Tablets have moved into work, and the price of a machine that can run a working day now runs from about £350 to £1,700. These are the models in our UK log, with their typical prices for the first week of October 2026. Each one is a current model we track daily.
What the practical band costs
| Model | Typical price | Screen | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lenovo Idea Tab Pro | £353.03 | 12.7 in | 256 GB |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab Active5 Enterprise Edition 5G | £405.58 | 8 in | 128 GB |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S10 FE | £499.00 | 10.9 in | 128 GB |
| Apple iPad Air M4 | £914.99 | 13 in | 256 GB |
| Apple iPad Pro M5 | £1,469.99 | 13 in | 256 GB |
| Microsoft Surface Pro | £1,685.49 | 12 in | 256 GB |
£350 to £500: Android tablets that do the job
The Lenovo Idea Tab Pro gives the largest screen in this range. It has 12.7 inches and 256 GB, and it runs on a MediaTek Dimensity 8300 with 8 GB of memory. At a typical £353.03 it is the cheapest way to a large working screen. The Galaxy Tab S10 FE costs £499. It brings the Samsung pen ecosystem with it, on a 10.9 inch screen. Between them sits the Galaxy Tab Active5 Enterprise Edition 5G at £405.58. It has an 8 inch screen, 6 GB of memory and 128 GB of storage, and Samsung builds it for rough handling.
£900 and up: iPadOS and Windows
The iPad Air M4 at a typical £914.99 carries an M4 chip, a 13 inch screen and 256 GB. The iPad Pro M5 at £1,469.99 sits above it with the faster chip on the same screen size. The Microsoft Surface Pro at £1,685.49 runs Windows on a 12 inch screen with 256 GB, which matters when the software you need exists only for Windows.
Cost per year of use
The Lenovo Idea Tab Pro at £353 works out at £71 a year across five years of use. The iPad Air M4 at £914.99 comes to £183 a year over the same period, and the Surface Pro at £1,685.49 to £337. A buyer who replaces a tablet every three years raises each figure by two thirds. For most work, the cheaper end of this table covers the job.
The keyboard changes the ranking
Keyboards for the 13 inch iPads and the Surface Pro cost extra. They add a large share of the tablet price. A 12.7 inch Lenovo at £353 with a keyboard case at around £60 still undercuts the Galaxy Tab S10 FE at £499 before its own keyboard. Anyone who needs to type all day should compare the packages rather than the tablets.
What to compare before buying
- Your software: a Windows program will not run on Android or iPadOS, whatever the price. Check that first.
- The keyboard: most of these tablets sell their keyboard separately, and it can add a large share of the price. A 12.7 inch Lenovo with a keyboard can still undercut a 10.9 inch Samsung alone.
- Screen size: 8 inches suits a handheld job, like stocktaking or field work. Anything involving documents, a spreadsheet or a video call wants 11 inches upward.
- Storage: 128 GB is the floor for work. 256 GB appears at £353 and at £915, so paying up for storage alone makes little sense.
Our tablets under £350 for work, the under £550 guide and the under £900 guide list the models that pass our checks. The Tab S10 FE and iPad Air M4 pages carry the price history behind the two figures in the middle of the table.
Where these prices come from
Each figure is the middle value of the daily readings we recorded at UK retailers in the first week of October 2026, one row per model per retailer per day. Prices include VAT.