Once you've resigned yourself fo the fact that you're not going to get a brand-new iPad Air for, say, $100 on Black Friday, you can still find a few good deals on tablets for the big shopping events. Here are the best we've seen so far.
Best Buy
Apple iPad Air, 9.7-inch, 16GB, $450. If you want the very latest iPad, you can get it at Best Buy for $50 less than usual.
Apple iPad 2, 9.7-inch, 16GB, $300, a savings of $100. Remember, this is not the iPad with Retina display. But it's not a bad price if you don't mind an older-model iPad.
Amazon Kindle Fire HD, 7-inch (prior gen.), $100. This is an older-generation Kindle Fire, but it does have a high-def display.
Microsoft Surface RT, 10.6-inch, 32GB, $200. As with many of these deals, this is the prior-generation Windows tablet from Microsoft. Still, it did fine in our Ratings, and you save $150.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, 7-inch, 8GB, $150. Save $50 on the newest version of Samsung’s popular (and highly rated) tablet.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, 10.1-inch, 16GB, $300. This is the larger version of the latest Galaxy Tab, and you’ll save $100.
And for those in search of an e-book reader: Amazon Kindle, $50, a savings of $20. This one’s your basic e-book reader, without the backlit display and most likely the version with ads on the lock screen.
Research tablets and e-book readers before you shop with our buying guides and Ratings.
Costco
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3, 10.1-inch, 16GB, $300. Same deal as Best Buy.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 3.0, 8-inch. Costco didn't list the price or storage size on this one, but says you'll save $50.
Staples
Amazon Kindle Fire HD, 7-inch, 8GB, $139 and Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9, 8.9-inch, 16GB, $169. These high-def tablets are the predecessors to Amazon's newer HDX tablets, but both did quite well in our Ratings.
Amazon Kindle Fire, 7-inch, $79. This is the earlier version of the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet, so you don't get the high-def screen.
Acer Iconia, 7.9-inch, 16GB, $99. Consider this for a good, basic Android tablet, and you'll save $150.
Dell Venue Pro 8, 8-inch, 32GB, $279. This is Dell’s brand-new Windows tablet, for $20 less than you'll pay direct from Dell.
Google Nexus 7, 7-inch, 16GB, $200. You'll save $30 on this highly rated, very portable Android (of course!) tablet.
—Donna Tapellini
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