As the tablet market has matured, so has the range of things you can do with them
Over the past few years, tablets have gone from being an expensive luxury to a practical necessity for virtually any student trying to set themselves up with a versatile and compact device that can be used for work and leisure. Indeed, when paired with a Bluetooth keyboard most modern tablets might even be able to replace a laptop entirely - as long as you have a computer lab nearby for running the kind of ancient, Windows-only software packages universities like to throw at you.
Still, essential as they might be, picking a tablet can be difficult - and when you're buying one as a student, the things you have to consider may not be the same as when you are buying one more casually. To try and help you with your decision, we've looked at the some of most popular tablet and mini-tablet devices and tried to answer the question: what would a student want with this?
Mini-tablets
If a device has a screen size around 8" inches or less, it counts as a mini-tablet. 7" devices have been around for a few years now and have become the most popular size for budget tablets, which gives anyone looking to buy one a lot of choice. The market for mini-tablets is also much wider than the market for full-size examples. Partly that's because Apple's dominance doesn't extend all the way down to this end of the market, but it's also because you get both super-cheap and luxury devices.
In terms of what they can offer students, the benefits of mini-tablets are considerable. Primarily, they're cheaper, but they're also more portable, discreet and compact; this makes them easier to deal with in the limited space of a lecture hall. The only real disadvantages are their low power, which could make them slow to work with, and the fact that the small screen makes them harder to write on even with a keyboard. Rather than buying a mini-tablet instead of a laptop, you're more likely to buy one alongside it.
Tesco Hudl 2
The original Hudl was a surprise hit, and the late-2014 refresh - the Hudl 2 - has proven just as popular. Now an 8.3" device with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage, it retains the qualities that made the original so good.
Running on Android 4.4 (KitKat) and with a 1.83GHz Intel Atom CPU, it's got hardware and software to rival any tablet in its price range. The screen has been bumped up to a full HD (1920 x 1200) and the cameras are now 5MP on the rear and 1.2MP on the front. Connectivity includes Micro-HDMI, Micro-USB, MicroSD slot and Bluetooth/Wireless N.
Perhaps the most attractive thing about the Hudl 2 is its price. Now that it's getting on a little the tablet has shed £30 off its price, putting it at just £99. The only major disadvantage - aside from the complete lack of cool the brand exemplifies - is the lack of storage space, but that's easily boosted by an SD card. There's also close integration with Tesco's other services, which could prove useful to students, from Blinkbox integration to a suite of shopping and banking apps that can help manage your financial (and food) supply.
Despite all this, the Hudl 2's modest specs mean it isn't much good for gaming or working on - but whether you're playing music, watching a movie, reading Facebook or doing some online shopping, it's got all the capabilities of a larger, more expensive tablet apart from the inflated pricetag. Enthusiasts will doubtlessly want more out of their hardware, but if you're after a device that can give you portable entertainment and browsing at a low cost, it's ideal.
Amazon Fire HDX
The tablet formerly known as the Kindle Fire was refreshed in September 2014, so students beware: if you buy one in August you might end up buying last year's model just weeks before a new one drops. Or it might be another six months until that happens. Such is the risk inherent in buying within the rapidly turned-over tablet market.
Still, the latest version of the Fire HDX - an 8.9" screen with improved 2.5GHz Snapdragon 805 GPU and CPU over the 2013 7" and 8.9" models - is pretty good. The operating system, as ever, is a modified version of Android known as Fire OS. The screen is a retina-style 2560 x 1600 pixel display, while the rear camera is 8MP (with flash) and the front-facing camera is 1.2MP. Perks include Amazon's 'mayday' help feature and Wireless AC networking. The biggest down-side is that you can't access the Google Play store -only Amazon's Appstore.
Compared to the Hudl, the qualities that matter most are a 30% longer battery life and 100g lighter weight. It's also available with 4G and higher capacity storage -you can buy it in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB models. Of course, these bells and whistles quickly stack up financially. The cheapest version is £329, the 4G version with 64GB storage is £449 - though you can save £10 by going for the advertising-supported home screen.
At these prices it's almost operating on the level of the iPad Air and its cohorts, which explains its larger display - even if 8.9" is more netbook than laptop. Despite this, the restrictive software selection and non-standard OS make it hard to use for working on. As a leisure device it's great, but laptop-class prices need to bring laptop-class performance, and that's sadly not the case here.
iPad Mini
To make matters confusing, Apple has two iPad Mini models. The cheaper of the pair, the iPad Mini 2, is priced at £239 for the 16GB wi-fi model. It's also the cheapest iPad that Apple sells. It's now a couple of years old and has been superseded by the more powerful, more expensive iPad Mini 3, which starts at £319 for the 16GB model. Both have screens of 7.9", so they're smaller than the Fire HDX, but certainly within its class.
The retina display has a resolution of (2048 x 1536) and in terms of appearance, it's easily the best screen you'll find in a mini-tablet. The 64-bit Apple A7 CPU is surprisingly powerful too. Larger storage capacities are available up to 128GB, but are prohibitively expensive - £479 without 4G, and £579 with it. If connectivity is an issue, the Fire HDX suddenly looks a lot more attractive.
Still, the iPad Mini 3 isn't a bad investment for those who want a small tablet for practical rather than financial reasons - but if you want good value, it's hard to recommend. The mini-tablet form is mainly attractive because of its ability to offer significantly lower prices, and if you're not bothered about low prices then you can get an original iPad Air of equal capacity, similar capability and significantly larger screen for very similar pricing.
Access to the astonishingly great iTunes U (a selection of free University-level lectures and textbooks) aside, the only reason you might want to go with an iPad Mini over any other mini-tablet is if you've already got an iPhone and want your apps and content to sync without any difficulty. If you think that's worth spending the extra money, fair enough - and if the screen size isn't great for working on, at least the software on Apple's ecosystem is second-to-none.
Full-size Tablets
Any tablet 9" or larger can be considered a 'full-size' device. Their size, cost and greater performance capabilities tends to mean that these tablets are bought instead of, rather than in addition to a notebook PC, but it also means they're a lot less common than smaller tablets, which are made smaller tablets, which are made much cheaper by trading off a little screen real estate.
In an educational context, full-size tablets are mostly useful because you can do your work on them. Combine them with a Bluetooth keyboard and you essentially have a system that competes with notebooks in a fraction of the space, and with a lot more versatility.
iPad Air 2
Apple's flagship tablet is due a refresh as early as September, so as with the Fire HDX now isn't necessarily the best time to buy one. Nonetheless, if you're eager to get a tablet and you're already plugged into Apple's ecosystem through a Mac or an iPhone, this is undoubtedly the one to go for. Everyone else will have to make some hard decisions about whether it's worth the money.
Physically, it's got little to complain about. The iPad Air 2 weighs just 437 grams and features a 9.7" screen, and at 6.1mm thick it's one of the thinnest tablets around. Less than a quarter of the weight of an average laptop, it's hugely portable. Unlike earlier iPads, the iPad Air models can be comfortably held in one hand, which greatly improves their appeal -they're like the tablet the first few models were working towards.
Students will no doubt be pleased that they get free access to Apple's full office suite (Pages, Numbers and Keynote), their multimedia apps (iMovie, Garageband and iPhoto) and their full library of lectures, notes and reference materials on iTunes U, which almost makes them better than a Windows laptop. You get everything you need to make your tablet into the ultimate studying accessory.
The cheapest version of the iPad Air 2 has 16GB of storage as standard but nothing beyond wi-fi support. It's priced at £399, and comes in black/space grey, white/gold or white/silver colour combinations. It also comes in 64GB and 128GB varieties, and each is available with or without 4G. The most expensive version of the iPad Air 2 (4G, 128GB) costs an eye-watering £659; take heart, though, that's £80 cheaper than the equivalent model for the iPad Air 1 cost.
It's not unreasonable to call the iPad Air 2 the best full-size tablet on the market, though it really comes into its own if you have an iPhone or existing iPad that you can synchronise content with. It's expensive, but you are paying for quality as much as the name. The truth is that no full-size Android tablet can convincingly best Apple's efforts, which is probably why most manufacturers don't even try. If you can afford one and don't feel tied into Android by your phone, it's worth going for. The only thing that might put students off is the price, but when you can get this much use out of a device, it'll practically pay for itself.
Surface Pro 3
Marketed with a surprisingly transparent tagline of "the tablet that can replace your laptop", the latest (and indeed, most successful) iteration of the Surface Pro has been available for almost a year now and has proven a formidable device for working on - not least because of its full Windows compatibility. What's it like for students, then?
The most immediate concern is money. Even the most conservative configuration - 64GB storage, Intel i3 and 4GB RAM -costs £575. For that money you do get a 12" higher-than-HD display, Wireless AC, a full-size USB 3.0 port, a Mini DisplayPort socket and a microSD card reader, so in hardware terms it is undeniably competing with a pretty good laptop - but it's priced to reflect that.
The problem with Microsoft's bold claim is that you also need to buy the snap-on keyboard cover (or at least a Bluetooth keyboard) to make it properly productive. If you go the official route, that means shelling out another hundred quid. The tablet itself has a kickstand on the rear so you can prop it up, laptop-style, and the aforementioned cover incorporates an ultra-thin keyboard and trackpad, so you can actually use your tablet like a laptop if you prefer. There's also the Surface Pen stylus included for free.
Of course, while the cheapest Surface Pro 3 is acceptably cheap in laptop terms, the more expensive versions seem less and less so. The 128GB version with a Core i5 & 4GB RAM is £765. The 256GB version with a Core i5 and 8GB RAM is £972, the 256GB version with a Core i7 and 8GB RAM is £1170, and the best model - the 512GB, Core i7, 8GB RAM version - is a whopping £1395. Given that there's no other change in the hardware and that 64GB of SSD with 4GB of RAM is already well above the market average, it seems ludicrous to even consider anything other than the most basic model.
Since it's really aimed as business users, it's no surprise that the Surface Pro 3 is a little out of the range of most students - but maybe you can look at it as spreading the cost. This is a tablet that will easily last a three (or even four) year course, and you'll also get a free upgrade to Windows 10 to keep its software current. If you can stretch to one of the more basic models, it might actually be worth it.
The Best Tablet
So as you've probably guessed, it's hard to pin down the single best tablet for students and educational purposes, mainly because all of the most popular models are trying not to step on each other's toes. The Hudl 2 is the best for thrifty buyers. The Kindle HDX is best for those who want a tablet to play on, rather than work with. The iPad Mini 3 and iPad Air 2 are great for iPhone users who want, respectively, an all-rounder or a true laptop replacement, and the Surface Pro 3 is best for those who want true laptop power and compatibility. Admittedly, there are countless other tablets on the market right now that might fit into even smaller niches than we've looked at here - but stick with one of these devices and we're sure you won't go wrong.