From my POV, a tablet should be for handholding, lying on a table and replacing an office computer. Manufacturers have pretended such combined use but not enabled it well yet. Therefore, the first sacrifice is "replacing an office computer".
For "lying on a table", it is often sufficient if the back is flat without camera bump, as of my tablet. However, in recent years, more and more models try to achieve what I do not need: a tablet for also the purpose of a camera smartphone, for which such tablets get a camera bump inhibiting flat lying on a table without case, which I do not want. I just want a tablet - a simple device without permanently attached hardware extras.
For "handholding", a tablet must be usable indoors and outdoors. And here, the vast majority tablets fails. Good outdoor usage requires low display reflectance and long battery life. These are essential for me as I often use tablets outdoors. In the simplified choice between iPads and Surfaces, iPads offer these essential aspects while Surfaces fail to offer them. Therefore, while quite a few of my secondary wish criteria are met by Surfaces, the primary aspect of good handholding also outdoors is met by iPads. Far from perfectly but at least usable: 5.5h at maximum brightness of a new tablet and reflectance that at least does not inhibit outdoor use.
Handholding is particularly good at relatively low weight, but I might compromise on weight.
Another primary aspect is the possibility of viewing my frequent kinds of contents well. For this purpose, the tablet needs a small display ratio. 4:3 is very good, 3:2 is acceptable. Larger ratios are unusable for me. iPads meet this my preference significantly better with typically 4:3 than Surfaces with 3:2.
Silence is another primary aspect for a tablet. Those Surfaces with a fan drop out. I do not need speed faster than Cinebench R15 Single 93 on a tablet and this could be achieved by old Surface Pros and is achieved by Surface Gos. However, if a new Surface Pro should get low reflectance (it might, as Microsoft has indicated) and long enough battery life (an open question), I still will not buy it if it is not silent.
An uninterrupted display is another primary criterion for me. I will not buy a foldable regardless of whether the display ratio is small enough with, say, 4:3 or 1:1. I never buy a notch. I want a tablet with a reasonable build quality so that it lasts for several years. Foldables, however, are designed to break soon.
As an endconsumer, I want a working tablet - not one that is dead on arrival. Therefore, buyer protection by law is another primary aspect. EU law and especially German law guarantee this including 14 days return no questions asked.
Now, my list of criteria contains some remaining ones of secondary importance:
- Windows Pro, x64
- easily user-replaceable battery at fair price
- reasonable build quality
- at least 8GB / 512 GB without upselling
I might compromise on these but they affect the price I am willing to pay. iPadOS instead of Windows means I am willing to pay much less and only a relatively low maximum price. The rather low price of my iPad Mini 4 at €340 was just acceptable. In comparison, for a tablet with Windows Pro, I might spend more than €1000 if the tablet meets my preferences particularly well. I would never spend such an amount on iPadOS.
An easily user-replaceable battery at a fair price means I might spend a few hundred euros more for the tablet because the tablet can be used several or many years longer. Manufacturers hurt themselves when I do not pay their prices for a tablet without easily user-replaceable battery, nor buy a tablet for which I know that battery replacement will cost ca. €300 (as for some Surface Pros).
Prominent manufacturs like to gimp on RAM. This applies to both Apple and Microsoft. If RAM at an acceptable tablet price is unavailable, I do not buy. E.g., 4GB Surface Go 2 or 3 have so much reduced the price I was willing to spend that I have not bought one. 4GB and Windows 10 / 11 simply is no fun. (While Windows 7 worked fine with 2 GB.) Small RAM tends to be no problem for new iPads but becomes a problem over the years when Apple cripples the iPads by OS updates slowing them down more and more. If RAM was sufficient from the beginning or OS updates were designed well, this would not be a problem. In reality, however, it is a problem. Apple is known to hide RAM specs, and this planned obsolesence explains why.
Upselling on SSD (or cheaper storage types) occurs by both manufacturers. At a time when 512GB costs "a penny", it is simply unacceptable to offer only, say, 128GB and charge astronomic excesses for more storage while preventing easily user-replacable SSDs. Such treatment of me as an endconsumer means I am willing to pay much less for a tablet with unpleasantly limited storage at an acceptable base price.