A slew of tablets under $500 are available in the market and choosing what's best for one's budget could be a daunting task. Here is a list of the best tablet customers can buy under $500.
iPad Mini 4
Apple launched the iPad mini 4 as the successor to the iPad mini 3 in September 2015 along with the iPad Pro. The iPad mini 4 sports a 7.9-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1,536 x 2,048 pixels. The tablet runs on Apple's own A8 processor.
The Apple offering has an 8-megapixel iSight camera and a 1.2-megapixel FaceTime camera. The iPad mini 4 is available in 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB internal storage models.
The starting price tag of the iPad mini 4 (16 GB Wi-Fi only model) is $399. The tablet is also available in Wi-Fi and cellular model but it has a higher price.
Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8-inch
Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab S2 series of tablet, which includes 8-inch and 9.7-inch models, in July 2015. Samsung launched the Galaxy Tab S2 8-inch as a direct competition to the iPad mini 3.
The smaller Galaxy Tab S2 tablet sports an 8-inch Super AMOLED display with 1,536 x 2,048 pixels resolution. An Exynos 7 Octa 5433 processor clocked at 1.9GHz and 3 GB of RAM powers the Galaxy tablet.
The Galaxy Tab S2 8-inch is equipped with 8-megapixel rear-facing and 2.1-megapixel front-facing cameras. The Samsung tablet runs on Android 5.0 Lollipop and rumors suggest that the tablet will get Android 6.0 Marshmallow software update in February 2016.
Amazon is selling the 32 GB version of the Galaxy Tab S2 8-inch for $399.
Google Nexus 9
The Nexus 9 is the fourth tablet in the Nexus tablet series. The tablet has been in the market since October 2014. The Nexus 9 boasts an 8.9-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 1,536 x 2,048 pixels.
A dual-core NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor clocked at 2.3GHz and 2 GB of RAM powers the Nexus tablet. The tablet has an 8-megapixel primary camera and a 1.9-megapixel selfie camera.
The Nexus 9 comes pre-installed with Android 5.0 Lollipop; however, the tablet received the latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow software update in October 2015.
The Nexus 9 is available with storage 16 GB and 32 GB on-board storage options. The original price tag of the Nexus 9 is $399 for the 16 GB model and $479 for the 32 GB model. However, Amazon is selling the 16 GB model for $293.03 and the 32 GB variant for $378.92.
iPad Air 2
The iPad Air 2 is another good option for customers who want to buy a tablet under $500. The iPad Air 2 was launched and released in October 2014 and it has a 9.7-inch display with 1,536 x 2,048 pixels resolution.
Apple's A8X processor powers the iPad Air 2. The Apple offering has an 8-megapixel iSight camera and a 1.2-megapixel FaceTime camera.
The iPad Air 2 is available with 16 GB, 64 GB and 128 GB storage options. The starting price tag of the iPad Air 2 (16 GB Wi-Fi only model) is $499.
Microsoft Surface 3
Microsoft released the Surface 3 tablet in May 2015. The tablet touts a 10.8-inch display with 1,920 x 1,280 pixels resolution.
A 1.6GHz quad-core Intel Atom processor powers the Microsoft device. Customers can customize the tablet to have 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM and either 64 GB or 128 GB of internal storage.
The Surface 3 tablet has an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 3.2-megapixel front-facing camera.
The Microsoft tablet runs on Windows 10 operating system.
The Wi-Fi only variant of the Surface 3 tablet with 128 GB storage and 4 GB of RAM has an original price tag of $599. However, Microsoft is currently offering a discount of $150, which brings down the cost of the tablet to $449.
