Screen resolution: The higher the resolution, the sharper the display--that's a rule of thumb you can count on. While many tablets have crisp 1280-by-800-pixel displays, some--such as the Apple iPad 2 (1024 by 768) and the abysmally low-resolution Dell Streak 7 (800 by 480)--fall shy of that. Because the screen is such an integral and unchangeable part of a tablet, don't skimp on the resolution. Related:

Processor speed: Most bargain-bin tablets cut corners on the processor, and carry a sub-1GHz CPU. Single-core models, especially those with CPU clock speeds less than 1GHz, are slow. Stick with a dual-core CPU, or a single-core CPU that's at least faster than 1GHz. Related: