A lot of folks wait all year for Black Friday so they can pick up a tablet, but many also worry about whether waiting for Cyber Monday is a better idea. Well, we’ll look into that, as well as some great Black Friday deals you can pick up right now.
Should you buy a tablet on Black Friday?
Yes, absolutely, especially since Black Friday is one of the best times to pick up electronics like tablets. If you’re worried about Cyber Monday, the truth is that while offers tend to be mirrored, there’s no absolute guarantee that you’ll find the same item on sale for the same price or at all. That means you’re better off picking up Black Friday tablet deals when you see them rather than waiting. That said, even if you do find a better deal on Cyber Monday, you should still be within the return window for Black Friday, so you can return that tablet for a full refund and buy the one with the better offer.
Our 5 favorite Black Friday tablet deals
Fire HD 10 tablet — $75, was $150
The Fire HD 10 tablet is Amazon’s attempt to hit the budget tablet market running, and they do a surprisingly good job of it. You get a 10.1-inch FHD display with relatively good brightness and 3GB of RAM, which is more than enough for most day-to-day usage. With this deal, you also get 32GB of storage, although you can bump it up to the 64GB version if you feel you need it. It has the same experience as the Fire TVs since it carries the same OS, so if you’re already a fan of that, you’re in luck! One thing we need to point out, though, is that this is a lock screen-ad-supported version, which is why it’s so cheap. Luckily, you can get it without the lock screen ads for an extra $15, and we encourage you to do that if you can.
2021 Apple iPad — $270, $329
If you want an excellent iPad without paying a ton of money, this is one of the better iPad deals you’ll find during Black Friday. The 2021 Apple iPad is surprisingly powerful, even though it’s running the A13 Biochip, a few years old, with relatively smooth performance for the price bracket. The screen is a 10.2-inch Retina display, so it’s perfect for shows, films, and general browsing, while the 64GB of base storage allows you some space to download stuff for online use. There is an option to go for 256GB instead, which might be worth it if you download a lot. Similarly, while this deal is for the Wi-Fi-only version, you can grab a Wi-Fi + Cellular version instead.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 — $580, was $780
If you’re comparing the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 vs. Samsung Galaxy Tab S7, you’ll notice many similarities, but for the same MSRP, the Tab S8 manages to be better. The Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 has many great features, the main one being the excellent software and OS that far outshines competitors and makes using the S Pen very enjoyable. Under the hood, you’ll find a Processor Model Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 SM8450 Gen 1, one of the most powerful chips on the market; paired with the 8GBs of RAM, we doubt the Tab S8 will have any trouble handling most tasks that are thrown at it. As for the screen, it’s a gorgeous 11-inch 2560 x 1600 resolution panel. Internal storage comes in at 256GB, although you can upgrade it to 1TB with a microSD card if needed. As for the battery, you’ll get about a day’s work out of it, which isn’t too bad.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra — $970, was $1,200
While the Tab S8 is impressive, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is the king of tablets, or at the very least, is very much in competition with the iPad Pro. With a massive 14.6-inch screen, it easily competes with things like Chromebooks and notebooks, with the added benefit that it’s genuinely a tablet and doesn’t have to masquerade as a 2-in-1. Of course, the big screen makes it hard to handle, and the 1.6-pound weight is borderline challenging to hold up for long periods. Truthfully though, it’s built for power users, with the same specs as the Tab S8, only with a larger and higher-end AMOLED screen and 12GB of RAM instead of 8GB. Whether it’s worth the extra few hundred dollars is hard to say, but it’s one of the best tablet deals if you want something that comes close to a regular laptop.
2022 Apple iPad Pro — $1,099, was $1,199
While the 2022 Apple iPad Pro isn’t quite as large as the Tab S8 Ultra, coming in at only 12.9 inches, it’s still very powerful, if not even more powerful than the S8 Ultra. It manages that performance due to the M2 Chip, one of the most powerful that Apple makes, something you usually find on their laptops, and is massive overkill, although we won’t complain. The screen has an excellent resolution of 2732 x 2048, with a whopping 1,000 nits of peak brightness and the ability to watch HDR content. This deal comes with 256GB of internal storage, but there are versions up to 2TB, which is probably more than you’ll ever need, but it’s there. You can also grab a version with Wi-Fi + Cellular, although this deal is for the Wi-Fi-only version.
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