Best answer: Yes! Amazon’s Fire tablets are great for content consumption, but haven’t previously been built with work in mind. However, the Fire HD 10 Productivity Edition bundle just might be the perfect hybrid option for those on a budget.
Should you buy the Amazon Fire HD 10 Productivity Edition Bundle?
Amazon is arguably the top choice for purchasing an inexpensive, personal tablet for consuming videos, playing games, or entertaining the kiddos. Its popular Fire tablets come in a variety of sizes, and there are even two separate lines of Fire Tablets for kids with longer warranties, more durable cases, and more age-appropriate user interface and content.
The latest edition of the Fire HD 10 now comes in a “Plus” option much like the Fire HD 8 Plus, with more RAM over the base model and the ability to pair with a special wireless charging dock. Not only does this functionality make charging your tablet more convenient, but it also allows you to leave your Fire HD 10 Plus in Show Mode to behave like the best Echo Show smart speakers.
The new regular Fire HD 10 and Fire HD 10 Plus become even more valuable when purchased with Amazon’s Productivity Bundle. For about $70 over the price of the HD 10 or HD 10 Plus, you get a bespoke Bluetooth keyboard that is made to work with Amazon’s tablet, as well as a 12-month Microsoft 365 Personal subscription. That may sound like quite the price hike for a Fire tablet upgrade, but it’s not much when you consider that a personal Microsoft 365 license runs $70 by itself. Considering you’re also getting a nice tablet and keyboard, we think it’s a pretty sweet deal.
This subscription gets you access to all of the premium Office apps like Word, Excel, and Outlook, as well as 1TB of OneDrive cloud storage. The beauty of this plan is that not only do you get access to these Microsoft services on your Fire HD 10 but across five other compatible devices. And because it’s an Amazon device, you can get Alexa to help you with your work by asking her to do things like “open Microsoft Outlook.”
While not a true laptop or work replacement machine, the Fire HD 10 Productivity Edition is definitely something that you can get some light work done on in a pinch, not unlike the Lenovo Chromebook Duet. If you’re already comfortable using Microsoft Office apps and services, this could be a nice little addition to the end table for you, but it’s not going to replace a Mac or Windows PC. Still, for all the value Amazon’s tablets offer, it could offer a solid alternative to one of the best Chromebooks, and it should be more available than many of those as well. If you need something to triage work email or spreadsheets or another device to help with remote schooling, this could be the perfect low-cost option.
Entertainment plus work
Amazon Fire HD 10 Productivity Bundle
$220 at Amazon
365 productivity
The all-new Amazon Fire HD 10 Plus is already a fantastic little tablet for the whole family to enjoy games, movies, and their favorite apps, but the Productivity Bundle adds an entirely new dimension. A year of Microsoft 365 and a Bluetooth keyboard case means this tablet might be the perfect couch computer.
