The best tablets for students

Historically, when picking a tablet over a laptop, buyers have had to sacrifice power for portability. With the iPad Pro 11, this is no longer the case. The A12Z Bionic chip is as powerful as it is versatile. It will effortlessly run apps for more academic courses like English and History, as well as the more intensive software for creative pursuits like photography, design and video editing (in 4K). Whatever’s up on the screen looks great, too, with Apple’s Liquid Retina display with True Tone delivering a quality of image unmatched anywhere else. Couple it up with a keyboard and the Apple Pencil, and you’ve got yourself a truly powerful device for all disciplines.

Available in four memory capacities: 125GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. Also available in the larger 12.6-inch configuration. Cellular connectivity is optional.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 does a lot to impress. The screen is beautiful, with the Quad HD (2560 x 1600p) resolution helping images pop and the 120Hz refresh rate keeping movies and games looking as smooth as possible. The battery life spans up to 15 hours, which is a good couple of days of lectures, and the 6GB RAM helps the S7 grind through some pretty intensive apps.

Elsewhere, the fact that the 128GB local storage is expandable via a microSD card is a welcome feature, as is the Android 10.0 OS, which is intuitive, versatile and lightning quick. Creatives and note-takers will enjoy the S Pen, which comes as standard.

Much like in Apple’s Macbook range, the Air is a compelling and more affordable alternative to the Pro. Much of what we love about the Pro is in the Air - it’ll run the same software (including 4K editing) and has a gorgeous screen. The six-core A14 Bionic chip isn’t quite as powerful for multi-tasking as the Pro’s eight-core A12Z, but it still leaves most of the competition flailing in the dust.

The only place you’ll feel the cost of the lower price is in the memory, which comes only in 64GB or 256GB - though, this isn’t such an issue if you’ve got a campus with wide-spread WiFi access and cloud storage.

The Microsoft Surface Go 2 is a nippy tablet with 10-hours of battery life. It runs on a version of Windows 10, which most students are going to find a very comfortable and fuss-free experience - especially if they are jumping between the tablet, a laptop and uni PCs. The 10.5-inch Full HD touchscreen is crisp, smooth and responsive, and inside its svelte frame sits 4GB RAM and 64GB memory, which will see many students through MS Office-based tasks. However, for those looking for something with more grunt for design and creative purposes, the much more expensive Surface Pro 7 is going to deliver the goods.

Ok - yes, this is an e-reader, not a tablet. But for courses that are heavy with literature and reading, the Kindle Paperwhite is a valuable ally - the convenience of having your entire library at hand is an extremely powerful thing. Navigation of the device, e-book and the integrated Kindle library takes place via touchscreen. Highlighting, translations, definitions and control over page and text settings are all here, and Audible can take over reading at any point via a Bluetooth audio connection. The screen has a clean resolution for an improved reading experience and five LEDs lighting the screen for low-light reading. It’s waterproof, light and perfectly formed.

Available in two memory sizes: 8GB and 32GB. The 32GB variant is available with both Wi-Fi and free 4G mobile network connectivity for on-the-go downloads and updates.

You can read a breakdown of the best Kindle devices here.

For a budget-friendly general-purpose student tablet, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite is a perfect choice. It’s small and ultra-portable, with a battery life of up to 12 hours. Running on Android 10.0, the S6 Lite is swift and versatile, with plenty of apps - educational and otherwise - at hand. Though the limited processing power makes creative programs off-limits, writing lecture notes, chatting in video calls and editing some documents is more than possible.

It’s never going to be able to keep up with the higher-priced options in the list, but for small tasks and daily use, it’s the best tablet around for under £300.