivers reasonably good image quality for video calls and selfies and is far better than what most tablets in this price range offer. We judge this to be the best-value tablet UK-wide.

3. Apple 2022 iPad Air (5th Gen) — Ideal for Professionals, Artists, and Remote Workers

The Apple iPad Air 5th gen boasts an impressively powerful chip and versatile features and is compatible with Apple’s top-notch accessories. These features, combined with a high-resolution 10.9-inch screen, make it the best tablet for drawing.

In addition, it belongs to the iPad’s latest generation lineup, meaning it’ll receive software updates for many years, making it an excellent long-term pick.

Unlike the 2021 entry-level iPad model, this tablet has a modern look with all the new features Apple has introduced to revitalize the look of its tablets. You’ll find its fingerprint reader for the Touch ID feature on its power button, and the model owes its premium look to its thin bezels.

It runs the latest iPadOS 15 configuration, which adds numerous benefits. Professionals will appreciate its features, like adding information widgets to the home screen, splitting the screen into panes, or writing notes on a pop-up notepad.

In addition, its newest feature, Universal Control, lets you share a mouse and keyboard between the tablet and a Mac, and its Sidecar feature lets you use the tablet as a second screen for your computer.

Although its battery lets you run for a full day if you aren’t using any resource-heavy programs, putting a strain on the device reduces its battery duration to eight hours. If the 256 GB storage model didn’t cost almost £350 more and had longer battery life, we would definitely consider ranking this device higher.

4. Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE — Excellent Rear-Facing Camera and Battery Life 

We rate the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE as the best Android tablet because of its versatility and superb hardware. It has some of the best speakers on this list, loud enough to fill a room yet accurate and with a hint of bass.

Overall, the Galaxy Tab S7 FE is the best Samsung tablet if you’re looking for a device that lets you immerse yourself in your favourite TV shows while giving you enough power to complete work assignments.

Besides having the best speakers on our list, this big tablet also boasts the best rear-facing camera. Although neither of its cameras will replace your smartphone, it’s refreshing to see a tablet that doesn’t take washed-out pictures of close objects. While its selfie camera is still better than those on the best laptops, don’t expect high-quality selfies or live videos.

This large-screen tablet also supports Samsung’s proprietary DeX technology, which lets you mirror its screen to monitors or TVs, allowing you to use it as a computer. In addition, Samsung’s long-term device update policy ensures three Android upgrades and four years of security patches, which makes it the best Android tablet you can buy.

Although we consider the Apple 2022 iPad Air a better pick for drawing, this model is ideal for professionals who prefer Android tablets, and it arrives with an S Pen included. We’ve combed through dozens of tablet reviews and found that most users prefer its feel over the Apple Pencil, mainly because it’s thinner and offers some resistance.

5. Microsoft Surface Pro 7 — Perfect Tablet Computer for Business

The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is an expensive but powerful solution for users who’d like a portable PC. Thanks to its impressive 10th-gen Intel Core i7 processor and Intel Iris Plus graphics, the Surface Pro 7 is an exceptional pick for 3D rendering and video encoding, making it the best Windows tablet for professionals.

These powerful components also allow you to play PC games in 1080p and provide a respectable performance, while its 16 GB of RAM ensures smooth multitasking.

One of this device’s most attractive features over others is its support for Windows 11. It’s a familiar software package that frees you of persistent bloatware and lack of customization of most of its competition. In addition, it’s one of the most secure operating systems your device can have and is compatible with most software, making it the best tablet for business.

Another distinguishable feature is its kickstand, which you can use to position the tablet for sketching or note-taking, freeing your other hand and placing the tablet in a firm position. It’s also the best tablet with keyboard support because you can attach a Surface Type Cover to the device effortlessly, thanks to its magnetic attachment mechanism.

Although you can essentially turn this tablet into a laptop, it’s worth mentioning that all its peripherals are expensive, which can drive the price of this tablet up by hundreds of pounds without outperforming the best Windows laptops. However, its compatibility with popular business-related programs and impressive performance are invaluable if you need a tablet you can rely on for work.

6. Blackview Tab 15 Pro — Designed for Long Gaming Sessions

The Blackview Tab 15 Pro combines versatile features and powerful performance to provide an exceptional gaming experience to its users. The combination of its powerful octa-core processor and 8 GB of RAM makes it ideal for resource-heavy tasks and prolonged use of some of the best tablet games you can find on the Google Play Store.

The device has a crystal clear 1080p display with lifelike visuals and sharp colours, making it ideal for media consumption and gaming. Besides its exceptional screen quality and powerful hardware, the Blackview Tab 15 Pro has a long-lasting battery, making it the best gaming tablet this year.

It arrives with 8 GB of RAM that you can upgrade to 14 GB for better multitasking performance, while its 128 GB of storage can go up to 1 TB in total. This tablet offers facial recognition and fingerprint-scanning login methods to prevent unauthorized access to your device, keeping your data secure.

Although tablet reviews for this model suggest that its speakers aren’t as high-quality as the rest of its hardware, it features a 3.5mm headphone jack to plug in the best gaming headset for a more immersive audio experience.

7. Huawei MediaPad T3 10 — Budget-Friendly Android Tablet

The Huawei MediaPad T3 10 is the best budget tablet you can buy this year, especially if you’re looking for a device your kids will use. Although it offers no revolutionary features like our previous picks, it offers exceptional value for money and a robust build.

It excels at preserving your natural sleep pattern and reducing eye strain with special low-light and eye protection, which makes it an excellent pick for late-night movie marathons and kids.

While its resolution may not seem promising compared to our previous picks, this model’s IPS panel provides a vivid, immersive viewing experience. While the Snapdragon 425 isn’t the fastest processor, you can expect the MediaPad T3 10 to be responsive while browsing, watching videos, or reading ebooks.

One of its standout features is its native parental control suite which gives you total control over how others use the device. That means you won’t have to invest in one of the best parental control apps to keep a watchful eye on your child’s online activities, and it lets you decide how long they can use the device and what content they can see.

You can also use these features to restrict your own screen time, which can help you avoid the negative consequences of binge-watching. It’s worth mentioning that it has a one-piece anodized aluminium body that’s resistant to scratches and tough to break, making it the best tablet for 7-10-year-old kids who might try to break or drop it. At the same time, it’s highly affordable, and we rate it as the best budget Android tablet.

8. Samsung Tab A7 Lite — A Balance Between Affordability and Functionality

The Samsung Tab A7 Lite comes with Android 11 and Samsung’s One UI skin out of the box. The UI is easy to navigate, making the device ideal for users of all ages, and comes with a range of helpful pre-installed apps.

While it may not compete with some more expensive models in terms of performance and display quality, it offers excellent value for money. Its long battery life, decent multimedia capabilities, and affordable price tag make it a viable option for many.

Thanks to Samsung’s One UI skin on top of its Android operating system, this device offers a highly-customizable interface. That makes it the best-value tablet if you want to avoid paying a higher price but still get advanced features like Samsung’s multi-window for improved multitasking.

While it doesn’t offer the highest resolution, you’ll find its 8.7-inch display well-suited for media consumption because of its 16:10 aspect ratio. It offers vibrant colours and decent viewing angles, while its Dolby Atmos support enhances the audio experience.

9. Fire HD 8 — Reliable, Low-Cost Tablet for Travelling 

The Fire HD 8 is the budget version of the Fire HD 10 and offers a simple, low-cost solution for content streaming and light browsing. While you should avoid this device if you need a powerful multipurpose tablet, it’s an excellent alternative to your smartphone screen for ebook reading and multimedia.

Like the Fire HD 10, this device also offers built-in Alexa support for hands-free calling and smart home device control. This makes it the best small tablet with FireOS if you’re on a budget and don’t intend to play games or multitask.

Although its screen size limits it to a 1280 x 800 resolution, it has excellent pixel density at 189 pixels per inch, which makes its IPS LCD screen vibrant and crisp.

While it may not be the best tablet for gaming or drawing, we’ve read dozens of user reviews that praise its speakers and ease of use. In addition, we spotted numerous comments from parents satisfied with its parental controls and kid-friendly content.

10. Lenovo Tab M10 HD — Great Pick for Students

The Lenovo Tab M10 HD looks and feels good for its price, and it is the best Lenovo tablet for students that need an Android device with a clean UI and a responsive screen.

Although its screen isn’t as clear and crisp as the Fire HD 8’s, this device offers a larger display that makes it better for taking notes.

Despite its price, the Lenovo Tab M10 HD has a robust aluminium-alloy body and modern, thin bezels on the display that make it surprisingly good-looking for the money. It provides exceptional parental controls, kids mode, and dedicated user profile features, and its customization makes it ideal for students to organize their time and school assignments.

Alternatively, it can be an excellent tablet for the whole family since its facial recognition login makes it easy for seniors and children to use. Besides having their own profile, each family member can use the device to issue voice commands to Google Assistant.

We find its 5000 mAh battery too small for a tablet, as it won’t sustain more than 10 hours of web browsing and multimedia playback. However, that should be enough to go through a whole day of lectures and commuting, which makes it the best tablet for students on a budget.

The Top Tablet Computers for the UK Compared

Here, we’ll compare the tablets from our shortlist head-to-head to help you review their key differences and narrow your list of choices.

Key Factors to Consider When Choosing A New Tablet

There are various factors to consider while shopping for a new tablet, especially if you don’t have a brand preference. You’ll have to ensure that its hardware matches your needs but also pay attention to its software and the possibilities it offers. Do you want the iPad’s latest model, or are you looking for iPad alternatives, for example?

Here are some crucial factors to consider before you make a decision:

Size and Weight

Size is a crucial factor you need to consider based on your needs and preferences. It plays a central role in how you use the device and the level of comfort it provides. For example, a big tablet ranging from 10 inches and upwards wouldn’t be suitable for travelling the way a smaller tablet would be.

Large tablets are excellent for productivity tasks, media consumption, and reading because they provide a more immersive experience and a larger work area. On the other hand, smaller tablets, typically 7 to 9 inches in size, are suitable for commuting and travelling, as they are lightweight and portable. They are easy to pull out or slip into a bag or a large pocket and are ideal for reading ebooks, casual browsing, and gaming.

You should try to find the perfect balance between usability and size to ensure a satisfying, productive experience tailored to your needs, whether you’re looking for the best tablet for note-taking or the best graphics on a tablet.

Battery Life

Buying a tablet without considering its battery duration may ruin your experience with the device once you start working, gaming, or binge-watching. Many factors influence the battery life of a tablet, including its hardware, settings, and usage intensity. It’s worth mentioning that tablets with energy-efficient processors and lower display resolution offer longer battery life.

However, although it’s wise to check the manufacturer’s claimed battery duration, you should consider reading through user reviews before deciding. For example, if you intend to play games on a tablet, you should look for reviews from users with similar interests to get a more accurate picture of the tablet’s performance.

Storage

The amount of storage you need on your tablet depends on how many pictures, videos, apps, and other data you intend to keep on the device. Tablets typically offer between 16 and 256 GB or more and may allow you to upgrade the original storage size using a microSD card.

However, some manufacturers, like Apple, intentionally avoid adding microSD slots to their devices, so you must turn to their cloud storage options or purchase a microSD reader.

Tablets with less storage may be suitable for users with more basic device needs, such as web browsing, light app usage, and sending emails. If you plan on storing many apps, media files, or documents on your tablet, you’ll need a device with at least 64 GB.

Camera Quality

Although tablet users primarily get them for gaming, productivity, and media consumption tasks, their cameras allow them to be versatile tools for other personal and business tasks. However, while some manufacturers ensure their tablets offer decent camera quality, most tablets may not match the capabilities of the best mobile phones.

Tablets with solid camera quality allow you to make video calls, join school and work video conferences, and take clear photos. While the quality of these videos and pictures may not be good enough for content creators or professional photographers, a tablet can still provide an easy way to take selfies, photograph business documentation on the go, or attend video conferences with respectable quality.

For reliable personal and business use, consider tablets with at least 8 MP for the rear-facing camera and 5 MP for the front-facing camera.

What’s the Best Tablet for Kids?

The Huawei MediaPad T3 10 offers exceptional parental control features that are complemented by its Android operating system, which lets you create multiple user profiles. That gives you two sets of tools to impose restrictions, such as automatically shutting off the device’s Wi-Fi connection after a set time using Huawei’s panel or downloading an Android parental control app from the Google Play Store.

Thanks to these features, the Huawei MediaPad T3 10 is the best cheap Android tablet to pick to help children manage their screen time. The device is also durable and hard to break, and it uses special low-light and eye protection to reduce eye strain, which is excellent for younger children and teenagers.

Alternatively, you can consider the Amazon Fire HD 8, which offers a massive library of content for children, including ebooks, TV shows, and movies. That makes it an endless source of entertainment for your children, and it also comes with strict parental restrictions that allow you to stay in control.

Conclusion – Which is the Best Tablet to Buy in the UK for 2023?

After an in-depth evaluation of every tablet on our list, we’re confident that the 2021 9th-gen Apple iPad is the best tablet you can buy this year. It offers a crystal-clear screen with an impressive 2,160 x 1,620 resolution and Apple’s advanced features that provide an unmatched visual experience.

Besides its beautiful display, this tablet runs on a powerful A13 Bionic chip that lets it tackle the most resource-heavy tasks, making it an excellent pick for professionals, digital artists, and freelancers. It also enables it to run faster than most pricier Android models, making it great value for money.

Investing in an Apple tablet today is particularly beneficial as the new iPadOS 15 has brought many advanced features to its devices, including updated Maps and Memories. One notable feature is Center Stage, which allows the device to keep you centred within the frame as you move around in a video call.

Best Tablets UK FAQs

Ilijia Miljkovac

Ilijia Miljkovac

Ilija Miljkovac is a Technopedia writer with 7 years of experience covering all things tech. He writes about everything from cybersecurity to ISPs, ensuring businesses and customers are educated about the latest products and services. He's written for publications such as Business2Community, TheTechReport, Comparitech, and more. When he's not maniacally hacking away at his keyboard, Ilija spends his time either hiking in nature or holed up in his apartment gaming.

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