Although a line from the age old Shakespearean play - Hamlet, its more of a one line representation of the doubt most of us buyers have in mind before buying a Tablet/Laptop.
Life was simple with just PC and Laptops. If I needed portability I went for a Laptop and if I needed raw computing power I went for PC. And then things started getting crazy. The Tablets hit the market and so did ultra-books and other mainstream notebooks. Today we have Quad-core Tablets and Core i7 powered Laptops [is it that necessary?].
So what suits your usage? A laptop or a tablet?
Here are some criteria you would like to check up before you make that arduous decision.
Why Tablet:
Portability:
This is pretty much an obvious statement. The first thing that strikes in anyone's mind, when mentioning portability is a tablet. A tablet is compact compared to a Laptop and if you are required to carry around the device for multimedia and browsing then a Tablet would be most appropriate for your needs.
Battery:
The battery life of a Tablet surpasses a Laptop in many levels. Firstly, the processors and other hardwares used in a Laptop is not as energy efficient as the ones you may find in a tablet. Of course one should also note that the tablet applications don't require much resource compared to the Laptop applications and also the screen size coupled with AMOLED displays in certain variants optimizes the battery consumption, allowing a longer usage time.
Virus/BSOD:
This is an extremely good point as Tablets, apart from some spywares [which one can avoid by installing apps carefully] don't suffer from problems related to Viruses and Malware attacks. Also a Laptop, running on Windows, are sometimes prone to the BSOD [Blue Screen]. However a tablet user don't have to bother about that, since the Tablet's resources and OS is optimized for such an event.
Interface:
The touch screen interfacing is one of the most user-friendly interface available. Compared to lugging around an optical mouse because the touch-pad is just not sensitive or big enough, a tablet spreads out an interface the size of its screen and with an optimized layout, using them is a breeze.
NFC:
This is already available in Tablets [such as Nexus 7] and pretty handy to share data and connect devices. The InstaWifi is one of the examples, where by tapping the phone to another phone, the other phone can share the WiFi settings. However there are news that Windows 8 supports NFC. Although NFCs for laptops are far-fetched compared to Tablets.
Durable and Cheap:
The Tablets are much more durable the a Laptop and with a case added, one don't need to be too careful. Particularly useful in case you are not too careful with your gadgets. And with the added Gorilla Glass display they are absolutely solid devices compared to a Laptop, which when dropped, may even result in data-loss. Also a Tablet is much cheaper than a Laptop [in case of low end tablets]. Read about which tablet suits you the most!
Why Laptops:
Computing Power:
The Tablets come with the quad core exynox 1.5 GHz processor, which is the maxed out version. However compared to Tablets, the Laptops usually start out with a Core i3 2.2 GHz Dual core [4 threads, hence 2 virtual cores] which gives us much more computing power. For the same price, A laptop may come with a good i5 processor and a decent GPU. Which has way more power when compared to Tablets [especially in terms of HD videos and animations]. The RAM in laptops are much greater and runs application with more fluidity.
Applications:
Even though the Play Store and App Store has an exhaustive list of applications, core applications still need a proper Computer to run on. Example, the mobile version of Photoshop and Auto-cad looks like a joke when compared to the actual software. Also, the games on a Laptop is different from the games on a Tablet. A laptop has the resource to handle games much more advanced compared to a Tablet [Although that margin of difference is reducing].
Multitasking:
Even if android is deemed as an OS capable of Multi-tasking, it still lacks the ability to facilitate seamless transitions through applications and also one cannot work on 2 or more simultaneous applications like a PC/Laptop. Thus this can be a let down considering the fact that most of us do use multitasking without realizing it, and are bound to feel the pinch if you are solely relying on a Tablet.
Connection Ports:
A Laptop comes with Ethernet port, HDMI, DVI ports which allows a user to access many functionally important devices and networks. An example would be joining a Local LAN where the only available option is using an Ethernet cable [Considering many offices still have Ethernet for LAN] and let's not forget that an Ethernet is still faster than WiFi. Connecting the printer to a laptop is a breeze compared to a Tablet, with which one can interface devices only through a WiFi bridge. Also connecting a Laptop to a projector is no hassle compared to a Tablet although a few have HDMI output facility. And, multiple USB connections through a tablet is not as easy as the ones on a Laptop, considering one needs a whole bundle of Cables and Hubs before actually setting up the connection.
Extensive Storage:
A laptop offers storage incomparable to Tablet. Laptops now come with 1 TB of hard disks and some offer SSD rather than the typical HDD compared to the maximum of 64 GB one can push the Tablets to. The files read/write speeds in a Laptop is much faster compared to a Tablet and both have the added advantage of cloud storage accessibility.
Multi-booting:
A laptop is capable of handling Windows and Linux OS through dual-booting. Although android supports dual booting through various custom ROMs, it cannot boot another OS. In this case, even if Windows has crashed due to viruses/malwares using the Linux OS we can clean off the Laptop and also the current version of Linux Ubuntu and Red Hat is as user friendly and eye catching as the Windows 7.
Full Keyboards and High Res Display:
The full keyboard in a Laptop makes typing easier compared to a Tablet's onscreen keyboard, while the typical laptop display provides a higher resolution and screen size compared to a Tablet. Also physical keyboards are most responsive. And unlike a tablet, the keyboard doesn't require a share of the screen and enables the user to have full display at all times. This is very important for people in the writing field, where more visibility is always better for some proof-reading and editing.
[Read more about Android PCs here]
They say Tablets are replacing Laptops and PCs, but I would comment that as more of a mass hallucination. Laptops and PCs can outperform the Tablets, but the portability of a Tablet is something that makes it so desirable and popular. With developments taking place at light speed, we can only wait and watch.
At the end, its all upto you!
@/\/!
Life was simple with just PC and Laptops. If I needed portability I went for a Laptop and if I needed raw computing power I went for PC. And then things started getting crazy. The Tablets hit the market and so did ultra-books and other mainstream notebooks. Today we have Quad-core Tablets and Core i7 powered Laptops [is it that necessary?].
So what suits your usage? A laptop or a tablet?
Here are some criteria you would like to check up before you make that arduous decision.
Why Tablet:
Portability:
This is pretty much an obvious statement. The first thing that strikes in anyone's mind, when mentioning portability is a tablet. A tablet is compact compared to a Laptop and if you are required to carry around the device for multimedia and browsing then a Tablet would be most appropriate for your needs.
Battery:
The battery life of a Tablet surpasses a Laptop in many levels. Firstly, the processors and other hardwares used in a Laptop is not as energy efficient as the ones you may find in a tablet. Of course one should also note that the tablet applications don't require much resource compared to the Laptop applications and also the screen size coupled with AMOLED displays in certain variants optimizes the battery consumption, allowing a longer usage time.
Virus/BSOD:
This is an extremely good point as Tablets, apart from some spywares [which one can avoid by installing apps carefully] don't suffer from problems related to Viruses and Malware attacks. Also a Laptop, running on Windows, are sometimes prone to the BSOD [Blue Screen]. However a tablet user don't have to bother about that, since the Tablet's resources and OS is optimized for such an event.
Interface:
The touch screen interfacing is one of the most user-friendly interface available. Compared to lugging around an optical mouse because the touch-pad is just not sensitive or big enough, a tablet spreads out an interface the size of its screen and with an optimized layout, using them is a breeze.
NFC:
This is already available in Tablets [such as Nexus 7] and pretty handy to share data and connect devices. The InstaWifi is one of the examples, where by tapping the phone to another phone, the other phone can share the WiFi settings. However there are news that Windows 8 supports NFC. Although NFCs for laptops are far-fetched compared to Tablets. The Tablets are much more durable the a Laptop and with a case added, one don't need to be too careful. Particularly useful in case you are not too careful with your gadgets. And with the added Gorilla Glass display they are absolutely solid devices compared to a Laptop, which when dropped, may even result in data-loss. Also a Tablet is much cheaper than a Laptop [in case of low end tablets]. Read about which tablet suits you the most!
Why Laptops:
Computing Power:
The Tablets come with the quad core exynox 1.5 GHz processor, which is the maxed out version. However compared to Tablets, the Laptops usually start out with a Core i3 2.2 GHz Dual core [4 threads, hence 2 virtual cores] which gives us much more computing power. For the same price, A laptop may come with a good i5 processor and a decent GPU. Which has way more power when compared to Tablets [especially in terms of HD videos and animations]. The RAM in laptops are much greater and runs application with more fluidity.
Applications:
Even though the Play Store and App Store has an exhaustive list of applications, core applications still need a proper Computer to run on. Example, the mobile version of Photoshop and Auto-cad looks like a joke when compared to the actual software. Also, the games on a Laptop is different from the games on a Tablet. A laptop has the resource to handle games much more advanced compared to a Tablet [Although that margin of difference is reducing].
Multitasking:
Even if android is deemed as an OS capable of Multi-tasking, it still lacks the ability to facilitate seamless transitions through applications and also one cannot work on 2 or more simultaneous applications like a PC/Laptop. Thus this can be a let down considering the fact that most of us do use multitasking without realizing it, and are bound to feel the pinch if you are solely relying on a Tablet.
Connection Ports:A Laptop comes with Ethernet port, HDMI, DVI ports which allows a user to access many functionally important devices and networks. An example would be joining a Local LAN where the only available option is using an Ethernet cable [Considering many offices still have Ethernet for LAN] and let's not forget that an Ethernet is still faster than WiFi. Connecting the printer to a laptop is a breeze compared to a Tablet, with which one can interface devices only through a WiFi bridge. Also connecting a Laptop to a projector is no hassle compared to a Tablet although a few have HDMI output facility. And, multiple USB connections through a tablet is not as easy as the ones on a Laptop, considering one needs a whole bundle of Cables and Hubs before actually setting up the connection.
Extensive Storage:
A laptop offers storage incomparable to Tablet. Laptops now come with 1 TB of hard disks and some offer SSD rather than the typical HDD compared to the maximum of 64 GB one can push the Tablets to. The files read/write speeds in a Laptop is much faster compared to a Tablet and both have the added advantage of cloud storage accessibility.
Multi-booting:
A laptop is capable of handling Windows and Linux OS through dual-booting. Although android supports dual booting through various custom ROMs, it cannot boot another OS. In this case, even if Windows has crashed due to viruses/malwares using the Linux OS we can clean off the Laptop and also the current version of Linux Ubuntu and Red Hat is as user friendly and eye catching as the Windows 7. Full Keyboards and High Res Display:
The full keyboard in a Laptop makes typing easier compared to a Tablet's onscreen keyboard, while the typical laptop display provides a higher resolution and screen size compared to a Tablet. Also physical keyboards are most responsive. And unlike a tablet, the keyboard doesn't require a share of the screen and enables the user to have full display at all times. This is very important for people in the writing field, where more visibility is always better for some proof-reading and editing.[Read more about Android PCs here]
They say Tablets are replacing Laptops and PCs, but I would comment that as more of a mass hallucination. Laptops and PCs can outperform the Tablets, but the portability of a Tablet is something that makes it so desirable and popular. With developments taking place at light speed, we can only wait and watch.
At the end, its all upto you!
@/\/!
3 comments:
was helpful..thanks
Good work keep it up!!
Its good !!
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