Top Ten Tech

Tablets are going to be one of the leading drivers of the technology industry's growth in the coming year. Tablets will be adopted quite heavily by enterprise customers, while consumers will continue to choose them to the detriment of the laptops and smaller notebooks they had been using years before. As a result, tablets are going to top the charts this year in a big, big way. But not all tablets are created equal. In fact, there's a real chance that customers will hardly cast a glance at the vast majority of tablets available this year. Precious few vendors will dominate the tablet market—at least for now. Apple, Samsung and Google will continue to top the market, while Amazon will also have success. This slide show will analyze the tablets, in no particular order, that will likely top the charts in 2013, looking at what these products have that should make them popular with customers around the world.

Apple's iPad, the product that defined the modern tablet market, is an obvious choice for this list. It's been the most sought-after tablet on the market since its debut, and Apple's marketing and branding behind the device is stellar. Is the iPad still the best tablet available? That's up for debate. But if anything, it will remain a top-notch contender for that spot.

The Nexus 7 is the best 7-inch tablet yet, combining fast quad-core performance, top-notch design and Google's smart Jelly Bean OS for an amazing price. Google Now is especially useful, giving you Siri-like functionality along with offline voice typing.

The iPad mini's superior design, unparalleled app selection and extra-long battery life make this tablet a cut above the 7-inch competition.

Well well, isn't the Amazon Kindle starting to mature nicely as a product, Amazon has done a great job with the latest Kindle Fire HD 8.9, with a sleek new design making it feel very modern. Priced very well, this slightly smaller tablet than the ipad and note operates on Google's powerful android operating system yet with Amazon's tweaks, so it doesn't feel like Android. If you love reading books, watching TV, movies and regularly consume other entertaining media then this product is for you. With over 22million books, films and apps at your fingertips Amazon says it the world’s largest ecosystem.

Fast becoming a player in the tablet market is Asus with their latest, the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700, some say the fastest operating android hardware out there. Reasonably priced and a large tablet itself, the features are first class. It boosts very powerful graphics, with 1,920-by-1,200-pixel resolution which is well above average. Battery life in this tablet is very good and the grunt of it's quad core processor helps it run any app with no lag. You can easily add a keyword to this tablet making for a laptop-like experience if that's what you like. This tablet is coated is a very nice and light aluminium body.

Another tablet designed for primarily readers hits the market again, similar to what Amazon is doing with the Kindle, Barnes & Noble have released their latest young product, the Nook HD. It has very good hardware compared to any other 7-inch tablet in the same price range. It's very light and well designed, with a nice grip hold and very clear screen. If you're a big reader, and of Barnes & Nobles product in particular, then this may be the best tablet for you, however if you're a general user you may find another tablet better suits you. This product is primarily a eReader device, and they've designed it that way, with a 7-inch 1440 x 900 IPS LCD display, which equates to a pixel density of 243 ppi.

The Galaxy Note 8.0 offers excellent multitasking functionality, top-notch S Pen integration and a built-in IR blaster to control your TV all in an 8-inch tablet that can be used with just one hand.

Lenovo's Intel Atom-powered ThinkPad Tablet 2 is easily one of the best Windows 8 tablets we've reviewed to date. With its superior battery life, exceptional handwriting recognition and an impressive optional keyboard attachment, this is the Windows 8 tablet business users have been waiting for.

Microsoft is clearly committed to developing the Surface, hot on the heels of the above 3 brands, this is the best pc windows tablet that truly does it all, that is if you can afford it, priced the highest out of tables on this page it's not for casual users. Since it disguises itself as part laptop, part tablet, you can use it in many settings, work, home, travelling, etc....it comes with a pen as well and has high performance specifications so even hardcore gamers won't have issue. The app store still has a ways to go, so if you're into buying a lot of different apps then you may want a iOS or android tablet.

Parents looking for a kid-friendly tablet have been with few worthwhile options until now. The Fuhu Nabi 2 offers the power and functionality of a standard Android tablet complete with quad-core processor and 2 GB of RAM. A parental control dashboard and kid-specific mode help keep children from visiting inappropriate websites or downloading apps without their parents permission.