Thursday, March 28, 2024

Amazon Fire Tablet: Which storage size should I buy?

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Best answer: It depends on which tablet you’re looking to get, but no one has ever complained about having too much storage on a tablet. Given how affordable the Amazon Fire Tablets are, your best bet is to always go for the largest storage option available.

  • Best-seller: Fire 7 Tablet (32GB) ($70 at Amazon)
  • Slightly faster and bigger: Fire HD 8 (32GB) ($110 at Amazon)
  • A smart save: Fire HD 10 (32GB) ($160 at Amazon)
  • For the kids: Fire 7 Kids Edition (16GB) ($100 at Amazon)

Bigger is almost always better

The first thing you need to know about buying an Amazon Fire tablet is that the listed storage space is not actually representative of the usable storage space you end up with. Amazon builds its tablets on the Android operating system, which requires a decent chunk of storage for core system functions and Amazon’s own apps and services. This is worth keeping in mind especially when considering a tablet that offers both 16GB and 32GB options. That 16GB tablet will, in actuality, give you about 12GB of usable storage. Depending on your plans for downloading games, movies, and other media onto your tablet, you’re probably going to want as much storage as possible.

The Fire 7 tablet comes in 16GB and 32GB variants so spending an extra $20 to double the storage size is a no-brainer. Same goes for the Fire HD 8, which is our pick for the best Amazon Fire Tablet you should buy and we’d once again recommend spending a bit more to double up on your internal storage.

Things get a bit more tricky (and pricier) when you consider the newer Fire HD 10 tablet. It’s available with 32GB and 64GB with both priced well north of $100. 32GB is actually quite reasonable here, and depending on how you plan to use your tablet and the prevalence of media streaming services these days, you might not actually need to opt for the 64GB variant.

Remember that you can expand your storage with a microSD

Of course, if you do decide to save a bit of money and go with the lesser storage for your Fire Tablet, you’re not technically stuck with that amount of storage.

Amazon has always included a microSD slot on its Fire Tablets, which is always a convenient feature that lets you add to your device’s storage as needed. MicroSD cards are ideal for loading up your favorite devices with media you’ve previously downloaded or ripped from your DVD collection without using up all that precious internal storage.

It also helps that there’s some great deals on microSD cards of all sizes. Amazon lets you add up to 512GB of storage via microSD, but right now your best value is probably found with a 128GB card that can be found for as little as $20 these days.

Best value

Amazon Fire 7 Tablet (32GB)

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$70 at Amazon

The most affordable Fire tablet

With hands-free Alexa, multiple fun colors, and access to tons of great content, the Fire 7 Tablet is a fun gadget to have around for all ages.

A solid mid-range option

Amazon Fire HD 8 (32GB)

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$110 at Amazon $80 at Best Buy

The Goldilocks tablet

The Fire HD 8 makes the right tradeoffs in screen, storage, and price to earn our recommendation as the Amazon Fire tablet to get.

Go big or go home

Amazon Fire HD 10 (64GB)

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$160 at Amazon

Full on fire

The Fire HD 10 is the perfect entertainment device. With its full HD screen and Dolby Atmos stereo speakers, it’s like a little TV in your hands!

For the kids

Fire 7 Kids Edition (16GB)

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$100 at Amazon $100 at Best Buy

Great display with tons of kid-friendly features

Get this one if you have young kids and want to monitor their screen time and usage easily. Also, the included case and warranty will protect the device!

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