When it comes to holiday gift giving, tablets have been on a tear for the past several years and they look to repeat in 2014. According to the Consumer Electronics Association, the No. 1 gift request by U.S. adults this year is once again a tablet.
The group also says that 26% of U.S. adults plan to give someone a tablet like an Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPad this holiday season.
If you’re one of those 26% and a tablet is on your holiday shopping list, which one should you get?
We’ve put together a list of the best tablets you can buy right now. And there are some surprises, including two models from 2013 that may soon be tough to find.
Best Tablets to Buy Now — iPad Air 2
There’s virtually no debate about what device currently tops any list of the best tablets on the market: That would be Apple’s iPad Air 2.
Apple kickstarted the consumer tablet market, it continues to dominate as the single largest tablet manufacturer, and Apple’s App Store still has the most apps that are optimized for tablet use.
What makes the iPad Air 2 so great? It’s the thinnest full-sized tablet you can buy and easily one of the most powerful. Plus, its Retina display is sharper and brighter than ever. The metal case reeks of premium build (and has a gold color option), the latest model has a Touch ID sensor, and the camera is excellent.
The new iPad Air 2 sets the standard for tablets in 2014 and should make just about anyone happy.
Best Tablets to Buy Now — Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4
Before the iPad Air 2 came along, the Samsung (SSNLF) Galaxy Tab S 8.4 laid claim to the thinnest tablet title.
It’s still very svelte, and with its 16:10 aspect ratio, it can easily be held in one hand.
The killer feature on the Galaxy Tab is its display, a 2560 x 1600 pixel (359 ppi) Super AMOLED panel with incredible contrast and color reproduction.
You can also save money by buying the base 16GB model and boosting storage inexpensively using the microSD card slot.
Not everyone cares for Samsung’s Touchwiz UI though, and if you’re looking for a pure Android experience, this isn’t the place to look.
Best Tablets to Buy Now — Amazon Fire HDX 8.9
If someone on your gift list is an Amazon (AMZN) fan, then you might want to consider skipping the iPads and Android tablets in favor of Amazon’s own hardware.
The latest Fire HDX 8.9 is probably the one you want.
It’s near full-size yet still compact enough that holding it on one hand isn’t tiresome. The Fire HDX packs a new CPU that’s three times more powerful than the 2013 version, plus it has an amazing 339 ppi display with 100% color accuracy and Dolby Digital Plus sound.
This is easily one of the best tablets available for multimedia — perfect for Amazon Prime members.
Be aware that this tablet is locked in to Amazon’s app store. That means no Google (GOOG) Play, although Amazon’s own app store now features more than 100,000 titles.
Finally, the unique Mayday button will quickly connect the user to Amazon tech support for free, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Best Tablets to Buy Now — iPad Mini 2
Anyone shopping for the new Apple iPad Mini 3 should consider the iPad Mini 2 instead.
Normally, I don’t recommend last year’s tablet over a new model, but in this case it makes sense.
When Apple announced the iPad Mini 3, it played up the addition of a Touch ID fingerprint sensor and gold case option. But those are the only differences compared to the 2013 iPad Mini 2 (then known as the iPad Mini with Retina Display) — one of the best tablets available for compact fans.
Same CPU, same display, same camera. Identical except for Touch ID and the option to go gold, but at $299 the iPad Mini 2 is $100 cheaper.
If you don’t care about Touch ID or having a gold case, snap up one of the $299 iPad Mini 2’s before they disappear.
Best Tablets to Buy Now — Google Nexus 7
This is the second of the 2013-era tablets you may want to consider.
The Nexus 7 tablet Google released in 2013 was beloved by Android fans. It had pure Android with no third-party UI. The tablet was snappy, it had a sharp display, and above all it was cheap at just $199.
The recently released Nexus 9 replaces the Nexus 7 and it’s a pretty good Android tablet. But it costs $399.
If you want a pure Android experience at a serious discount, you can still find that $199, 2013 Nexus 7 in many stores (Google Play dropped it in October). It’s no longer the fastest tablet around, but it remains competitive and its Full HD 323 ppi display still looks good — in fact it’s much sharper than the new Nexus 9’s 281 ppi.
Google also began rolling out Android 5.0 Lollipop to the Nexus 7 earlier this week, giving the device the latest and greatest Android features.
Best Tablets to Buy Now — Microsoft Surface Pro 3
Finally, if you’re shopping for a Windows fan, you do not want to take advantage of bargains on earlier Microsoft (MSFT) Surface tablets. Stick with the Surface Pro 3.
The Surface RT was a sales disaster and although you can often buy these tablets at bargain basement prices, they weren’t great. And Windows RT’s future is in doubt so they may well end up orphaned. The Surface Pro 1 and 2 were chunky, heavy and their widescreen display ratio cut into their usefulness.
The Surface Pro 3 which Microsoft released earlier this year is easily the most expensive tablet on this list but it’s also the one of the best tablets that runs Windows. Microsoft got it right this time.
With the Surface Pro 3, Microsoft still crams in the same Intel (INTC) Core CPUs used in PC laptops for the power to run Windows 8 Pro and Windows PC software. The display grew to 12.2-inches, but it’s a much more useful 3:2 aspect ratio and has more pixels. Battery life has been boosted to nine hours. And despite the larger display, the Surface Pro 3 is significantly thinner and lighter than its predecessors.
So if you’re shopping for a Windows tablet — something that could replace a laptop — it’s worth paying a bit more to stick with the Surface Pro 3.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
