When shopping for anything these days, one needs to do extensive research on the benefits and features of the product. Purchasing an item solely based on its popularity can turn out to be rather disappointing at times. You’ve been using a smartphone and feel it’s time to tap into the tablet world but seem clueless on how to go about it.  Worry not, we’ve put together this quick and easy tablet shopping guide to help you choose a tablet that will meet your needs.

1. Purpose
   One thing you need to determine before buying a tablet is what you will be using it for. Is it reading or do you need to constantly type? Tablets make great e-readers and children’s books are full of colours. You can easily read PDFs, comics and the list goes on. What’s extra awesome about tablets if you don’t need to type a lot they can handle more content than a two-year-old laptop would. You can get a keyboard as an accessory if you need to type often. Tablets also have more modern apps for you to enjoy.  If you like games too, you are in luck.
   
   
2. Choosing an Operating System
   Just like laptops, tablets come in different operating systems. You need to choose one which will cater best for your needs. You are even welcome to choose a different operating system from your personal or business laptop for a whole new experience. Apple’s iOS found on their iPad is clean and intuitive offering you more than a million iPad-specific apps you can buy right from your tablet.Google’s Android mobile OS gives you various hardware selection from different manufacturers with maximum configurability. Plus, you can share your tablet with someone in the family since Android supports multiple user logins. While Windows on the other hand offers you something close to a traditional computing experience similar to a PC or laptop. This is the best OS to use for work purposes since you’ll be able to run full versions of software like Microsoft Office on a Windows tablet.
   
   
3. Screen Size and Resolution
   The size of a tablet and its storage capacity is quite important. The actual screen size of tablets measured diagonally range from 7-inch for a small screen to 10-inch for a large screen. This is a measurement of the screen size and not the size of the tablet. You will need a sharp, bright display especially for e-book reading and web surfing. Apple's 12.9-inch iPad Pro offers 2,732 X 2,048 pixels, the highest resolution you will find. While you can look for a display with at least 1,280-by-800 in a 10-inch Android tablet.
   
   
4. Storage and Price
   Many tablets offer cloud (off- device) storage but more is better when coming to on-device storage. You can get iCloud for iPads or OneDrive for Windows. Tablets come in 16, 32 or 64GB memory variety. The highest storage you will find in the iPad Pro range offers 256GB of flash-based memory. Expect to pay anything close to the actual purchasing price for a windows based full-featured laptop for the iPad 9.7-inch Wi-Fi only or Wi-Fi and Cellular tablet ranging between R17 500 to R20 500 or even more.Preferably, make a list of the main uses for your tablet before heading out to get one. Whether it’s reading articles, using Photoshop or watching movies, choose the one that meets your specific individual needs. If you feel a laptop seems more practical for you at present, then you’ll want to check these laptops for sale.