How to choose a tablet for how you use it

A 12″ tablet with a top-end chip is money wasted for someone who just watches shows in bed, and an entry-level tablet wears out someone who wants to take class notes with a pen. Check what you do. In each step below, the rule comes with the tablets in today’s catalog that pass it.

People who take class notes and read PDFs need a pen the tablet really supports, and not every pen works with every model. What the specs need to have: compatible pen and 128 GB or more. The rule only lets in tablets with the compatible pen confirmed in the specs. The pen is usually sold separately: add its price before deciding.

Not sure the tablet is enough for college? See when a tablet works and when it doesn’t.

For videos and shows, what you see is the screen. The specs need to have: screen of 10″ or more with 180 ppi or more. ppi is dots per inch: the higher, the sharper the image. An OLED screen shows deeper black, but the Radar doesn’t measure picture quality in use. An entry-level chip handles video, so don’t pay for a chip you won’t use.

Kids drop, spill and leave the tablet on the floor. That’s why this use has its own type: the kids tablet, sold with a protective case and a kids mode. The specs need to have: kids tablet, with a case and parental controls. Parental controls depend on setup by you; no model replaces your supervision.

The full path is in Tablet for a child: what to look at before buying.

For writing, working on spreadsheets and making video calls with an attached keyboard, a small screen gets in the way and an entry-level chip chokes with many windows open. What the specs need to have: screen of 10″ or more, a mid-range chip and 128 GB. The keyboard and case are sold separately on most models. The iPad doesn’t list the RAM in the listing, so the rule looks at the chip.

Not sure how much storage to ask for? Read How much storage a tablet needs.

For gaming, the part that weighs the most is the chip. The specs need to have: Apple, Snapdragon or Dimensity chip and 128 GB. The Radar compares chips using our own table of families and generations and doesn’t measure how many frames per second the tablet delivers in each game. Big games also take up space, and storage runs out fast.

People who read books and articles prefer a tablet they can hold in one hand for an hour. The specs need to have: screen up to 11.9″ with 180 ppi or more. Sharp text tires your eyes less. For reading, the chip hardly weighs on the decision, and the money goes further on the screen.

The cheapest tablet in the catalog usually has a weak chip and little space, and freezes within six months. The "cheapest worth buying" rule asks for: known chip, 64 GB or more and a 10″ screen. It’s an editorial choice by the Radar, not a standard: it separates roomy specs from tight ones.

In the lower ranges, one extra point of spec score costs about -$3.00 (from score of 4 to 5.9 to score from 6 to 6.9). In the higher ranges, the same point costs about $374.00 (from score from 7 to 7.9 to score 8 or more). The calculation divides the difference in median price by the difference in median score between neighboring ranges.

That doesn’t mean expensive is bad. It means that, past a certain range, you pay a lot for a small improvement in the specs. See the full calculation in the panorama and compare two tablets in the comparison tool.