Our 5 favorite tablet deals in Best Buy’s 3-Day Sale

If you weren’t aware, the Best Buy 3-Day Sale is going on now. While the name is a considerably less flashy than Amazon’s Prime Day, it does make immediate sense. There’s a sale going on at Best Buy, and it lasts… for three days, ending Sunday. During this sale, you can find a number of classic Best Buy items — with everything from the best laptops to the best tablets — marked down in price. Here, we investigate the tablets that make up the 3-Day Sale and highlight the five we like the most, based on discount and quality of the product, while also showing a wide variety of tablets and price ranges.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ — $190, was $220

Apple iPad 9 (WiFi, 64GB) — $250, was $330

If you’re familiar with tablets and have one of the best iPhones, this is the first of two iPads worth looking at. The Apple iPad 9 features a 10.2-inch 2160 x 1620p screen, has 3GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage. Its powered by the A13 Bionic chip, has an 8MP wide camera and 12MP ultra wide front-facing cam. If you have an Apple Pencil or a Smart Keyboard, they’ll both work with the iPad 9 as well. As mentioned in our Apple iPad 9 review, the iPad still uses the lightning port, so you’ll finally have a good use for your old cables again if you pick up this tablet deal.

Apple iPad Air 5 (WiFi, 64GB) — $450, was $600

If you want the latest iPad Air on a steep discount, this is the deal to go after. The iPad Air 5 has a 10.9-inch 2360 x 1640p screen, has 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and is powered by Apple’s M1 chip. In many ways, that makes it like a little, miniaturized MacBook. If you have one of the best routers in your home, you’ll enjoy the super fast download and connectivity speeds that come with WiFi 6. It features 12MP cameras. You can use the Magic Keyboard, Smart Keyboard Folio, Apple Pencil 2, and Apple Pencil USB-C edition with the iPad Air 5. If you’ve paid attention to our reviews over the years, you’ll recall our Apple iPad Air 5 review discussed the machine fairly, but also felt that the standard iPad of the same generation was the better deal, moneywise. With a good deal like this one, however, we feel that now is a great time to buy a get some extra features, without all of the extra pay causing you trouble.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 with S-Pen — $700, was $800

The Galaxy Tab S9 is one of the latest and greatest Samsung tablets, and it even comes with the S-Pen to make this a fun art station as well. It has a large 11-inch screen that displays in 2560 x 1600p. There’s also a storage capacity of a comfy 128GB, so you can forgo cloud storage of art files while on the go and not have to worry about removing a handful of apps every time you wish to do so. Note also that this idea of being on the go with the S9 isn’t completely out of the question, either, as the Galaxy Tab S9 has an impressive IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. It’s going to take a lot of environmental factors to get to the Galaxy Tab S9. Finally, the whole thing runs with 8GB of RAM, plenty to get things done efficiently.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 with Surface Pro Keyboard — $1,000, was $1,540

Microsoft Surface products live somewhere between the world of laptops, tablets, and 2-in-1s due to their optional detachable keyboard. As a result of this, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is undoubtedly considered as the best 2-in-1 laptop. Still, if you don’t use the keyboard, it is a full-on tablet, powered by an Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of SSD storage. That’s powerful for such a tiny device and you’d be right to be skeptical of its true power. However, our hands-on Microsoft Surface Pro 9 review revealed that everything worked quite well (note that the review copy had an i7 processor). In any event, this is a great way to get an excellent 2-in-1 that works as a perfect tablet, alongside its specialized keyboard, at a steep discount.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+ — $190, was $220

While the discount isn’t too steep, there also isn’t a lot of room to bring the Galaxy Tab A9+’s price down anyhow. This low-priced tablet is perfect for watching videos and browsing the net. It can also be cozy to curl up next to someone else and watching programming together on its surprisingly large 11-inch, 1920 x 1200p screen. As the Galaxy Tab A9+ only uses 4GB of RAM and has a mere 64GB of storage, you might think it wouldn’t be too great at gaming, but with a 90Hz refresh rate, it can definitely take on some action-packed fun. Just install a few apps at a time and be a completionist about it.

Apple iPad 9 (WiFi, 64GB) — $250, was $330

If you’re familiar with tablets and have one of the best iPhones, this is the first of two iPads worth looking at. The Apple iPad 9 features a 10.2-inch 2160 x 1620p screen, has 3GB of RAM, and 64GB of internal storage. Its powered by the A13 Bionic chip, has an 8MP wide camera and 12MP ultra wide front-facing cam. If you have an Apple Pencil or a Smart Keyboard, they’ll both work with the iPad 9 as well. As mentioned in our Apple iPad 9 review, the iPad still uses the lightning port, so you’ll finally have a good use for your old cables again if you pick up this tablet deal.

Apple iPad Air 5 (WiFi, 64GB) — $450, was $600

If you want the latest iPad Air on a steep discount, this is the deal to go after. The iPad Air 5 has a 10.9-inch 2360 x 1640p screen, has 8GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and is powered by Apple’s M1 chip. In many ways, that makes it like a little, miniaturized MacBook. If you have one of the best routers in your home, you’ll enjoy the super fast download and connectivity speeds that come with WiFi 6. It features 12MP cameras. You can use the Magic Keyboard, Smart Keyboard Folio, Apple Pencil 2, and Apple Pencil USB-C edition with the iPad Air 5. If you’ve paid attention to our reviews over the years, you’ll recall our Apple iPad Air 5 review discussed the machine fairly, but also felt that the standard iPad of the same generation was the better deal, moneywise. With a good deal like this one, however, we feel that now is a great time to buy a get some extra features, without all of the extra pay causing you trouble.

Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 with S-Pen — $700, was $800

The Galaxy Tab S9 is one of the latest and greatest Samsung tablets, and it even comes with the S-Pen to make this a fun art station as well. It has a large 11-inch screen that displays in 2560 x 1600p. There’s also a storage capacity of a comfy 128GB, so you can forgo cloud storage of art files while on the go and not have to worry about removing a handful of apps every time you wish to do so. Note also that this idea of being on the go with the S9 isn’t completely out of the question, either, as the Galaxy Tab S9 has an impressive IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. It’s going to take a lot of environmental factors to get to the Galaxy Tab S9. Finally, the whole thing runs with 8GB of RAM, plenty to get things done efficiently.

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 with Surface Pro Keyboard — $1,000, was $1,540

Microsoft Surface products live somewhere between the world of laptops, tablets, and 2-in-1s due to their optional detachable keyboard. As a result of this, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is undoubtedly considered as the best 2-in-1 laptop. Still, if you don’t use the keyboard, it is a full-on tablet, powered by an Intel Core i5 processor, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of SSD storage. That’s powerful for such a tiny device and you’d be right to be skeptical of its true power. However, our hands-on Microsoft Surface Pro 9 review revealed that everything worked quite well (note that the review copy had an i7 processor). In any event, this is a great way to get an excellent 2-in-1 that works as a perfect tablet, alongside its specialized keyboard, at a steep discount.