Not sure what tablet to buy

For £100 your options are limited, you're looking at the bottom end of the market here. Your choices are going to be a crappy 10" tablet or a decent 7-8" one.

I would personally go for this if you want Android or this if you want Windows. Both will reach your battery life requirements and have free office suites available, and are generally solid tablets for not much money.

Reply 2

OP

Thanks.
I didn't think the budget would be that bad as I have seen loads of tablets £100 and under. I just had no idea how to narrow them down. I'm not to fussed on a lot of stuff that seems to make some of them more expensive.

Reply 3

Original post by SophieSmall

Thanks.
I didn't think the budget would be that bad as I have seen loads of tablets £100 and under. I just had no idea how to narrow them down. I'm not to fussed on a lot of stuff that seems to make some of them more expensive.

There are loads because cheap tablets are relatively profitable at the moment- they're a craze but people don't like spending the money on a good one. The issue is to make them so cheap most of the tablets from brands you've never heard of will be using the absolute cheapest parts they can get their hands on- crappy screens, slow processors, flimsy exteriors, basically everything that makes a tablet "below par" as you put it. The "stuff" that makes other tablets more expensive is usually the stuff that makes them enjoyable to use. Granted in recent years the move towards good quality low price tablets has grown, but this is more in the £150-£200 range- the under-£100 market is still dominated by companies putting out garbage. Having had a look through my usual tech sites, the two tablets I've linked are probably the only two I'd recommend within your budget.

Reply 4

OP

Oh I wasn't talking about brands I've never heard of, I'd never buy an electronic product from a brand I hadn't heard of or didn't think I could trust. But I've seen loads of tablets from big brands like Samsung and Asus for £100 or under or a little bit over like £129 or something.

the "stuff" :tongue:

I was referring to is like massive amounts of memory that I would personally never use, just generally stuff that doesn't interest me.

I do understand though that generally more expensive = better quality. But it gets to the point with some stuff where I just see no point spending so much on something when I know it's probably not going to last that long anyway (note my terrible luck with technology).

Reply 5

Original post by SophieSmall

Oh I wasn't talking about brands I've never heard of, I'd never buy an electronic product from a brand I hadn't heard of or didn't think I could trust. But I've seen loads of tablets from big brands like Samsung and Asus for £100 or under or a little bit over like £129 or something.

the "stuff" :tongue:

I was referring to is like massive amounts of memory that I would personally never use, just generally stuff that doesn't interest me.

I do understand though that generally more expensive = better quality. But it gets to the point with some stuff where I just see no point spending so much on something when I know it's probably not going to last that long anyway (note my terrible luck with technology).

They're most likely older or poorly selling models like the LG I've linked to :yep:

as a very basic means of picking the tablet, I would look to see which version of Android they're running on www.gsmarena.com, the larger the number (e.g 4.4.2 for the LG) the more up to date the tablet is going to be and most likely the better it will run. Avoid anything running 4.2 or earlier.

Memory is dirt cheap, what makes more expensive tablets more expensive are that they use the opposite to what I said above- their makers will put in high quality screens, fast processors and high quality exteriors. Yes there are some loaded with huge amounts of memory, but the tablets in the £320+ high quality market will likely only have 16GB of storage to start with- the rest of that money goes elsewhere to make the device feel premium.

Reply 6

OP

Really? 0.o because I was looking at some products, and there seemed to be huge jumps in price with the only changing factor being memory (this was apple which I'd never buy anyway but yeah).

Ugh I hate technology, can't live with it and I can't live without it. I'm just way to apprehensive to buy anything in case it breaks again.

Bough a tumble dryer for my mum for Christmas, researched it so much looked at all the reviews yadda yadda. Broke down with in 2 months. everything I have ever bought has broken or been faulty.

Reply 7

Original post by SophieSmall

Really? 0.o because I was looking at some products, and there seemed to be huge jumps in price with the only changing factor being memory (this was apple which I'd never buy anyway but yeah).

Well it's cheap to manufacture, companies will charge big jumps for memory upgrades because people will pay it but the base amount of memory in a tablet of 16GB or less will be worth very little when considering how much the tablet costs to produce overall. Hence why I can Go in Amazon and find a tablet like this, which is absolute complete garbage that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, but with 16GB it has the same amount of storage as the £400 tablets from Apple, Samsung and Sony despite costing about £30.

Reply 8

OP

brilliant

ahah thanks it's been helpful.

I just really struggle to determine between what features aren't completely useless to me, and what I need and what price it's actually worth.

Reply 9

Original post by SophieSmall

brilliant

ahah thanks it's been helpful.

I just really struggle to determine between what features aren't completely useless to me, and what I need and what price it's actually worth.

No worries :yy:

what sort of features do you consider useless? These days gimmicks and other useless things that make up extra value on tablets are at a low point.

Reply 10

OP

like crazy high picture resolution, like sure a really sharp picture is nice and all but I don't need it and I don't want pay extra for it.

A processor (and whatever else) that is just overkill on how fast it is. If I'm using a tablet I'm not going to be using a billion apps at once while browsing the web, playing team fortress 2 and streaming porn so I just feel it's a bit pointless to have more than necessary.

What's Bluetooth even about and why does everything still have it? I've never used it.

Unnecessary software/ crap ware pre-installed

That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure I could think of more.

Reply 11

Original post by SophieSmall

like crazy high picture resolution, like sure a really sharp picture is nice and all but I don't need it and I don't want pay extra for it.

A processor (and whatever else) that is just overkill on how fast it is. If I'm using a tablet I'm not going to be using a billion apps at once while browsing the web, playing team fortress 2 and streaming porn so I just feel it's a bit pointless to have more than necessary.

What's Bluetooth even about and why does everything still have it? I've never used it.

Unnecessary software/ crap ware pre-installed

That's just off the top of my head, I'm sure I could think of more.

The two tablets I linked should suit you fine then. Screen quality is one of the things that people desire most in tablets and what tends to get concentrated on, and while processing power may seem overkill in more expensive tablets this is what lets them last for years without slowing down while receiving the latest updates for as long as possible.

You're probably never going to find a tablet (at least not one worth buying) without Bluetooth, and don't worry about it being there as it costs next to nothing to include.

Reply 12

OP

Great thanks :smile:

Why is Bluetooth there though?

Reply 13

Original post by SophieSmall

Great thanks :smile:

Why is Bluetooth there though?

For connecting accessories, like keyboards, headphones, game controllers etc :yep:

Reply 14

OP

Ooooh I see, well I learnt something today :3

Reply 15

http://store.three.co.uk/mobile/view/plan/MBBD27032014T103202?manufacturer=Apple&deviceType=TABLET&gclid=CLH3gvSSjMQCFYInfAodtCYA9Q&gclsrc=ds

Original post by Gott

That's £99 when couple with a contract costing £480, probably not what the OP is after!

Reply 16

OP

http://store.three.co.uk/mobile/view/plan/MBBD27032014T103202?manufacturer=Apple&deviceType=TABLET&gclid=CLH3gvSSjMQCFYInfAodtCYA9Q&gclsrc=ds

Original post by Gott

Probably should have mentioned not a fan of apple in the slightest.

Also no way in this world I would get a contract. I don't know what my money situation might be like a year from now, so would be an irresponsible thing to do. Also overall getting a contract works out way expensive, I don't want any of this data nonsense. I have wifi.

Reply 17

Iqbal007

19

Original post by SophieSmall

Allo, so I seem to have come up really under budget this last semester and I have some money to spare and I am really liking the idea of buying a tablet as they seem pretty useful for uni stuff for viewing slides/taking notes as I find doing so on my phone too awkward and laptop too heavy and crappy battery life.

So these are the main things I'm looking for

-£100 or under (though will go a bit over if necessary)
-Good battery life (so at least 4+hours whilst using internet and apps)
-Good customer service (for when things inevitably go wrong)
-Will last a good while
-Not too small

I can't think of anything else at the moment.

I'm basically posting as I have AWFUL luck with technology (everything has always broken or been below par) and so would like some opinions from other people.

If you got an extra £29 lying around...hudl 2 is greatvalue

Reply 18

OP