The best refurbished iPads and tablets you can buy

If you’re in the market for a new tablet, you can always choose from the best brand-new iPads and other tablets. Alternatively, save hundreds by opting for a refurbished tablet. Refurbished products from the right retailer tend to go through a rigorous appraisal and cleaning, plus they’ve had potentially faulty parts replaced. The result is an iPad or other tablet that may have some evidence of use but it's effectively close to new. Practically, the only difference is a much more manageable RRP and potentially a shorter-term warranty.

Scroll on for our pick of the best refurbished iPads and tablets in Australia.

There are a handful of reputable online retailers to choose from when it comes to sourcing a great deal on a refurbished tablet. If you want a refurbished iPad, get a basic idea of costs from the Apple Store. Apple sells refurbished iPads that come with a new battery and new outer shell, all of which come with a one-year warranty.

For comparison to newer-model refurbished iPads, visit Reebelo. All refurbished Reebelo products come with a one-year warranty. Reebelo is also a good place to check for Samsung, Amazon Fire and Microsoft tablets. Alternatively, there are a range of tablets available from Amazon Renewed, including iPads. For price comparisons, Kogan and Dick Smith both sell refurbished iPads, Android tablets and Windows tablets.

A good price to pay for a great refurbished tablet is around $500. With that price point in mind, the seventh-generation Apple iPad is a good place to start your tablet comparisons. The renewed WiFi model we found is from 2019 but it has 128GB of storage, which is still about right for a mix of everyday use with tablets nowadays. Everything you do should look great on the 10.2-inch 2160x1620 Retina Display. Expect around 10 hours of battery life, which is basically the standard amount of juice for tablet use. For audio, there’s a pair of decent stereo speakers, plus there’s an 8MP camera on the front for snaps and a 1.2MP selfie cam on the front for FaceTime calls.

Alternatively, consider a refurbished Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 or a Microsoft Surface Pro model that you can nab for around $500.

We’ve set our max spend for this category at under $500; the lower the price, the better the value. Case in point, the fifth-generation Apple iPad. Sure, it’s from 2017, but if you’re after a basic tablet (maybe even one for the kids), this is a solid asking price. The 32GB storage capacity is restrictive, so expect to have to manage what’s installed down the track. But everything else is great for a first-time tablet user or someone after a cheap iPad. The 9.7-inch Retina Display screen still pops and the smaller size makes it more portable (and a better fit for smaller hands), plus it has the typical iPad 10-hour battery life.

For alternatives, look for any refurbished iPad or Android tablet under $500 or consider buying a new Lenovo Tab M10 or Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 Lite for around $200.

iPhone is synonymous with smartphone, and iPad, for many, is a replacement word for tablet. If you want to get more bells and whistles from an iPad, look for something like the third-generation iPad Air. This particular 2019 iPad model boasts a great 10.5-inch Retina Display that’s great to look at for up to 10 hours of battery life. This is a good starting point for wannabe digital doodlers, too, with support for the Apple Pencil (admittedly, only the original version). The model we found at the time of writing came with 256GB of storage, which is plenty. If you don’t need all that capacity, save money by sourcing a 64GB alternative.

Alternatively, push the budget closer to $1,000 for a shot at a newer-model Apple iPad, iPad Air or 11-inch iPad Pro.

If you’re not in a home whose device ecosystem is dominated by Apple products, it’s absolutely worth considering an Android tablet. Take the Samsung Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, for instance. I recently considered buying a Google Pixel Table to replace my ‘ageing’ Tab S7 Plus, but there’s honestly no point. The Tab S7 Plus is still a fantastic tablet today, and opting for refurbished makes it noticeably cheaper than the newer Tab S8 line. The refurbished Tab S7 Plus we found boasts plenty of storage (256GB), a gorgeous Super AMOLED display and plenty of battery life (up to 14 hours). Outside of temperamental S Pen storage on the back of the case and potentially unused Samsung software, the Tab S7 Plus is otherwise a wholly recommendable Android tablet.

Alternatively, see if you can source a Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 model for under $1,000 or save money by going for the Galaxy Tab S7 or an S7 Plus with 128GB of storage.

The lifehack of any tablet with decent performance is it’s a Bluetooth keyboard or keyboard case away from being an ad hoc 2-in-1. For something more geared towards 2-in-1 use—the ease of use of a tablet with the versatility of a laptop—start comparisons with the Microsoft Surface Pro range. We found a Microsoft Surface Pro 6 at a great sub-$500 price. What it lacks in storage 2-in-1 storage capacity (a measly 128GB), it makes up for with a great screen and powerful innards. It also has Windows 11 installed, which adds a whole lot of versatility. Roll out the keyboard for everyday computing or use it for video playback and other tablet uses with great all-round battery life.

Alternatively, keep an eye out for a refurbished Lenovo IdeaPad Duet Chromebook, otherwise you can lower or raise your budget for an older or newer-model Microsoft Surface Pro.

We started our refurbished-tablet comparisons by rounding up the best retailers that sold iPad, Android and Windows tablets in Australia. Then we set the relevant prices for our categories. For the best overall, we chose something around $500 (a good mix of price and performance) and for cheap, we picked something comfortably under $500.

The iPad market share in Australia is massive (and they’re great products), which is why we leant towards Apple tablets in most categories. For the dedicated iPad category, the price range was set between $500 and $1,000, which was also the case for the Android and 2-in-1 categories.

From there, it was a case of comparing products in terms of price and performance. Because tablets aren’t typically used all day, it allowed us to lean more towards cheaper options instead of high-performance flagship tablets.