The best tablet for less than $150
Amazon’s 2023 edition of the Fire HD 10 ($139.99) combines a premium design with good performance while costing slightly less than its predecessor, making it the best tablet you can buy for under $150. Like all Amazon tablets, the Fire HD 10 is limited by its focus on the company’s own software, services, and app store, though it’s still an excellent way to browse the internet or stream music, movies, and TV shows. If you want a tablet for productivity or content creation, you’ll have to pay significantly more for a model like the $259 Lenovo Tab P11 Plus or the $329 Apple iPad. But if you simply want an affordable slate for consuming media, the Fire HD 10 earns our Editors‘ Choice award for cheap tablets.The Goldilocks Fire Tablet
The Fire HD 10 has historically received the most capable processor and largest screen of Amazon’s tablets, but this dynamic was changed with the introduction of the bigger and more powerful Fire Max 11 ($229.99) earlier this year. The Fire HD 10 may no longer be Amazon’s flagship tablet, but it’s still the most versatile. It comes in various bundles and configurations—including kid-friendly versions—that aren’t available for the Fire Max 11.
The tablet comes in Black, Lilac, or Ocean and starts at $139.99 with ads on the lock screen and 32GB of storage. If you want more onboard storage, you need to shell out an extra $40 to get 64GB, though you can add up to 1TB of storage to any configuration with a microSD card. You can choose to remove the lock screen ads for an additional $15.
The two models for children include the Fire HD 10 Kids, which is intended for ages 3 to 7 and features an extra-large protective case, and the Fire HD 10 Kids Pro, which is meant for ages 6 to 12 and includes a slimmer case. Both versions cost $189.99 and come with a two-year, no-questions-asked warranty and a one-year subscription to Amazon Kids Plus programming (normally $5 per month for Prime members or $8 per month for non-Prime customers).
The tablet is thin and light, with rounded corners and a colorful matte plastic back. It measures 9.7 by 6.5 by 0.3 inches (HWD) and weighs 0.96 pounds. By comparison, the smaller Kindle Fire HD 8 ($99.99) measures 7.9 by 5.4 by 0.37 inches and is lighter at 0.74 pounds. The Fire Max 11, meanwhile, is larger at 10.2 by 6.4 by 0.3 inches and heavier at 1.08 pounds.
As its name suggests, the Fire HD 10 features a 10.1-inch display with 1,920 by 1,200 pixels in a 16:10 aspect ratio, for a pixel density of 224ppi. It looks good when watching movies and TV shows, though the viewing angles aren’t great; you’ll want to make sure you’re looking at the screen straight on. Text on Kindle books appears clear and sharp, even when set to smaller font sizes. The Fire HD 8 compresses the screen to 8 inches with 1,280 by 800 pixels for a density of 189ppi, while the 7-inch Fire 7 drops to 1,024 by 600 pixels at a density of just 171ppi. The large Fire Max 11 expands the screen to 11 inches with 2,000 by 1,200 pixels at 213ppi.
There are two speakers along the left side of the tablet that produce stereo sound. They reached 91.6dB in testing. That’s certainly loud enough to fill a small room, but not much more. The quality of the sound is fine for dialogue in movies and TV shows, but its narrow soundstage means you won’t be able to hear many details in music. You’ll definitely want to connect a pair of headphones if you want the best audio experience, and while you can always use a wireless pair, you’re also able to plug in directly via the 3.5mm headphone jack on the upper right corner.
The USB-C port for charging and transferring files sits next to the headphone jack, while the raised volume rocker and power button are situated in the upper left corner. This is also where you’ll find the slot for a microSD card.Capable Performance
The Fire HD 10 has an eight-core CPU with two Arm Cortex-A76 cores at 2.05GHz and six Arm Cortex-A55 cores at 2.
