Tablets - as opposed to smartphones - are often seen as a luxury item. And with so many of them costing quite a bit of coin, there's some justification for that view. But what if you didn't have to mortgage your condo to buy one? There are plenty of budget options out there, and if you're willing to compromise, you can easily snag yourself a very nice tablet for $200 or less. Cheap tablets have improved in the last couple of years as their prices have dropped and monster smartphones started eating into the tablet market. If you're on a limited budget, here are the best cheap tablets that $200 or less will buy you. Looking for more tablets, and not restricted by price? Check our list of the best tablets money can buy.
Amazon Fire HD 10 2019 ($150)
This is the entertainment tablet to get if you're looking to read or watch movies at a reasonable price. Our review praised it for its full HD display of 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution or 224 pixels per inch, which offers a superior viewing experience. The Fire HD 2019 edition is 10 inches and comes with either 32GB or 64GB of internal storage, with more capacity available if you add a MicroSD card. It sports a 2GHz octa-core processor supported by 2GB of RAM with battery life lasting up to 12 hours for reading, browsing the web, watching video, and listening to music. With a USB-C connection, it also supports faster charging and comes with a USB-C cable and 9W power adapter. It also operates hands-free with Alexa. The camera is only so-so with a 2-megapixel front and a 2MP rear-facing camera and 720p HD video recording.
Onn Android Tablet ($64)
The Onn 8-inch Android Tablet offers lightweight, fast performance accompanied by an 800 x 1280 resolution so your photos, movies, apps, and documents look crisp, clear, and vibrant. The tablet runs Android 9.0 Pie with 2GB of RAM on a 1.3GHz quad-core processor. It doesn't sound like much, but it carries enough power to get you through games, movies, web surfing, email, e-books, music, and more. Camera resolution is low - only 2MP for the rear-facing camera - but if your focus is on viewing rather than creating content, you're in luck.
Amazon Fire HD 8 2020 ($90)
Asus Zenpad S 8 ($184)
Asus is one of the leading manufacturers of Android tablets, and this one offers great specs for the money. You get a quad-core, 64bit, Intel Atom Z3530 processor clocked at 1.3GHz, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB of storage with a MicroSD card slot to add more. It also has a 5MP main camera and a 2MP front-facing camera. Best of all, there's an 8-inch screen with a resolution of 2048 x 1536 pixels. If you want to play games and watch movies, this tablet will serve you well. It's a stylish tablet that feels more expensive than it really is.
Samsung Galaxy Tab A 7 ($130)
Here's a portable tablet with a nice build quality that offers a decent mix of specs for a low price. As the name suggests, Samsung's budget tablet has a 7-inch display, and the 1280 x 800 resolution is great for reading. It has a decent quad-core processor inside with 1.5GB of RAM, which is about standard around this price point. You only get 8GB of storage, but there's room for a MicroSD card. The battery life is very good. The Tab A 7 also has a 5MP camera, as well as a 2MP front-facing camera, so this is the cheap tablet to go for if the camera is important to you.
Lenovo Tab 4 10.1 ($153)
A tablet with a 10.1-inch display for well under $200 is no slouch. The resolution is only 1280 x 800 pixels, but the display is flanked by dual front-facing stereo speakers on the top edge. There's a 1.4GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage inside with room for a MicroSD card. The main camera is rated at 5MP and there's a 2MP front-facing camera as well. There's also a hefty 7,000mAh battery for up to 10 hours of juice on the go. It runs Android 7.1 out of the box, with a handful of Lenovo apps. To put it simply, this tablet is an absolute bargain.
