Is Portability a Priority?
Tablets with 8-inch or smaller displays mostly weigh well under a pound. Many are very thin. Some tablets in this size range have a battery life of 15 hours, or more.

What's Your Budget?
You can get a great 7- to 8-inch tablet starting at under $200. Even normally high-price Apple is offering a less expensive model, the iPad Mini, for $250. Tablets with larger display sizes cost more, of course. But very good 10-inch tablets are out there for about $350.

Are You Looking for Maximum Versatility?
If you want to read comfortably, watch movies, type out documents with a separate keyboard, and use standard productivity apps, you might want to consider a larger tablet with at least 12 hours of battery life. Be prepared to spend at least $400. The Apple iPad Air 2 offers a good mix of features and performance, but some other tablets have things the iPads don't, including memory-card slots and remote-control capability.

Are You a Bookworm?
If you want a tablet mainly for reading—with some e-mailing, Web surfing, and a bit of app-downloading on the side—you can save some money with a tablet from Amazon. A larger screen is better for magazine reading, while a smaller one is more portable, costs less, and is big enough for reading books.

Do You Want a Tablet That's Also a Laptop?
Many Windows-based tablets are either convertibles that use hinges to twist and turn from laptop to tablet, or a detachable, which lets you detach the screen from the keyboard.

Do You Have Kids?
Tablets for tykes have gotten more robust, and parents have more control over what their kids are doing with parental filters. Prices range from $150 to $200, so kids' tablets aren't cheap. Here's how to figure out which is best for your family.

Is There a Gamer in the Family?
Most tablets are good enough for casual games like Angry Birds or 2048. But if you want to play a more demanding game such as Modern Combat 4, you'll need a tablet that can handle it. Here are six great tablets for playing games.

All new models offer WiFi connectivity, and most have a front-facing webcam and GPS capability. 

Screen Size and Shape
Typical sizes are 7 and 10 inches, though tablets in sizes in between are also available. There are also larger models, such as Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro. In landscape mode, most tablets have the short, wide shape of a digital TV. The iPad's display is squarer, similar to a traditional TV's.

Wireless Connectivity
All tablets offer WiFi connectivity. Most higher-rated tablets also come in a version that can access cellular data networks, including 4G. Monthly broadband access costs $20 and up (some tablets offer month-to-month access).

Display
Screen resolutions on tablets are getting better. Samsung's Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is among the finest at 359 pixels per inch. The Apple iPad Air 2 has an anti-reflective coating that makes it the best tablet we've viewed in bright light.

Operating System
You can choose from among three operating systems for your tablet: Windows, iOS, or Android. Apple's tablets use iOS; the current version is iOS 10. Samsung's Galaxy Book uses Windows 10, as do other Windows-based tablets. A tablet's capabilities are in large part determined by its operating system. As with computers, being able to upgrade the version installed in the factory makes additional capabilities possible and allows the device to use the newest apps. The latest Android operating system is version 7, also called Nougat. But some Android models are using earlier versions like 4.2.

Ports
Storage in many tablets can be expanded using a memory card, and a few can read USB flash drives. The iPad has no memory-card slot or USB port, but its $29 Camera Connection Kit has some unadvertised capabilities, such as accommodating a USB keyboard and importing photos from an iPod Touch or iPhone.

Seagate's $200 GoFlex Satellite hard drive lets you wirelessly stream video, movies, photos, and documents to a tablet. It has a dedicated app for the iPad but works with any WiFi-enabled tablet. Apple's iOS lets you sync with other iOS devices.

Printing Capability
One way you can print wirelessly from the iPad is via an AirPrint-enabled printer. Most printer manufacturers have apps for the iPad and Android tablets that allow WiFi printing.

Shape Matters
We find the iPad's squarish screen is better suited to most tablet uses than a longer, narrower one. Several other tablets have similarly shaped screens. Rectangular screens held horizontally offer a wider landscape view that's better for watching movies in something closer to a wide-screen 16.9 aspect ratio, and the shape may make them easier to slip into a purse.

Make Sure the OS is Upgradable
Apple provides upgrades for the iPad's iOS, as does Microsoft for Windows tablets. New Android apps may require a newer version of Andorid than is available on some tablets with older Android builds.

Consider the App Market
The breadth and quality of Apple's app market is still a major competitive edge for the iPad. Games for iPad are still more innovative, for example, with popular titles such as Infinity Blade (free), a game of knights and swordplay, and The Room ($5), a puzzle/mystery game. And the quality of apps for iPad continues to overshadow those for Android. Many magazines have tablet versions of their publications for both Android and Apple devices.

Developers usually create apps first, and sometimes exclusively, for the Apple App store. And because of the large user base, apps in the Apple store are more likely to get bugs fixed first. The major app stores from Apple, Google, and Microsoft have specific developer requirements that make their apps more reliable and less likely to be vulnerable to malware.

Only Android devices let you opt to install non-vetted apps from the Internet, so be careful about allowing that.

If you choose a tablet with the Android OS, make sure it has access to Google's "genuine" Google Play market and not just a third-party app market such as GetJar. You'll get a wider variety of popular apps there, and gain some security against potentially malicious "rogue" apps.

You get many fewer Android apps on Kindle tablets because those companies select the apps they want provide. But there's still a large number available on both of those tablets as well.

Should You Spend More on the iPad?
Possibly. Many of its apps outdo Android apps in terms of innovation. Don't forget the iPad's excellent 9.7-inch display for reading magazines and watching movies, as well as its long battery life.

WiFi is Good Enough for Most
WiFi-only model are less expensive than ones that incorporate cellular service—and that cell connection adds another charge to your monthly mobile bill. Choose a broadband model only if "everywhere access" to the Net is critical—and remember, it's normally just as easy to tether a tablet to a phone.  

Here are some tips on buying a tablet for kids.

Age
While "grownup" tablets are fine for many older kids, and lots of them do come with parental controls and filters, there's a growing number of tablets made just for kids: Not only the LeapFrog LeapPad and Vtech InnoTab lines, which are more toy like and great for the younger set, but also full-blown Android tablets geared to children of various ages. Check the manufacturer's recommended age range, but also bear in mind your child's capabilities and preferences.

Price
Android kid tablets are often are less expensive than "grownup" tablets, are more rugged, and come with child-oriented content. But often, kid-tablet specs—including processor speed, display quality, and screen responsiveness—can lag behind those of regular tablets.

So you'll want to make sure snagging a great kid-tablet bargain doesn't mean you're buying an inferior product that your child will hate.

Parental Controls
These include Web filters—some are predetermined by the tablet maker, and some let you choose the sites you wish to be available to your child (or children, when they allow for multiple profiles).

Other controls let you block and monitor specific apps and websites. And some let you specify how much time a kid can spend playing on the tablet, or even what times of day they can play.

Also take into consideration that some parental controls are easier to set up and change than others. This is another feature we look at when testing kid tablets.

Multiple Profiles
If you plan to let a couple or few kids share the tablet, look for one that lets you create a profile for each child. That way, parents can assure an age-appropriate experience for everyone. On some tablets, parents can monitor each individual child's progress as they use educational apps.

Content
Although all the kid tablets include games, e-books, art-studio apps, and more, the amount and quality of this content can vary.

Some tablets seem to include a bonanza of popular games, but many may be trial versions that you'd have to pay for to keep. And some tablets are much more focused on education and creativity than others.

Size
Will you be using the tablet on the go, or mostly at home? How big are the hands that will be using the tablet? And will a couple of kids want to play or watch videos together? All those considerations come into play when you're deciding.

Kid-tablet sizes range just as much as those of "grownup" tablets: from a phone-like 4 inches up to 10 inches.

Battery Life
If you're planning to take the tablet on trips, make sure it'll last long enough to keep your child occupied.

In our most recent tests, most of the kid tablets ran a decent amount of time on a single charge, in the 7- to 9-hour range. But a few models came in at about 4 hours, short by any standard.

Most kid tablets are now rechargeable, so don't forget to pack the charging cable.

So do your homework and see exactly what comes preloaded with a tablet before you make a decision.