I think they're really apples and oranges. The Fire is a full-blown tablet. The Paperwhite is just an e-reader. I still have my Kindle e-reader that I bought many years ago, but I've gone through a number of tablets in the same time period. If you're looking for something to read on a lot, I'd go with a Paperwhite. The screen is better set up for reading. But if you're looking for one device to read on, watch movies, browse the Internet, do email, etc... then go Fire.