Apple iPad Air 9.7-inch

Functionally, the iPad Air is nearly identical to last year’s model, offering only faster performance and better video chatting. But factor in design and aesthetics, and the iPad Air is on another planet. It’s the best full-size consumer tablet on the market.

The iPad Air's jaw-droppingly compact design, faster performance and excellent endurance -- combined with the best app selection -- make this the tablet to beat.

The iPad Air is Apple's attempt to make the tablet disappear. The result is an unusually slim, well-built platform for the best array of apps in the business.

Make no mistake - Apple has finally nailed the tablet with a great combination of specs, power and a decent OS. It's a joy to hold the iPad Air.

These qualities are terrifically important, and not to be understated: the iPad Air is the best large tablet ever made, and its only real competition will be the forthcoming Retina iPad mini, which will offer the same experience in a smaller form factor for a lower price.

The iPad Air features an impressively slender form factor and, thanks largely to its A7 processor and optimizations in iOS 7, it still manages to perform twice as fast and deliver just as much battery life as its predecessor.

Apple might not be able to sway those who have been wooed away by smaller tablets, but in the iPad Air the company has made a 10-inch tablet that's a whole lot nicer to use.