Top 5 Travel-Friendly Tablets

Even if you don’t travel often, you may need a much larger screen than your smartphone when you go on vacation. With the start of the summer season, travel is increasing and tablets suitable for travel are already being sought. A tablet can help you along the way in many ways. It allows you to keep track of your work, watch broadcasted programs, check social media and do anything you can think of while you are on your way to your destination. So let’s take a look at the tablets you can use for travel.

How to Choose a Tablet for Travel?

Not all tablets are great travel companions, and to determine which ones are perfect, you can follow a few criteria. While certain features may be more important to some, it’s important to make sure they meet the following criteria.

Portability

When choosing a travel tablet, the first thing that comes to most people’s minds is whether the device is portable. Tablets with larger screens may require a bit more effort if you want to make room in your luggage, but if they are thin enough to easily fit in your bag, they can be considered portable. As an electronic device, you don’t want your tablet to be placed out of sight, so it’s important to us that the device you buy fits in the carry-on bag you always carry with you when you travel. When choosing the best tablets for travel, we chose devices that still retained portability, even if they had relatively large screens.

Versatility

You may have a specific purpose in mind for your tablet when you’re traveling, but it’s best if the device is versatile enough to handle different types of activities. For example, if your tablet is primarily for browsing the web, it should still have a screen with a good resolution in case you decide to watch videos. If you think you’ll mostly be playing mobile games on your tablet, you should consider having enough storage space in case you need to capture images of something cool you come across on your trip.

Some tablets have accessories that come with the device or require a separate purchase to give you extra options. A stylus will help you pass the time by sketching the sights you see, while a keyboard will make it easier to write emails or write on your travel blog. This versatility makes the best tablets for travel invaluable companions.

Compatibility

If you use a specific set of apps for work and play, or have accessories that you can’t live without before leaving home, you should make sure they’re compatible with the tablet you buy. The best tablets for travel are widely compatible with all popular apps and accessories because they’re supported by the best operating systems and come with a full set of ports.

We’ve made sure to choose tablets that are compatible with everything you typically use, which means choosing trusted brands that take that into account when building their devices. Whether you’re an iPadOS or Android fan, if you want to stick to the ecosystem you’re used to, our list of the best tablets for travel is sure to have something for you.

Durability

Traveling involves a lot of moving around, which can put your tablet through a lot more wear and tear than using it at home. We chose relatively durable devices because you don’t want to go home with a broken tablet, which means additional expense for repair or replacement. Tablets that have built-in protection for their touchscreens and are made of durable materials are excellent choices for travel companions.

For the more adventurous traveler, you may want to purchase a sturdy case or similar for your tablet so that it can better withstand potential damage. That’s one reason why we’ve chosen some of the most popular models for our list of the best tablets for travel, as there will definitely be sturdy cases and similar accessories available for them.

Value for money

Ultimately, we believe that you should get great value for money with every purchase, and buying a tablet for travel is no exception. Whether you’re on a tight budget or willing to make a significant investment, the device you buy should make you feel like you’re paying more than it’s worth.

Affordable tablets should still provide decent performance, and high-end tablets should include all the latest features. It’s a good idea to set a maximum budget for your purchase to narrow down your options even further, but regardless, you won’t regret spending your money on any of the best tablets for travel that we’ve highlighted above.

Best Tablets for Travel

Apple iPad Air 5th Generation

Our top pick for the best tablets is also the first tablet we recommend for traveling. The fifth-generation Apple iPad Air is very good. Performance is great with Apple’s M1 processor. The tablet also has a bright and colorful 10.9-inch Liquid Retina display to help you enjoy your favorite content even better.

The Apple iPad Air 5th Generation will benefit from the latest version of Apple’s operating system for tablets, iPadOS 17. It’s thin and light, making it easy to carry around on your travels, has a USB-C port for broad compatibility, and works with the Apple Pencil 2 and Magic Keyboard as extra accessories for additional input options.

OnePlus Pad

The OnePlus Pad sits at the top of our best Android tablets rankings, and part of the reason for that is its sharp and vibrant 11.6-inch LCD touchscreen. With a resolution of 2800 x 2000 pixels and a refresh rate of up to 144Hz, it’s a great display for streaming content and playing mobile games, as you’ll see sharp images and fluid motion. The tablet also supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos to enable a personal cinema experience, and viewing is even more immersive due to the narrow bezels surrounding the display.

Adding to the reasons why the OnePlus Pad is one of our best tablets for traveling is its thin and light design, measuring just 6.5 millimeters thick and weighing 552 grams, its smooth CNC aluminum unibody, and its all-day battery life, which goes from zero to full after just over 60 minutes of plugging in.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9

For those who plan to work even while traveling, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 will keep you productive. Since it runs on Windows 11 Home, you’ll be able to use it with the most popular productivity apps (Microsoft Office), and with its 12th generation Intel Core i7 Evo processor and 16GB of RAM, you’ll be sure to get all your tasks done quickly.

As a tablet, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 offers a 13-inch PixelSense touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate, and you can prop it up using its built-in kickstand. However, when you need to respond to an email or write a quick report, it transforms into a laptop using the included Surface Keyboard. Some people prefer to bring their work with them when they travel, but that’s why the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is one of the best tablets for traveling.

Apple iPad Mini 6th Generation

If you want to make sure you don’t have trouble finding room in your luggage for your tablet, pick up something compact like the Apple iPad Mini 6th Generation. With its 8.3-inch Liquid Retina display and weighing just under 300 grams, it’s quite portable. But despite its small size, it still offers fast performance for your apps with Apple’s A15 Bionic chip and 4GB of RAM, the same configuration you’ll find in the iPhone 13.

The Apple iPad Mini 6th Generation is compatible with Apple Pencil 2 if you plan to use it to take notes or sketch the places you visit, and it can be upgraded to iPadOS 17 to give you access to the operating system’s latest features. It also comes equipped with a USB-C port for charging and other accessories.

Lenovo Tab M10 Plus 3rd Generation

For those who need a simple tablet for their travels, the Lenovo Tab M10 Plus 3rd Gen is a good option at a reasonable price. Its 10.6-inch display is relatively large for a budget device, and it’s bright and sharp enough for most purposes. The tablet also has a quad-speaker system with Dolby Atmos, so you can better watch streaming shows and videos that you’ll be taking with you.

The Lenovo Tab M10 Plus 3rd Gen is equipped with an all-day battery to keep you going throughout your journey, and is protected by a durable aluminum chassis that keeps the tablet at a hefty 465 grams. Book lovers can enable the device’s Immersive Reading Mode to make the screen easier on the eyes, which will come in handy if you’re stuck on a plane or train for hours.