Tablet vs. Laptop

Tablets can be more powerful and useful than some low spec laptops. The question here, is it true that the tablets can replace the laptop? To answer this question, we would like to enlighten you the differences between tablets and laptops so that you can collect all the information to make the best decision. If you can only afford one device, then you will probably want a laptop. Budget laptops cost the same as mid-tier tablets, and they can do so much more. Tablets are primarily used for browsing the web, reading eBooks, playing games, listening to music, and other passive activities. On the other hand, laptop are made for productivity, which means creating documents, sending emails, and using powerful software. There are also hybrids, or convertible laptop, which can be used in tablet mode so that you can have the best of both worlds. 

Input Method: You Can Do More With Laptops

Tablets rely solely on a touch screen interface for input, which can present challenges when you need to input text. Since tablets have no keyboard, you must type on virtual keyboards that have varying layouts and designs. 2-in-1 tablets come with a detachable keyboard, but these models still fall short of the laptop experience because of their smaller size and more restrictive designs. If you add an external Bluetooth keyboard, you will add costs and peripherals that must be carried with the tablet, making it less portable. Laptops are better for people who type a lot.

Size: Tablets Are More Portable

Most tablets weigh under 1 kilogram. Even the smallest laptops, like the Apple MacBook Air 11, weighs more and has a profile larger than most tablets. The main reason for the larger profile is that the keyboard and track pad take up additional space. Laptops that include more powerful components require additional cooling, which add to the size. Because of their smaller size and weight, a tablet is much easier to carry around than a laptop, especially for travel.

Battery Life: Tablets Last Longer

Because of the low power requirements of their hardware components, tablets are designed for efficiency. In fact, most of a tablet's interior is taken up by the battery.  use more powerful hardware. The battery within a laptop takes up a far smaller percentage of the space needed for its internal components. Thus, even with the higher capacity battery offered by laptops, they don't run as long as tablets. Many tablets can support up to ten hours of web usage before requiring a charge. In comparison, the average laptop only runs for about four to eight hours.

Storage Capacity: Laptops Have More Space

In order to keep the size and costs of tablets down, manufacturers rely on solid-state storage memory to store programs and data. This technology has one major disadvantage: the amount of data it can store. Most tablets allow between 16 and 128 GB of storage. By comparison, most laptops still use conventional hard drives that hold much more. The average budget laptop comes with a 500 GB hard drive, although some laptops have moved to solid-state drives as well. Both laptops and tablets include features like USB ports or micro SD cards that make it possible to add external storage.

Performance: Laptops Are More Powerful

For tasks like email, web browsing, or playing video or audio, both platforms will work equally well since these activities don't require much processing power. Things get more complicated once you start performing more demanding tasks that involve multitasking or HD graphics. In these cases, laptops typically perform better. There are exceptions, though, such as for video editing. Some high-end tablets can actually outperform laptops thanks to specialized hardware.

Software: Tablet Apps Are Restrictive

The same software running on a laptop versus a tablet can be vastly different in terms of capabilities. If a tablet is running Windows, it can theoretically run the same software as a laptop, but it will likely be slower. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as the Microsoft Surface Pro, a tablet that you can deploy as a primary laptop with the same software used in a work environment.

The two other major tablet platforms right now are Android and iOS, both of which require applications specific to their operating systems. There are many application available for each of these platforms, and most of it will perform most of the basic tasks as a laptop. However, they still lack input devices, and hardware limitations mean that some more advanced features supplied by laptop programs may have to be dropped to fit into the tablet environment.

Conclusion

Laptops still offer greater flexibility for mobile computing. They may not have the same level of portability, running times, or ease of use as a tablet, but there are still a number of technical limitations that tablets must resolve before they replace laptops. If you already have a laptop, a tablet may be a great add-on for those times when you just want to read, play games, or browse the web. ​