Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/358877
Know & Tell Tech tips By Terry Ng S I N C E T H E L A U N C H of the Apple iPad in 2010, almost every major tech manufacture has been trying to emulate the success and appeal of Apple's tablet. Four years later, thinner and lighter tablets from Google, Amazon and Windows have fi nally evened the playing fi eld. But with so many choices available, choosing the best tablet can be quite a challenge. We're here to help. Tablet or iPad ? BEST OVERALL A P P L E I P A D A I R ($499 and up) Amazing 9.7-inch Retina display and design retained from the previous generation iPad, but in a faster-performing and lighter package. The iPad Air features Apple's signature unibody aluminum chassis and weighs a mere 1 pound. With nearly 12 hours of battery life and a 64-bit A7 CPU, it's the tablet envied by all other tablets. BEST ANDROID G O O G L E N E X U S 7 ($229 and up) For an unbelievable Android experience, Google's Nexus 7 is your purebred champion. Sporting a fast 1.5-gigahertz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro chip and 2 gigabytes of RAM, the Nexus 7 is ready to handle intensive tasks with silky smooth performance and long battery life. The Nexus 7 weighs 0.64 pounds, and comes with a sharp 323 pixels per inch 7-inch display. BEST 2IN1 M I C R O S O F T S U R FA C E P R O 3 ($799 and up) Not ready to give up your laptop just yet? Microsoft ensures you'll stay productive with its Surface Pro 3. Designed as a laptop and tablet 2-in-1 hybrid, the Surface Pro 3 features a 12-inch touch screen, Intel Core i5 processor, 8 gigabytes of RAM and a 256-gigabyte solid-state drive. The Surface kickstand is easy to set up and use, and the keyboard cover makes typing a breeze. BEST MEDIA A M A Z O N K I N D L E F I R E H D X ($229 and up) Setting the standard for media consumption aficionados, the 7-inch Amazon Kindle Fire HDX integrates seamlessly with Amazon Prime, which gives you access to Amazon's exhaustive content library. The Kindle Fire HDX also features a Mayday button for free 24/7 real-time customer service, which brings a live Amazon rep on-screen within seconds. 14 www.cta.org