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MagyarThe Best Tablets for Less Than 250 Euros
Even after all these years Apple’s iPad remains the star in the tablet segment. However, the price point of entry has been lowered substantially over the years, among others thanks to the competition introduced by East Asian OEMs. Granted, the best tablets (see our other Top 10 lists) are still priced at $400 or above. However, there are quite a few exciting entry-level tablets perfectly capable of satisfying average users.
The Best Tablets for Less Than 250 Euros
Pos. | Date | Rating | Image | Model | Height | Weight | Size | Resolution | OS | Best Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 09/2018 | 82 % |  | Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 Qualcomm Adreno 512 3 GB Memory, 64 GB eMMC | 7.9 mm | 342.5 g | 8.00" | 1920x1200 | Android 8.1 Oreo | |
| 2 | 01/2020 | 81 % |  | Lenovo Tab M8 HD Mediatek Helio A22 MT6762M PowerVR GE8320 2 GB Memory, 32 GB eMMC | 8.2 mm | 305 g | 8.00" | 1280x800 | Android 9.0 Pie | |
| 3 | 10/2018 | 81 % |  | Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 SM-T590N Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Qualcomm Adreno 506 3 GB Memory, 32 GB eMMC | 8 mm | 531 g | 10.50" | 1920x1200 | Android 8.1 Oreo | |
| 4 | 08/2020 | 81 % |  | Amazon Fire HD 8 2020 MediaTek MT8168 ARM Mali-G52 MP1 2 GB Memory, 32 GB eMMC | 9.7 mm | 355 g | 8.00" | 1280x800 | Android 9.0 Pie | |
| 5 | 09/2018 | 81 % |  | Huawei MediaPad M5 lite HiSilicon Kirin 659 ARM Mali-T830 MP2 3 GB Memory, 32 GB eMMC | 7.7 mm | 475 g | 10.10" | 1920x1200 | Android 8.0 Oreo | |
| 6 | 05/2019 | 81 % |  | Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 Samsung Exynos 7904 ARM Mali-G71 MP2 2 GB Memory, 32 GB eMMC | 7.5 mm | 460 g | 10.10" | 1920x1200 | Android 9.0 Pie | |
| 7 | 09/2020 Neu | 81 % |  | Huawei MatePad T8 Mediatek MT8768 PowerVR GE8320 2 GB Memory, 16 GB eMMC | 8.55 mm | 310 g | 8.00" | 1280x800 | Android 10 | |
| 8 | 01/2020 | 80 % |  | Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 2019 Wifi SM-T290 Qualcomm Snapdragon 429 Qualcomm Adreno 504 2 GB Memory, 32 GB eMMC | 8 mm | 345 g | 8.00" | 1280x800 | Android 9.0 Pie | |
| 9 | 12/2019 | 79 % |  | Amazon Fire HD 10 2019 Mediatek MT8183 ARM Mali-G72 MP3 2 GB Memory, 32 GB eMMC | 9.8 mm | 504 g | 10.10" | 1920x1200 | Amazon Fire OS 7 | |
| 10 | 01/2019 | 77 % |  | Lenovo Tab M10 Qualcomm Snapdragon 450 Qualcomm Adreno 506 2 GB Memory, 16 GB eMMC | 8.1 mm | 480 g | 10.10" | 1920x1200 | Android 8.1 Oreo |
The table above contains an overview over the best tablets for less than 250 Euros reviewed by Notebookcheck over the course of the past 12 months as well as still relevant and available older products. In cases of identical score the more recent device is listed first. All prices in above table and price comparisons are updated daily and can thus differ.
Link: all devices in this class reviewed
Editors' Comments
While there are mainly expensive devices from Apple and Samsung in our Tablet Charts, various manufacturers are represented in the entry-level segment. These include exotic species from the Far East as well as cheap devices from known brands. Two sizes dominate: about 8-inches and about 10-inches. Since the tablet market is shrinking more and more, we do not update this top list monthly but will update it quarterly.
This month, we welcome the affordable MatePad T8 on this list.
1st - Xiaomi Mi Pad 4
The Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 is an 8.0-inch tablet with a high-resolution IPS display. The tablet is equipped with an upper-class SoC, 3 GB RAM as well as 32 or 64 GB internal storage. LTE is available for a comparatively small additional charge.
The panel does not manage the best contrast ratio and the camera could not convince us. You get fast WLAN, good build quality, great battery runtimes and a lot of performance for a fair price in return.
The Mi Pad 4 is currently only available via import companies. Our partner TradingShenzhen already sells the tablet starting at 157 Euros.
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Pricecompare
2nd – Lenovo Tab M8 HD
The Lenovo Tab M8 HD features an 8-inch 16:10 IPS display. It is powered by a slow MediaTek SoC with access to 2 GB of RAM. Storage space is sized sufficiently at 32 GB and can furthermore be expanded via microSD card.
In our test the Lenovo tablet scored with its good display-to-body-ratio as well as its overall build quality. It also comes with a fast Wi-Fi modem, an up-to-date Android 9.0 Pie, and useful software additions such as a kids mode. On the flip side the cameras and speakers were not particularly great.
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3rd – Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5
Samsung’s entry-level tablet Galaxy Tab A 10.5 is aimed primarily at multimedia users and offers a comparatively large 10.5-inch display running at a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 with fairly narrow display bezels. Its plastic case goes against the current glass case trend but turned out to be very grippy and not at all susceptible to fingerprints. It also features four Dolby Atmos speakers that turned out to produce an impressive soundscape in our test, and it did very well in other categories such as display quality or battery life.
As expected, the cameras are rather poor and it lacks a fingerprint reader. However, given its low price and target audience this should not be a big deal. The tablet is running Android 8.1 Oreo, and while we don’t expect regular security updates we do have high hopes for an upgrade to Android 9 Pie later this year.
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4th – Amazon Fire HD 8 (2020)
The 2020 iteration of Amazon's Fire HD 8 received major improvements over its 2018 predecessor. The bezels are narrower, the panel is brighter, performance is higher, and memory has been increased. The 8-inch display runs at a native resolution of just 1280 x 800, and thus suffers from a somewhat low pixel density as well as a poor color space coverage. In return, it was fairly color accurate and bright. It sports 2 GB of RAM and either 32 or 64 GB of internal storage. If you want more RAM or support for wireless charging you need to go for the more expensive Plus model, which with this generation is finally also available in a special Kids Edition with added protection and extended warranties.
All things considered the tablet made by Amazon checks a lot of boxes and turned out to be a decent multimedia specialist with good speakers and Alexa support.
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5th - Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite
The Huawei MediaPad M5 Lite is the smallest model within the multimedia tablet series of the Chinese manufacturer. It has a 10.1-inch IPS screen with 1920 x 1200 pixels. It is powered by Huawei's own mainstream SoC supported by 3 GB RAM and 32 GB internal storage. The latter can be expanded via microSD card.
The metal chassis leaves a high quality impression and four speakers provide decent sound quality. There is even an optional LTE model. Our review revealed that the panel is pretty bright, but the contrast ratio could be better.
Android 9.0 Pie is supposed to be released for the MediaPad M5 Lite.
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6th – Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2019)
The main difference between the 2019 edition of the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 and its predecessor are the former’s narrower bezels. The 10.1-inch display runs at a native resolution of 1920 x 1200. The device is powered by an in-house entry-level SoC, a meager 2 GB of RAM, and 32 GB of internal storage. However, the latter can be expanded via microSD.
The Galaxy Tab A 10.1 is a solid family tablet running up-to-date software. It offers user management, a decent child-safe mode, and modern communication hardware. During our review we particularly disliked its speakers as well as the missing ambient light sensor for automatic display brightness.
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7th – Huawei MatePad T8
The Huawei MatePad T8 is a particularly affordable 8-inch entry-level tablet made by Chinese OEM Huawei. Consequently, its system performance and storage capacity are very limited. Its IPS panel offers a great contrast ratio but remains comparatively dim resulting in a fairly poor outdoor usability.
On the plus side we find fast Wi-Fi and decent location capabilities as well as very good battery life. Unfortunately, neither Google services or DRM certification are available.
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8th – Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019)
The Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (2019) features an 8-inch 16:10 TFT display surrounded by thick bezels. Its slightly dated entry-level Qualcomm SoC has access to 2 GB of RAM, and its 32 GB of internal storage space can be further expanded via microSD card.
In our test the Galaxy Tab A 8.0 surprised us with its solid display and its very long battery life. Android 9.0 Pie is up-to-date and includes all One UI features. Otherwise, connectivity is pretty meagre. Micro USB, Bluetooth 4.2 and Wi-Fi 4 are no longer state of the art.
Pricecompare
9th – Amazon Fire HD 10 (2019)
Visually, the Amazon Fire HD 10 (2019) did not really change when compared to its predecessor. However, significant improvements have been made in regard to display and system performance. The 10.1-inch display now runs at a native resolution of 1920 x 1200, and the tablet’s fast MediaTek SoC has access to 2 GB of RAM and either 32 or 64 GB of storage space that is furthermore expandable via microSD card.
The Fire tablet is clearly designed for the Amazon universe and does not offer a lot of room for much else. In return, it comes with good Alexa integration, excellent battery life, and a great price-performance ratio.
Pricecompare
10th – Lenovo Tab M10
Lenovo’s Tab M10 is a multimedia tablet with a 10.1-inch IPS display (16:10, 1920 x 1080). The two speakers performed fairly well, however storage space was limited due to the tablet’s low price. Fortunately, it can be expanded via microSD card.
The included Amazon Alexa dock as well as its multi-user features make this the ideal family tablet. Battery life was just average, and the cameras were pretty poor. With Android 8.1 Oreo the tablet is running a fairly recent version of Android. However, Lenovo has yet to announce plans to upgrade this particular tablet to Android 9 Pie.
Pricecompare
Top 10 Tablets under 250 Euro in Comparison
Test Results
| Xiaomi Mi Pad 4 Adreno 512, SD 660, 64 GB eMMC Flash | Lenovo Tab M8 HD PowerVR GE8320, Helio A22 MT6762M, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5 SM-T590N Adreno 506, SD 450, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Amazon Fire HD 8 2020 Mali-G52 MP2, MT8168, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Huawei MediaPad M5 lite Mali-T830 MP2, Kirin 659, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 Mali-G71 MP2, Exynos 7904, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Huawei MatePad T8 PowerVR GE8320, Helio MT8768, 16 GB eMMC Flash | Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 2019 Wifi SM-T290 Adreno 504, SD 429, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Amazon Fire HD 10 2019 Mali-G72 MP3, MT8183, 32 GB eMMC Flash | Lenovo Tab M10 Adreno 506, SD 450, 16 GB eMMC Flash | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Response Times | ||||||||||
| Response Time Grey 50% / Grey 80% * | 42 (21, 21) | 60 (27.6, 32.4) | 54.8 (24.8, 30) | 47.6 (23.6, 24) | 36 (17, 19) | 52.8 (26.8, 26) | 47.2 (21.2, 26) | 44.8 (20.4, 24.4) | 49.6 (26, 23.6) | 77.6 (39.6, 38) |
| Response Time Black / White * | 16 (5, 11) | 37.2 (19.6, 17.6) | 24.8 (8.4, 16.4) | 27.2 (14, 13.2) | 20 (9, 11) | 31.6 (13.6, 18) | 31.6 (18.8, 12.8) | 28.8 (14, 14.8) | 25.6 (8.4, 17.2) | 42.4 (21.6, 20.8) |
| PWM Frequency | 2358 (10) | 65790 (6) | 100 (20) | |||||||
| Screen | ||||||||||
| Brightness middle | 454 | 379 | 556 | 501 | 514 | 401 | 331 | 377 | 449 | 339 |
| Brightness | 411 | 346 | 514 | 463 | 492 | 396 | 326 | 372 | 425 | 327 |
| Brightness Distribution | 83 | 88 | 87 | 85 | 80 | 86 | 92 | 87 | 89 | 86 |
| Black Level * | 0.73 | 0.21 | 0.42 | 0.25 | 0.96 | 0.5 | 0.16 | 0.29 | 0.6 | 0.42 |
| Contrast | 622 | 1805 | 1324 | 2004 | 535 | 802 | 2069 | 1300 | 748 | 807 |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 * | 5.2 | 3.8 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 5.42 | 2.9 | 4.1 | 6.1 | 3.1 | 5.8 |
| Colorchecker DeltaE2000 max. * | 8.36 | 7.5 | 3.2 | 8.4 | 9.84 | 5.8 | 7.2 | 10.9 | 6.4 | 11.6 |
| Greyscale DeltaE2000 * | 4.7 | 5 | 2.2 | 1 | 6.5 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 6.6 | 3.8 | 8.6 |
| Gamma | 2.271 97% | 2.23 99% | 2.26 97% | 2.17 101% | 2.216 99% | 2.36 93% | 2.31 95% | 2.13 103% | 2.09 105% | 2.16 102% |
| CCT | 7361 88% | 7514 87% | 6819 95% | 6473 100% | 6780 96% | 7263 89% | 7355 88% | 7861 83% | 7202 90% | 8718 75% |
| Heat | ||||||||||
| Maximum Upper Side * | 41.1 | 26.2 | 35 | 30.4 | 35.4 | 36.3 | 27.8 | 33.3 | 30 | 31.8 |
| Maximum Bottom * | 40.5 | 25.9 | 30.5 | 30.5 | 33.7 | 33.2 | 26.7 | 26.9 | 29 | 29.4 |
| Idle Upper Side * | 30.5 | 25.9 | 34.6 | 25.9 | 25.6 | 32.9 | 26.8 | 31.8 | 27.9 | 30.7 |
| Idle Bottom * | 29.8 | 23.7 | 29.9 | 26.1 | 25.4 | 29 | 24.6 | 25.4 | 25.8 | 29.2 |
| Battery Runtime | ||||||||||
| Reader / Idle | 1364 | 3581 | 1960 | 2661 | 2162 | 1500 | 2393 | 3132 | 1691 | 1290 |
| WiFi v1.3 | 827 | 1124 | 938 | 902 | 852 | 723 | 949 | 831 | 950 | 580 |
| Load | 221 | 374 | 385 | 286 | 299 | 347 | 359 | 342 | 228 | 240 |
| Power Consumption | ||||||||||
| Idle Minimum * | 1.2 | 0.66 | 1.26 | 0.72 | 2.8 | 1.66 | 0.68 | 0.62 | 1.14 | 0.98 |
| Idle Average * | 2.2 | 2.15 | 4.22 | 2.97 | 3.3 | 4.28 | 2.24 | 2.68 | 3.71 | 4.45 |
| Idle Maximum * | 4.1 | 2.18 | 4.29 | 2.99 | 3.9 | 4.44 | 2.27 | 2.7 | 3.74 | 4.51 |
| Load Average * | 8.2 | 2.48 | 5.48 | 4.02 | 5.2 | 7.53 | 3.06 | 3.61 | 5.26 | 5.78 |
| Load Maximum * | 12.2 | 3.49 | 6.57 | 5.1 | 7.2 | 9.09 | 4.45 | 4 | 7.68 | 7.18 |
* ... smaller is better
Benchmarks
| Geekbench 5.1 - 5.3 | |
| 64 Bit Multi-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Amazon Fire HD 8 2020 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 | |
| Huawei MatePad T8 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 2019 Wifi SM-T290 | |
| 64 Bit Single-Core Score (sort by value) | |
| Amazon Fire HD 8 2020 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 | |
| Huawei MatePad T8 | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 2019 Wifi SM-T290 | |
| PUBG Mobile - HD (sort by value) | |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.1 2019 | |
