Tablet Vs. Laptop: A Comparison

With all the hype surrounding new tablets such as the Apple iPad 2 and Mororolla Xoom, many people are announcing the beginning of the "post PC era". However, before everyone goes and tosses their windows laptop into the street, it would be good to take a look at just what exactly a tablet can and can't do.

Usability

There are many reasons that tablets have become so popular in recent years. Portability is one major benefit to a tablet, even over a laptop. Tablets are generally extremely thin and light, while some laptops like the Compaq laptop that I own weigh in at over 5 pounds. For college students like me, portability is necessary. Many people don't want to be lugging around bulky laptops when you can have just as much functionality in a much smaller and more portable device. However, the lack of a physical keyboard on the iPad that I own is sometimes frustrating. When sitting down and typing out essays for classes, it is undoubtedly more efficient and less tiring for me to use a physical keyboard rather than a virtual one on a tablet. In that aspect, a laptop scores higher in my books for being easier to type quickly and error free on.

Performance

While the performance gap between laptops and tablets is indeed closing. Laptops clearly have an edge performance wise. This is especially the case with higher end laptops, where fully featured graphics cards and more than 4gb of ram really put the tablets to shame. It isn't possible to play the newest and best computer games on tablets, although there are quite a few games designed specifically for them. Games like Angry Birds and Little Wings come to mind when thinking of tablet gaming. If browsing the web is your forte, however, a tablet might be just what you are looking for. The safari web browser on the iPad is top notch, giving a very laptop-like experience.

Looks

While there are definitely some cool and stylish laptops (ex. Sony Vaio), many people find the thin and sleek appearance of a tablet to be more appealing than that of a laptop. My iPad definitely has more of that "wow" factor than my laptop does.

Overall, tablets and laptops both have their ups and downs. Laptops will always have a spot with people who require heavy mobile performance; and tablets are slowly inching their way into the sights of people who just want a way to read their news at the local coffee shop.