The best school tablet in 2024: lightweight and versatile picks for the classroom

Best school tablet: quick menu

The best school tablet will offer you great performance and portability so you can get your work done wherever you are, whether its at home, at the library, or taking notes in class.

For pure portability and price, the Apple iPad Air 5 with M1 chip is our top pick overall, giving students the quality performance they need without breaking the bank, but also not sacrificing style and functionality. Alternatively, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra and Apple iPad Pro 12.9 with M2 are great alternatives for university students or creative students who need bigger canvases.

We've tested dozens of tablets over the past decade and change, so we know what the best tablet for students should bring to the table, these are the ones we've even used in our own academic journeys, so we stand behind these picks with our years of experience as reviewers and students ourselves.

The best school tablet: Quick List

How to choose the best school tablet for you

When choosing the best school tablet for yourself, you'll want to consider it's power, weight, size, and battery life. If you need to use the tablet throughout your school hours, then you need a powerful CPU and enough RAM to swiftly use different apps without getting stuck. 

Plan to do a lot of notetaking? Check if your tablet ships with a wireless stylus pen. You'll want a high-resolution screen if you need the tablet for an art or graphics class. 

School tablets don't always have the best cameras on them, so if you need to snap excellent-quality images, then you'll want to look at some of the more expensive options on the list. 

Importantly, check how much battery life the device offers, especially in varying conditions. Not everyone will use the tablet the same way, so you'll want to make the right selection based on your work requirements.

How we test the best school tablets

To accurately assess how well these school tablets perform, we compared their tech specs and their real-world performance. 

We looked at their weight, dimensions, OS, CPU, resolution, battery life, and camera quality. We checked if they had stylus compatibility, if they came with a stylus, how much storage they offered, and SD card support. 

We tested their battery life by running different apps on them and seeing how many hours we could get out of them. We also considered their screen size and pricing, among other things.

The best school tablet: Top picks

The best school tablet in 2024 in full:

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Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best school tablet picks on our list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.

An iPad Air 5 on a table

Apple iPad Air 5 (2022) (Image credit: Future)

The best school tablet overall

A great iPad that is just about perfect for most students

Specifications

Screen Size: 10.9"
Resolution: 2360 x 1640
Processor: Apple M1
Battery Life: up to 10 hrs
OS: iPadOS 16
Storage: 64GB / 256GB
Weight: 1.02lb / 4.61kg

Reasons to buy

+
Great design
+
Speedy performance
+
Incredibly versatile

Reasons to avoid

-
Too close in cost to iPad Pro
-
Battery life only average
-
64GB is too little storage for base model

The iPad Air with the M1 chip is nearly perfect for a student. The M1 chip is powerful enough to push through late-night study sessions or create presentations for biology. With the advancements of iPadOS 16, the iPad is becoming more and more capable while still staying a light, simple piece of glass. Adding a keyboard, whether Bluetooth or an Apple Keyboard, unlocks even more productivity power.

Candidly, the iPad route won't give you access to everything like you may be used to with a traditional laptop. However, more and more people are making the switch and finding that with a few simple shortcuts or even just a different app, just about everything can be done from an iPad.

Read our full Apple iPad Air 5 (2022) review.

An iPad Pro 12.9 with M2 on a table

The iPad Pro (2022) (Image credit: Samsung)

The best school tablet for university students

The best iPad money can buy, well equipped to solve most students' needs

Specifications

Screen Size: 12.9"
Resolution: 2732 x 2048
Processor: Apple M2
Battery Life: up to 10 hrs
OS: iPadOS 16
Storage: 128GB / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB / 2TB
Weight: 1.51lb / 6.82kg

Reasons to buy

+
Beautiful mini-LED screen
+
Future-proof M2 chip
+
The best range of tablet apps

Reasons to avoid

-
128GB is small for the price
-
Battery life isn't huge
-
Steep price rise in some countries

The iPad Pro 12.9" is the biggest and baddest iPad available on the market today. This iPad Pro saw an update in 2022 to bump it to an Apple M2 chipset, giving this piece of glass even more power under the display. Additionally, the larger storage sizes allow for an increase in RAM, topping out at 16GB.

The large screen size is perfect for content editing or creation and multitasking. Much like the iPad Air, this iPad has a few keyboard options, giving way to another level of productivity. 

If you want the best of the best iPad, look no further than the M2 12.9" iPad Pro.

Read our full iPad Pro (M2, 12.9) review.

A Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra on a desk

Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 (Image credit: Future)

The best Android tablet for school use

Best Android tablet for school use

Specifications

Screen Size: 14.6-inch AMOLED 120Hz
Resolution: 1848 x 2960
Processor: Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
Battery Life: Nearly 13 hours
OS: Android
Storage: 128GB - 512GB
Weight: 1.6lb / 0.72kg

Reasons to buy

+
Very powerful
+
Giant screen can be useful
+
S Pen is included

Reasons to avoid

-
Unwieldy to transport
-
Incredibly expensive

If you're looking for a tablet outside of the Apple Ecosystem, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra is the best option right now for school use and beyond. The included S Pen unlocks so much for creative students, as well as those who would prefer to handwrite notes or draw diagrams. These tablets can expand their storage thanks to a micro-SD card slot. 

This tablet packs a good amount of power, while also having an impressive battery life. All in all, if you choose this tablet for your academic endeavors or otherwise, you shouldn't be disappointed, especially if you're deep into the Android ecosystem and you want to have the best compatibility across your devices.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra review

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John Loeffler
Components Editor

John (He/Him) is the Components Editor here at TechRadar and he is also a programmer, gamer, activist, and Brooklyn College alum currently living in Brooklyn, NY. 


Named by the CTA as a CES 2020 Media Trailblazer for his science and technology reporting, John specializes in all areas of computer science, including industry news, hardware reviews, PC gaming, as well as general science writing and the social impact of the tech industry.


You can find him online on Threads @johnloeffler.


Currently playing: Baldur's Gate 3 (just like everyone else).

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