ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Top New Lightweight Tablet Under $500 for the Money 2013 - 2014

Updated on January 9, 2014
The iPad Air is the newest tablet from Apple. If you are looking for a very thin tablet (thinner than a pencil), this tablet is the thinnest and lightest model yet.
The iPad Air is the newest tablet from Apple. If you are looking for a very thin tablet (thinner than a pencil), this tablet is the thinnest and lightest model yet.

Sticker shock is a big problem for anyone who decides that they want to enter into the tablet marketplace.

We’re all directed towards buying the most popular tablet out today, which is almost always the most expensive as well.

The price of an item is never a direct indication of its overall level of quality.

Deciphering the formula for how a manufacturer prices their item is a process that needs to take into account several different things that come into play long before the device is ready to ship.

Your job is to analyze the devices before you based on their features alone.


Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" Tablet
Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" Tablet

Rapidly Growing Tablet Marketplace

Getting past the whole price aspect opens up a lot of different things within the tablet marketplace.

Since the start of tablets’ dominance in the world of technology, the market has become so saturated with these items that the prices have slowly but surely fallen.

Apple has found a sweet spot that came as a result of their miraculous innovations.

Essentially, there wouldn’t be a tablet marketplace as we know it today without the appearance of Apple’s iPad.

This phenomenon has created an atmosphere where Apple can almost charge whatever they want for their products.

Apple’s excellence has somehow created the impression of inferiority among all their competitors.

This is unfortunate because these other companies are capable of producing great devices.

The Android operating system is in a great position because it’s the only option for tablets outside of Apple’s iOS.

Whenever you look at a tablet that doesn’t have the Apple logo on it, odds are it’s running on the Android operating system.

Choosing between these two operating systems is a challenge.

Is $500 too much to spend on a tablet?

See results
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition

Rating Tablets Based on Touch

The first thing that you need to do is push aside all of the pre-existing reviews about tablets using either operating system.

Evaluating a tablet based on the experience someone else had with it won’t tell you anything about how the device will treat you.

In most instances, you will have the opportunity to test out the tablets if you go to a consumer electronics store in your local area.

You might find that an Android device is more in line with your needs when you might have only considered Apple tablets in the past.

Dell Latitude LAT10e-2633BK 10.1-Inch Tablet
Dell Latitude LAT10e-2633BK 10.1-Inch Tablet

Don’t Let Marketing Deceive You!

Picking the right tablet is all about refusing to believe the hype.

Whenever one of the tablet manufacturers decides to come out with something new, they do so with a lot of fanfare.

Their marketing lingo could potentially mask the actual benefits you will receive from the devices they’re selling.

You have to remember that their job is to market to the widest audience possible.

Sometimes a particular individual will fit into this audience, but there’s no guarantee of that happening.

This is why tablet owners have to do what they can to customize their device to suit what they want to do with it.

The amount of flexibility that’s present within a particular tablet is significant.

It doesn’t matter what you need your tablet for. You will find a table to get it done.

5 stars for iPad Air

Newest Tablets for 2014

This tablet is the newest released and kind of coincides with the MacBook Air that came out several years ago.

Before that device arrived onto the market, Apple took the original MacBook and made a much thinner version of that product.

It seems that the iPad Air has followed pretty much the same progression as the MacBook Air.

In the past, Apple’s products have traced the same path as the iPad.

When you buy a product that’s much thinner than anything that had come before it, you might be worried at the fact that it’s going to be a lot more fragile than the previous model.

In the case of Apple, you shouldn’t be worried because the last thing they would do is release a product to the public that’s anything less than fantastic.

You would think that there would be a point when people could be happy with the weight of the devices they use on a daily basis.

The reality is that we all want to have the most powerful device on hand without having to add too much more to their load.

It seems like iPad Air is a little bit thinner while also upgrading the performance capabilities.

Amazon has come out with a tremendous product in the form of its Kindle Fire offerings.

They have many different e-book readers on the market and their history of releasing outstanding products in this category is well-known.

They have slowly transitioned to the point where their e-book readers are supplemented with the addition of powerful tablet computers as well.

It’s difficult to call the Kindle Fire a tablet computer because it comes from much different stock.

You can consume and produce media while also taking advantage of this device’s built-in e-book reader capabilities.

This flexibility produces a desirable experience for anyone who decides that the Kindle Fire is for them.

One of the best things about this device is the fact that its display resolution is so high.

You will have a hard time picking out all the pixels when you’re using this device.

Using a device that’s so high functioning would have you believe that you will need to charge your battery over and over again.

On the contrary, this device allows you to use it for a variety of purposes for 11 hours and 17 hours when you’re just reading.

Luckily, you have the option to choose whether you want to have 16, 32, or 64 GB of storage capacity.

You will enjoy using this device so much that the odds are you will want to upgrade to the most storage space possible.

Are you someone who finds themselves regularly taking pictures and videos with your tablet?

The Samsung Galaxy Note has an 8 MP rear camera with an LED flash and the ability to shoot video in full 1080p HD quality.

The unparalleled 2560 x 1600 resolution on the 10.1-inch display with 4 million pixels means you will have a hard time pointing out individual pixels when you’re looking a video using this device.

You would think that this is all you could get from this device considering everything that was already previously stated about its performance.

This device is multifaceted in every sense of the word.

It’s a good thing that it takes its already noteworthy features and combines them within the Android operating system.

It would be more difficult for this device to thrive if it were rolled into a lesser operating system or one that was of the design of the manufacturer.

Everything associated with this device is surprisingly complementary with what the Android operating system does best.

You will be able to enjoy the fact that this system is going to run using an operating system that enhances its capabilities rather than wearing it down.

Dell has made a name for itself through the many years it has released noteworthy products into the tablet and desktop computer marketplaces.

It seems that they have fallen short in this effort and produced a tablet that’s not representative of the quality they have generated in the past.

It’s entirely possible that this tablet made the mistake of operating with the use of Windows 8.

There’s nothing wrong with having this operating system on your device because it’s good in its own right; however, it does not take into consideration the importance of the Apple and Android marketplaces.

Microsoft has tried to come up with its own application marketplace, but it’s nowhere near the size of its competitors.

Sony’s Xperia Z tablet is the last device that we reviewed, but it’s most certainly not the last.

While it might not have the status of its more prestigious competitors, it has a lot to offer anyone who happens to purchase it.

The fact that the weight of the device is 2.21 pounds is troubling.

This weight is more than most of the other devices on the marketplace today, which puts it at a distinct disadvantage.

The average user these days has to have something that barely weights anything in order for them to be satisfied.

© 2013 James Richton

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)