Best tablets for gaming
Tablets are becoming a great way to get your gaming on compared with dedicated portable gaming devices and even consoles. Here are the best seven gaming tablets.
- Once wrote 50 articles in one month.
If you made a snap judgment on the potential of tablet gaming based on apps released a year or more ago, you're doing yourself a disservice. Tablet games have matured significantly in the last year, and some of my favorite, most addictive games are now only available on tablets.
They're definitely different than hard-core console games, and developers are still struggling with the whole virtual joystick functionality, but judging by what I've seen in the last few months, gaming on tablets is coming very much into its own.
The following are the best tablets for gaming. The tablets here were chosen for both their graphical capabilities and for the gaming apps each has available.
Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
Sure, the stylus is the reason most will even notice the Note 10.1 (well, the pen and perhaps James Franco's dreaminess), but it's the Exynos 4412 processor that makes this a viable gaming platform. Read the full review.
Lenovo IdeaTab S2110A
The Snapdragon S4 processor inside the S2110A more than holds its own against most tablets and runs taxing games like N.O.V.A 3 at a fast clip. Also, its screen is one of the brightest around. Read the full review.
Nexus 7
At $199, the Nexus 7 is the cheapest tablet on the list, and although its 1.3GHz Tegra 3 is showing clear signs of age, it's still fast enough to run most games with good frame rates. Also, its small, comfortable design makes gaming on the bus or train a bit less cumbersome than with larger tablets. Read the full review.
iPad Mini
The iPad Mini's powerful A5 processor delivers better performance than most tablets on this list, and its access to the App Store means you'll get the very best tablet games before any other platform. Read the full review.
Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700
This is the only tablet to house a 1.7GHz Tegra 3 as opposed to the 1.3GHz CPU other Tegra 3 tablets use. The Transformer Infinity also supports Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers, sports a high-resolution screen, and HDMI-out if the 10.1-inch screen is ever suddenly too small for you. Read the full review.
Nexus 10
From a purely processing-speed perspective, the Nexus 10 is the most powerful Android tablet available. Games can look beautiful on the super-high-resolution screen, but I'm waiting for developers to provide further gaming optimizations to really make them sing. Read the full review.
Apple iPad
The fastest tablet performer. Some of the best tablet games are only available on the iPad, and in many cases with nonexclusive games, the iPad version is far and away the superior one. Read the full review.
Want to see more? Check out our list of best tablets overall.