Best tablet for students 2021

Best
tablet for students
Android Central
2021

Best overall: Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 FE is the tablet equivalent of what Samsung did for its phones with the Galaxy S20 FE, and that is to offer a well-made product with solid performance at a lower price. It’s a strategy that worked out very well for the company’s smartphone and translated perfectly to its tablets — and that means that students can reap all the benefits.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S7 FE sports a 12.4-inch high-definition display with support for HDR10+ for excellent color reproduction. This means that whether researching for a project or drawing on the screen with the S Pen, it’ll all be crisp and give you plenty of space to work. To make sure that there’s no lag in getting things done, the Tab S7 FE is powered by the Snapdragon 750G. So not only is there plenty of horsepower for the tablet, but it’s also 5G capable, so you can work from anywhere.

The large 10,090mAh battery will let you keep working for hours, and when it’s time to power back up, the 45W charger will get the tablet back up and running in no time. When it comes time for watching a video, the dual-speaker setup with Dolby Atmos will ensure everything sounds great. There are also two cameras, and the front camera is great for video calls while also acting as security for face unlock.

You can get the Galaxy Tab S7 FE with either 4GB, 6GB, or 8GB of RAM and 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB of storage. You can always expand it with up to 1TB with a microSD card regardless of which storage option you go for. With multiple color options available and the features to help students work and play, the Galaxy Tab S7 FE is a sure winner.

If you need a tablet capable of handling almost any task, then you don’t want to look past the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus. You’ll also be happy to know that Samsung includes an S Pen with every purchase, so you don’t have to fork over extra cash for extra productivity.

Under the hood, the Tab S7 Plus sports either 6GB or 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 256GB of expandable storage. This combines with the Snapdragon 865 Plus chipset, the 2020 flagship chipset that also appeared in the Galaxy S20 lineup. While no longer cutting-edge tech, it still has the power and smarts to enable Samsung DeX Mode, which turns your Tab S7 Plus into a desktop-like experience. Playing around on what is essentially a desktop on a 12.4-inch display is an extremely portable experience that you won’t want to leave behind. It’s also rated for up to 14 hours with media playback so that you can use it all day.

While you won’t have to pay extra for the amazing S Pen and those features, you will want the full package. Unfortunately, this means extra dough upfront to get the Samsung Keyboard Cover or another Bluetooth keyboard to stay productive during classes.

Despite our site focusing on all things Android, our laudatory iPad Air 2020 review shows that we’re not afraid to acknowledge when Apple knocks it out of the park. While not as large or powerful as the recent iPad Pro 2021, the iPad Air 4 has impressive performance for demanding creativity apps at about half the price.

It has a lightweight, thin-bezel design with five metallic color options, Touch ID built into the power button, and two powerful speakers. Its 2360×1640 LCD only hits 60Hz (compared to 120Hz on the Tab S7+), but it hits 500 nits of brightness with anti-reflective coating, perfect for using in direct sunlight or for late-night binges. Its A14 Bionic chipset — also found in the excellent iPhone 12 — produces incredible performance speeds that surpass the Snapdragon 865 Plus found in the Tab S7+. You can even add cellular data if your school’s Wi-Fi network isn’t reliable.

Add in iPadOS — better optimized in general than Android tablet apps — and USB-C charging, and the iPad Air 2020 has very few downsides. You’ll have to pay a good chunk for extra storage since the 64GB base variant really isn’t enough. And as is the case with many Apple products, its battery life is only so-so, with about an eight-hour average just out of the box in our tests. Still, it’s great for students and non-students alike.

With the Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, the company opted to replace the S5e that previously had been one of our favorite value tablets. With this new tablet, you’ll get a familiar, lightweight, sleek design, along with the solid specs you would expect from a Samsung tablet.

Samsung has equipped the S6 Lite with 12 hours of battery life, along with a microSD card slot, making it a perfect tablet for storing classwork or media files. The company also unveiled an updated S Pen, which sports a new design, a finer tip, and improved latency than the S Pen found with the standard Galaxy Tab S6. All of this makes for an impressive Android tablet, packed with loads of features and more to do almost anything for you.

With a 10.4-inch screen and just 4GB of memory, it’s a more compact model that’ll work great for scratching out notes and streaming Netflix but isn’t built for laptop-level efficiency. But as it sells for less than half the price of the S7+, it’s a much better choice for students planning to do most of their work on a laptop anyway. There’s no point in overpaying for features that most students won’t need.

Considering that the Tab S6 Lite is aimed at the value market, some corners had to be cut. Going back to media consumption, Samsung included two AKG-tuned speakers instead of the four found in its sibling, the Tab S6. Plus, the microSD card slot can only use up to a 512GB card, while other tablets offer support up to 1TB.

2-in-1 Chromebooks like the Lenovo Chromebook Duet work well for parents or students looking for a tablet designed with a detachable keyboard in mind, letting it double as your laptop once you’re back to your room or dorm. The Duet is one of the best Chromebook tablets for students by far thanks to its epic battery life, included productivity accessories, bright display, and very reasonable price.

The Lenovo Chromebook Duet sports a 10.1-inch display with 400 nits of brightness, enough that it’ll remain visible in direct sunlight. It has a 7000mAh battery that could last you several days on casual use or about 10–12 hours with constant use. It doesn’t have the most power with its 4GB of RAM or its MediaTek Helio P60T processor, but Chromebooks like the Duet are designed to handle most Chrome OS apps without using much power.

You’ll slot on the attachable keyboard and type notes during class, then pull it off and enjoy relaxing with your favorite media apps. Because Chrome OS is fully designed for both touchscreens and laptops, it’ll work well in either context. Unlike many of our other picks, it lacks a microSD card slot, so you’ll have to make do with just 64GB-128GB of storage; that should be plenty if your notes, homework, or creative projects can be stored in the cloud.

If you want affordable, portable power for your school laptop, you can also check out the best student Chromebooks.

Many of the perks that made the Galaxy Tab A7 our best cheap Android tablet pick also apply to why students will love it. It has a hefty 7,040mAh battery that’ll never die on you in class, plus USB-C charging so it can quickly jump back up to full capacity. It has quad speakers that’ll make movie nights a blast and drive your roommate nuts. At just barely over a pound (476g) with a 10.4-inch display, it’s lightweight enough for its size to make holding it while note taking easy. Oh, and it works with an S Pen; you’ll need to buy it separately, but previous Tab A models weren’t compatible at all.

We’re huge fans of the design. Most budget tablets like the Fire HD 10 and base iPad have thick, uneven bezels, while the Galaxy Tab A7 looks more uniform and attractive, particularly thanks to its aluminum finish. And alongside the USB-C port, we also think students will appreciate the headphone jack and 1TB-capable microSD card slot.

Its Snapdragon 662 chipset and 3GB of RAM aren’t particularly powerful but certainly respectable for its price range. While some students will miss the quick fingerprint scanner you get with the Tab S7+, there is at least facial recognition for a quick unlock. And its 2000×1200 display, while not as vivid as the S7+ AMOLED, does give you a slight upgrade on 1080p displays.

Really, the only reason to wait on the Galaxy Tab A7 is that the Tab A7 Lite is out soon and may offer some new perks that the older A7 lacks.

With its new 2021 tablets, Amazon focused on making them more “productive,” selling a Productivity bundle that includes a snap-on Bluetooth keyboard, Microsoft 365 subscription, and 1TB of cloud storage alongside the new Fire HD 10 Plus. Our reviewer was very impressed with the new tablet as an alternative to cheap 2-in-1 Chromebooks for getting work done.

You can buy the standard Fire HD 10 or the Plus for $30 extra, which gives you 4GB of RAM instead of 3GB and enables wireless charging. Since the tablet is already so affordable, we’d recommend choosing the Plus, which gives…