Best gifts for readers in 2021: Kindle, iPad Mini, Kobo and more
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Kindle Oasis
The luxury e-reader
$200 at Amazon -
Kindle Paperwhite
The default choice gets even better
$140 at Amazon -
Amazon Kindle
The budget choice
$55 at Amazon -
iPad Mini
The iPad for book lovers
$400 at Amazon -
Boox Note Air
A rare big-screen E Ink reader
$440 at Amazon
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Kobo Clara HD
Kindle alternative for library fans
$115 at Walmart
This story is part of Gift Guide, our year-round collection of the best gift ideas.
There’s something about reading an actual book that’s a refreshing contrast to video-streaming options, endless video games and a workplace culture built around Zoom meetings. Books always make great gifts, but here we’re focusing on the latest devices on which you can read ebooks. The most famous digital book reader is Amazon’s Kindle line, which uses E Ink displays. Current models offer self-illuminated screens, eliminating the need for an external book light. But beyond Kindle’s hardware, the Kindle app — along with other ebook-reading apps — works on smartphones, iPads and other devices.
Plenty of alternatives exist if you don’t want to buy through Amazon. For instance, Rakuten’s Kobo ebook readers work with most third-party vendors using the ePub book standard. And both Kobo and Kindle let you freely read loaner books from your local library.
One important note: You should never pay full price for a Kindle device or Fire tablet, as they get frequent deep discounts throughout the year. We expect the Black Friday season to offer the best prices of the year for most of these.
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Kindle Oasis
The luxury e-reader
Yes, Amazon’s top-end Kindle is too expensive for what it is, but when I upgraded from a Kindle Paperwhite to the Oasis, I was knocked out by how much better the Oasis is in terms of book readability and responsiveness. Plus, the physical page-turn buttons are so much better than swiping. The latest version can adjust the color temperature of the (monochromatic) screen, for better nighttime reading.?
Amazon runs a lot of deals on this, and also watch out for trade-in bonuses on older Kindles to get it for a reasonable price.
Read our Amazon Kindle Oasis (2019) review.
$200 at Amazon
$200 at Best Buy
David Carnoy/CNET
Kindle Paperwhite
The default choice gets even better
The Paperwhite is Amazon’s middle-of-the-road Kindle, between the base model and the Oasis. It just received a big upgrade in the form of a?larger 6.8-inch screen and better battery life. It’s also waterproof and can adjust its display color temperature, but it lacks the Oasis’ physical page-turn buttons. There’s even an upgraded model, the Signature Edition ($190), with 32GB of storage (versus 8GB) and an auto-adjusting front light. That one also works with the same wireless charging pads as your iPhone. Hopefully, we’ll see this new Kindle drop below $100 this holiday season. Read our Kindle Paperwhite (2021) review.?
$140 at Amazon
Sarah Tew/CNET
Amazon Kindle
The budget choice
I’m not going to sugarcoat it. This basic Kindle is nowhere as good as the Paperwhite or Oasis. But it’s also a great impulse purchase gift for a casual reader or book lover getting into ebooks. The latest version adds a built-in light, which makes it much more usable, but I’d only buy if it was decently discounted. The price to seek is $60 or less.?
Read our Amazon Kindle (2019) review.
$55 at Amazon
Scott Stein/CNET
iPad Mini
The iPad for book lovers
The iPad Mini received what might be the best tech product makeover of the year, with a bigger, better screen (now 8.3 inches), new processor, optional 5G and a thinner, lighter design. It’s the perfect size for ebooks, and the color screen makes it a great choice for reading digital comics (ahem, graphic novels). At $500, it’s more expensive than the fanciest Kindle reader, but you get a full-fledged iPadOS device that can serve as a streaming video player or game machine as well.
$400 at Amazon
$449 at Apple
$500 at Target
Dan Ackerman/CNET
Boox Note Air
A rare big-screen E Ink reader
Kindles are great, but the screens are paperback-sized at best. This is one of a handful of larger E Ink devices, and one of the few that can run Amazon’s Kindle software. That’s because the Note Air runs the Android mobile OS and can download apps from the Google Play Store. Just beware, the device feels sluggish when not in book-reading mode, and setting up Google Play access is tricky (see details in my Boox Note Air hands-on here). I don’t care, I still think giant E Ink devices are very cool.?
$440 at Amazon
David Carnoy/CNET
Kobo Clara HD
Kindle alternative for library fans
Kobo readers are basically the anti-Kindles. Kobo has its own ebook store, and it lets you check out ebooks from your local library right on the device (Kindles require you to use the Libby app). Kobo’s high-end readers can go for as much as $400, but the Clara HD is the Goldilocks in the company’s line, with an integrated ComfortLight Pro illumination, a 300ppi (1,072×1,448 resolution) “HD” display, 8GB of storage and a 1GHz processor.
$115 at Walmart
$90 at Amazon
And once you have an ebook reader, why not fill it up with some books written by CNET authors? Here’s a few to get started:
- The Tetris Effect by Dan Ackerman
- Lucidity by David Carnoy
- Undersea by Geoffrey Morrison
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