Solved Laptops vs iPads

[bigmck]

I recently have gotten the urge to get a laptop with a decent speed since mine is about ten years old. I don't use it much, but that is another story. == I recently have noticed people using a iPad. I know very little about iPads or their competition Andriod pads, etc. I use my laptop to go to wifi hotspots and surf the web and send email. Tell me about iPads. Could I do that with them? What does one do that the other does not do? Thanks,

 

[MWRed]

Well, having a laptop, and having a tablet (Android), I can tell you one thing. It isn't worth the money to get an iPad just to surf or check emails. It's way too expensive for what it does. I'm not saying this because I hate Apple, i'm saying it because it's true.
My tablet, which is a knockoff of the typical Android tablets does just what I want it to. I can read forums, browse sites, setup every kind of email imaginable. Flash is an issue depending on what you end up with also.

They all basically do the same things. Needs, and price are the 2 things to look at.
For the price of a high end tablet, you can get a really decent laptop and have the ability to do more if you ever needed or wanted to.
My Android tab was $129, which is cheap compared to the really good ones. I just can't play games, use hardly any typical programs that you would find on a PC/Laptop. It's fine for email, reading things, and music, but besides that, I couldn't see spending much more than that what I did for what it does. When talking about the iPads, and high End Androids, you're looking at $500+.

 

[bigmck]

The main reason the tablets got my attention is that they are so small and can be easily carried around. I like what laptops do, but don't really know anything about the tablets. Today I saw a one day sale in the paper that had an Android tablet for $89. That got my curiosity up as I had seen the iPads for $400 and $500 like you say. Thanks for the info.

 

[MWRed]

Be really careful about the really cheap ones. They aren't full featured, and they are not licensed by google, so no Android Market to get apps from. That's the one big thing most people miss when seeing them cheap ones. Always look for a big name brand, because if it's something like Polaroid, or even Coby, it probably is not licensed and full featured. (Names like, Acer, Toshiba, Samsung, Asus)
The other big drawback is that almost all of the cheap ones have a resistive touch screen(like the kind at the credit card readers at stores). Not easy to use at all. Surprisingly, for what I paid for mine, it has a really nice 5 point capacitative touch screen (think smooth, glass like) which works great, even for as little as I paid for mine. Mine also didn't have the google stuff on it when I bought it. (but I took care of that a few days after I got it.)

Even the Kindle fire is a decent tablet. My ex has one and loves it. Google just released their own tablet, the Nexus, which has a great starting price point, $199. Even i'm looking at this, although it's a 7 inch tablet, which is the same as mine, but it's straight from Google.

Also, there's rumors of a smaller iPad being made (maybe 7 inch?).

To me, a 10 inch tablet is just too big. If I was going to get something that big, I might as well get a laptop (a lot of people don't agree with me about that, but tough,lol.)

Hope I helped a little.
Make sure you look at a lot of devices before deciding. I have had 2 android phones, so getting the tablet and knowing how to "fix" it wasn't new to me.

 

[Zepher]

I use my iPad 3 to surf, send emails, watch movies, etc.
The form factor makes it easy to use with one hand and is very portable and the battery lasts a long time.
I am actually in my garage posting this message from mine.

A lot of people dont like apple or thier products, I am not a fan of apple but I like my iPhone, iPad, and iPods. They work great and do what they are designed to do and do it great.

10" is the sweet spot for view ability, anything smaller requires a lot more scrolling or zooming when browsing or emailing.

I went with the top of the line wifi model, which with the warranty and case was almost $900. Price of a very decent laptop.
I only paid $100 of it since a friend was going to buy me the 32gb model, so I said I wanted the 64gb one and would pay the extra $100.

 

[bigmck]

I use my iPad 3 to surf, send emails, watch movies, etc.
The form factor makes it easy to use with one hand and is very portable and the battery lasts a long time.
I am actually in my garage posting this message from mine.

A lot of people dont like apple or thier products, I am not a fan of apple but I like my iPhone, iPad, and iPods. They work great and do what they are designed to do and do it great.

10" is the sweet spot for view ability, anything smaller requires a lot more scrolling or zooming when browsing or emailing.

I went with the top of the line wifi model, which with the warranty and case was almost $900. Price of a very decent laptop.
I only paid $100 of it since a friend was going to buy me the 32gb model, so I said I wanted the 64gb one and would pay the extra $100.

I understand they do not use programs, but use apps instead. Is there a browser that is built in? Does it have Bookmarks (Favorites) like PC browsers do?

 

[Zepher]

Yes, the default Built in browser is Safari and there are other browsers available on the app store, some free and some paid.
You can save bookmarks as well.
There is an app for pretty much anything you might need as well.

The neat thing is, is if you have an iPhone, bookmarks sync between the iPad and iPhone automatically.
Apps sync as well if the app is made for both.

 

[Waffl]

I was allowed get one of them and I chose laptop, because it can run games, browse the internet (properly.), Has a bigger screen and so much things I wont go into.

 

[dejavecue]

A couple of things to help you decide:

Tablets are instant-on. They go to standby (turn the screen area off), and since they are completely flash-memory based (they have no HDD or moving parts at all) they just get instantly on again if you need them to.
Basically: It takes you the same time to think "I want to write an email now" as it does to switch the pad on and go to the mail app.

Also, they are very intuitive to use. If you are one for customization, go for an android tablet. If you like it out of the box (and you can spare some cash), go for the iPad. Especially the newest one has a wonderful display with high resolution where letters look almost like printed on paper).

Also, unlike (most) laptops, pads are completely quiet, as they have cooling concepts that don't need fans to regulate their temperature.

And finally, Pads are not half as heavy.

 

[bigmck]

I appreciate all of your comments. Keep them coming. Thanks,

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I've just taken delivery of a Samsung Galaxy Note and it's crazy good but it's not for everyone as it's a phone that thinks it's a tablet and or a tablet that wants to be a phone.

Samsung Galaxy Note Smartphone (AT&T) - Carbon Blue | Samsung Mobile

 

[windude99]

I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy tab 2 7.0 and I have nearly abandoned my laptop. I can browse the web, play higher resolution games than my laptop could, and it is very portable because it is a 7 inch tablet. I also like that Android has a user acessable filesystem which the ipad currently doesn't have which is important to me. That Galaxy tab 2 7.0 is $250. It also has a micro sd card ( which the new Google Nexus 7 and the iPad don't have) If you are looking for a cheap, but quality tablet that will make you abandon your laptop, get the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Also, there is a 10.1 inch version if you want the bigger screen.

 

[strollin]

The thing to remember about tablets is that they are a content consuming device, meaning they do things very well that only require output to the screen like reading email, reading documents, watching movies, listening to music, etc... They aren't particularly good at content creation since they typically only have a soft keyboard. They are OK for a quick email reply or forum posting but you wouldn't want to write a novel on one.

I personally think a 10" tablet is too large and awkward to hold in one hand so I prefer the 7" tablets. My Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is pretty nice but it won't replace my netbook.

 

[windude99]

The thing to remember about tablets is that they are a content consuming device, meaning they do things very well that only require output to the screen like reading email, reading documents, watching movies, listening to music, etc... They aren't particularly good at content creation since they typically only have a soft keyboard. They are OK for a quick email reply or forum posting but you wouldn't want to write a novel on one.

I thought you could get bluetooth keyboards for that purpose.

 

[strollin]

The thing to remember about tablets is that they are a content consuming device, meaning they do things very well that only require output to the screen like reading email, reading documents, watching movies, listening to music, etc... They aren't particularly good at content creation since they typically only have a soft keyboard. They are OK for a quick email reply or forum posting but you wouldn't want to write a novel on one.

I thought you could get bluetooth keyboards for that purpose.

Sure you can but then you might as well get a laptop or netbook.

 

[bigmck]

I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy tab 2 7.0 and I have nearly abandoned my laptop. I can browse the web, play higher resolution games than my laptop could, and it is very portable because it is a 7 inch tablet. I also like that Android has a user acessable filesystem which the ipad currently doesn't have which is important to me. That Galaxy tab 2 7.0 is $250. It also has a micro sd card ( which the new Google Nexus 7 and the iPad don't have) If you are looking for a cheap, but quality tablet that will make you abandon your laptop, get the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Also, there is a 10.1 inch version if you want the bigger screen.

That sounds pretty good. What can you do on a laptop that you can't do on a Galaxy Tab. If I wanted to just surf the net and write email, could it do all of that as good as a laptop could? == What is this "Android has a user acessable filesystem"?

 

[windude99]

I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy tab 2 7.0 and I have nearly abandoned my laptop. I can browse the web, play higher resolution games than my laptop could, and it is very portable because it is a 7 inch tablet. I also like that Android has a user acessable filesystem which the ipad currently doesn't have which is important to me. That Galaxy tab 2 7.0 is $250. It also has a micro sd card ( which the new Google Nexus 7 and the iPad don't have) If you are looking for a cheap, but quality tablet that will make you abandon your laptop, get the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. Also, there is a 10.1 inch version if you want the bigger screen.

That sounds pretty good. What can you do on a laptop that you can't do on a Galaxy Tab. If I wanted to just surf the net and write email, could it do all of that as good as a laptop could? == What is this "Android has a user acessable filesystem"?

Typing long emails etc may be easier on a laptop. Even then, you can get a bluetooth keyboard for it if you really need a physical keyboard. Also the user accessible filesystem is like being able to go into Windows Explorer to access the Windows filesystem.

 

[bigmck]

Thanks for you help on this.

 

[windude99]

Also, I forgot to mention that the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 comes with a free 1 year 50gb subscription to Dropbox.

 

[pparks1]

I agree with others, if you are going to watch or take in content, tablets are fine for this purpose. If you are like me and you type a lot (forums, facebook, emails, etc), you may find tablet typing to be horrendously slow and cumbersome. If I had to choose between the tablet and the laptop, there is absolutely no consideration. The laptop wins 100% of the time. If you were wondering, i have a 10" Asus Transformer tablet.