Best Tablets Under $400

Last Updated on May 12, 2023 by Ernests Embutnieks

Tablets are a great solution to bridge the gap between a laptop and a mobile, or it can also be conveniently said that it offers the best of both these devices. The objective of this article is to compile a list of tablets within a range of $300 to $400 (+ or – $10, as price varies on a regular basis) for your convenience. We have tried to enlist the tablets which are launched within the last 2-3 years, but there are some older devices as well that perform at par that is also included in our compilation.

These budget tablets (under $400) are best suited for students for studying and other learning activities. But they can also be a good choice for elderly people who moderately surf the internet, watch videos, and want to make video calls to their relatives and friends. The budget-friendly tablets can also be used by professionals as a secondary device for moderate tasks that are not very intensive to the processor.

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This Lite tab from Samsung is a trimmed-down version of one of its flagship products Samsung Tab S6(2022 Edition). This budget-friendly tablet is more than just an entertainment and browsing device. There is a lot of power packed in this tablet, backed by a Snapdragon 720G processor and 4GB RAM. The battery can hold up to 12 hours, which is really impressive. The MicroSD card slot makes it even more usable with up to 1TB of extendable storage. 

The Samsung S6 Lite tab is very convenient to use with the S-Pen, which is included with the product, which makes Samsung budget tablets superior to Apple budget iPads.

It has a beautiful screen, S-pen is included in the price, and the battery life is great, arguably I believe Samsung created better budget tablets than Apple due to the fact that the S-pen is included in the price, which is a major advantage.

If you are looking for a budget-friendly yet powerful Apple device, then this is the one you should go for, and it can also be used as an entry-level laptop. It is a perfect device for entertainment, learning, and professional purpose. Of course, at this price point, you cannot expect performance as with other latest Apple tablets, but this is a good choice for fulfilling basic needs and performing basic tasks. This tablet can be paired with an Apple pencil as well as Apple’s keyboard to enhance convenience and usability. The iPad Air has dual speakers and a 10.5 inches screen equipped with TrueTone, which makes it an excellent device for entertainment.

The iPad is dust-proof and water-resistant, with all its keys sealed for protection. We used this iPad for up to 8 hours 20 minutes on a single charge with multiple applications running like music, chatting, browsing, and email with about 75% brightness. The camera quality is decent, and it can record videos at 1080p video with an FPS of 30. This iPad Air 3 was launched way back in 2019, and there is a more recent version available.

It’s a renewed model, but it’s compatible with the latest iPad OS 16. There aren’t that many great options under $400, and even if it’s used, we believe the iPad Air 3rd gen deserves to be at the top, because it is still a great device.

It’s not compatible with the 2nd gen Apple Pencil, but it is compatible with the 1st gen Apple Pencil. It also has a home button, which is removed from newer models, and it also has Touch ID.

This is an upgraded model with an improved battery and faster performance. The previous version had an 8th Gen Intel Core m3 processor, while this one has been upgraded to a Core i3 processor. This tablet also has a MicroSDXC card reader for easy access to your external storage. It is best suited for professionals who love to use Microsoft products, as it is optimized for their in-house apps like Office Suite, Teams, Xbox, Skype, etc. It offers two different storage options, one is an eMMC drive with 64 GB storage, while the other is an even faster SSD drive with 128 GB space, but the latter will obviously exceed the budget.

The Surface Go 3 tablet is equipped with PixelSense Display, which allows for 10-point multi-touch and also recognizes hand gestures. The tablet is also highly secure yet convenient to access for the authorized person with its Windows Hello face authentication camera. This is a very good device to be given to Kids as you can easily enable a kid-friendly environment using built-in guardrails and set screen time limits option. This tablet comes in handy with advanced defenses against malware and viruses at no additional cost.

You can also get Lenovo Tab P11 Plus under $300, but this model will have 6GB RAM and bigger storage, and honestly, it makes quite the difference, especially if you intend to do some multitasking. The tablet feels a bit faster.

It has a great design, powerful performance and great battery, great camera, and it also has stylus and keyboard support. Capable of multitasking, doing basic tablet tasks, taking notes, and can even handle some heavy games and apps.

There aren’t that many tablets under $400 mark, new that is, and this one is a solid option if you are seeking for an Android tablet.

If it were a new iPad Mini 6, I would give it the #1 position. On the list, but it’s renewed/used. I’ve to deduct some points for that, unfortunately. It’s a great 8-inch tablet. You can take notes on it, you can draw on it, can play games on it, can make video calls on it, and the camera is stellar for Zoom calls, Skype, Hangouts, etc. It even has center-stage compatibility.

Feels like it’s the perfect device for people that are on the go and need to have a quick video call, take a quick note, and draw a quick sketch. A student, a professional, an entrepreneur, an artist is definitely a more capable device than your smartphone.

It’s also great to watch movies and YouTube, it’s lightweight and small, and hands don’t get tired if you hold it in your hands.

Apple just released the iPad 10th gen, and for $440, you can get a basic model. But you can also get a renewed iPad 9th gen with LTE for under $400.

It’s compatible with the latest iPad OS 16. It has great battery life that can hold up to 10 hours. It has a headphone jack, and for a budget iPad, the processing speed is impressive, thanks to the A13 Bionic chip.

It’s a capable tablet, the price is adequate, and you can also connect Apple Pencil 1 and a keyboard and turn it into a mini laptop.

Great for anyone that’s looking for a cheap, multi-functional device.

The Asus Chromebook comes with a detachable keyboard of suitable size, which makes it a truly 2-in-1 device with the capabilities of a tablet as well as that of an entry-level laptop for some basic tasks. This tablet also comes with a USI pen for better writing and drawing experience, which makes it a good choice for artists and students to draw, study and take notes on it. This tablet has eMMC storage which is considered ideal for small file storage devices. The Asus Chromebook CM3 comes with a foldable kickstand to place as per your own preference.

In terms of connectivity, this tablet offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity along with a USB-C port. This Chrome tablet comes with 100 GB of cloud storage on Google for one year. The battery is capable enough to easily last for up to 11-12 hours. Chrome OS is made to boot quickly, and we observed the same on this tablet. It just took a few seconds to boot this up, and the web browsing experience is also exceptional with this device.

Related: Best Chrome OS Tablets

This is termed by critics as a perfect answer to the iPad by Xiaomi, with all the top-of-the-line features, especially in terms of audio, video, processing, and battery performance. It is a very stylishly designed product that is less than 7 mm thick. It is being praised for its amazing display quality which comprises of ambient light sensor, color temperature sensor, Dolby vision, 1 billion colors, and 120 Hz refresh rate. Its high-quality display provides for immersive gaming and viewing experience. The Xiaomi Pad 5 offers ultra-fast magnetic wireless charging.

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 860 is a flagship processor based on 7nm fabrication technology, which is three times faster than Snapdragon 845. The sufficiently large-capacity battery complements the other tech specifications really well and can last for up to 10 hours of gaming. The device is compatible with Xiaomi Smart Pen, which allows precise, smooth pen strokes. There is also a Pro version available for this product. 

Why did we rank Apple iPad Air 3 higher than Microsoft Surface Go 3?

There are a couple of obvious reasons behind it, and being an Apple product is one of them which scored the points for Apple iPad Air 3. If we look at specifications in detail, you will see the difference. For instance, iPad Air 3 has a screen resolution of 2,360 by 1,640, whereas Microsoft Surface Go 3 possesses a screen resolution of 1,920 by 1,280. The Geekbench performance of the A14 processor used in iPad Air 3 is better than the Core i3 processor in Surface Go 3, by a decent margin in single-core as well as multi-core results. The same goes for its GPU performance results. In terms of camera quality, Apple is way ahead of Microsoft, iPad Air 3 is equipped with a 12 MP rear camera, while Surface Go 3 has an 8 MP camera at its rear. You can actually do a one-to-one comparison of each of the specifications and will find iPad Air 3 winning on most fronts. 

What are the key differences between budget tablets and premium tablets?

Here are some of the key differences:

Budget Tablet	Premium/Flagship Tablets
Just average specifications	Top-of-the-line specification
Good for students and children	Best suited for professionals
Good for learning and entertainment	Good for multi-tasking and professional uses
Less stable	More stable and lasts longer
Good to be used in the current situation	More future proof
The processor and RAM get overloaded quickly.	Processor and RAM can take a lot of loads
It should be used gently	More susceptible to rough and harsh use

While listing some of these differences doesn’t make budget tablets a bad choice at all. It all depends on your requirement, application, and, of course, budget. Probably you might need a lot of battery backup, and a budget-friendly tablet can fulfill your need better than a premium tablet. On the other hand, you want to do a lot of multi-tasking like online meetings, replying to emails, updating sheets, all at once, and a premium tablet will be able to address the need. So, the choice boils down to your personal needs and requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

Conclusion: Which is the best tablet under $400?

Each of the above-shortlisted tablets, priced around $400 is offering decent performance and good in their own way on one or the other front. Based on the individual requirements, you can choose the one that addresses your needs. There are tablets ranging from an 8-inch screen to an 11-inch screen.

For the sake of answering the question, and as our personal opinion, we found Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite, and Apple iPad Air 3, perform reasonably well on all fronts. We were specifically impressed with the optimized performance of the A12 Bionic processor. A good option also is Microsoft Surface Go 3 with Core i3 processor, and it can be conveniently termed as the most portable 2-in-1 tablet, which can replace a need for a laptop. There are some newer entrants, like Xiaomi Pad 5, which offers some great features and the best specifications.

If you like portability, iPad Mini 6 renewed is a good option as well.

Basically, I can list all the tablets on the top list again, but it comes down to your preferences, how big of a tablet you want, do you need a stylus support keyboard, how you are planning to use the device, etc.

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