Laptop vs Tablet

[bigmck]

I am going to either buy a laptop or a tablet in the next month or so. I have no idea how to operate a Tablet, but I like the idea of a it being very portable and having a longer battery time (so I have heard) than a laptop. I was hoping you could give me some help. I am only going to use it for surfing sites and email. Is the keyboard that comes on the screen fairly easy to type on? Since the screen is only 10 inches, is it a problem to read a website? Just how much different will it be from a laptop? Any other info you can give me will be appreciated. Thanks,

 

[Pedroc1999]

depends what you want rly, if you want an ipad or some other tablet running android

 

[kbrady1979]

There are devices that are full laptops that can be flipped over to be used as a tablet also!

 

[Pedroc1999]

and on a commercial somewhere when a tablet was docked in a qwerty keyboard with a trackpad and could be used as laptop

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

For the same price as a tablet, you can get a laptop that has more RAM, speed, a real keyboard (or a better keyboard in the case of tablets that do have keyboards), a larger screen, an optical drive, and far more storage.

Where tablets shine is their increased portability, including lighter weight, and better battery life.

Personally, I feel even 7" tablets are too big to be useful for me since they won't fit in my purse (and please don't suggest getting a bigger purse; I already have to register mine as a deadly weapon due to it's weight) and a 7" screen is just too small to be usable for me for most things. I have 266 GB on the notebook I have for use when on the road. My books and music alone eat up 40 GB.

 

[whs]

Jim, If you just want something portable for the tasks you defined, I would go with a 7" tablet that you can stick into the pocket of the jacket. Those 10" tablets are bulky and hard to hold in one hand. Right now I think the Google Nexus 7 is the best price/performer. Google Nexus 7 Tablet PC by Asus with Android 4.1, ASUS-1B16 ? Walmart.com

 

[kbrady1979]

For the same price as a tablet, you can get a laptop that has more RAM, speed, a real keyboard (or a better keyboard in the case of tablets that do have keyboards), a larger screen, an optical drive, and far more storage.

Where tablets shine is their increased portability, including lighter weight, and better battery life.

Personally, I feel even 7" tablets are too big to be useful for me since they won't fit in my purse (and please don't suggest getting a bigger purse; I already have to register mine as a deadly weapon due to it's weight) and a 7" screen is just too small to be usable for me for most things. I have 266 GB on the notebook I have for use when on the road. My books and music alone eat up 40 GB.

My girlfriend carries a large purse 95% of the time, and her Kindle Fire HD with a case/stand will barely fit in there with the stuff she normally carries. In fact, most of the time she carries a separate "tote" style bag with her electronics and a few books to keep her purse from exploding. In that case, a small laptop would probably be the best bet. If you are going to have to carry something extra, get the most out of it.

Like I mentioned before, there are some that are a laptop/tablet hybrid. I don't know what your budget is, but when I am in the market for something such as a tablet/laptop, I will be getting one of these......Shop for Ultrabooks

 

[techno di]

it depends on the user , what are you using it for ?

surf the net about the differences in the following points :

power consumption i.e battery life .
screen size
RAM capacity and ability
processing power
portability
storage
video and sound quality

 

[bigmck]

Thanks to all for your remarks. I went out at lunch and finally found a store that had a wifi so I could get a demo of one. I would think a wifi would be a necessity for a PC store, oh well.........I got a demo, the salesman wasn't real sharp. After I watched him I fooled with it and put in a website and it would not go to it. The salesman fooled with it and nothing. He blamed the wifi. I have had a bad experience trying to get demos. I think probably like Lady Fitz said, I would be happier with a laptop since I know what I am getting. Portability is nice, but I don't go that many places. Black Friday, here I come. Watch out I am buying me a laptop.

 

[kbrady1979]

You can get some really crazy deals during that time! I'd look for an Ivy Bridge laptop for a good price........great battery life and awesome performance. If you have the cash to spare, a good SSD will complement it nicely. Hope you find something good!

 

[bigmck]

Speaking of battery time, is there a code on batteries that give you an idea of how many hours they will last? I know it depends of how you use the laptop, but I would like an idea of how long I could use the laptop on battery.

 

[kbrady1979]

Most laptops have it listed in the "Specs" table........it's a best guess, or an average in my opinion as I don't know how they calculate it and come up with a battery life number. Laptops these days would have to be at least 5-7+ depending on what kind you got. A gaming laptop will probably be less.....and an ultraportable energy efficient laptop will probably be more. Also, some come with standard batteries and some come with batteries with more cells. Look in the specs and that should give you a good idea of what you are getting into.