Can a Tablet Replace Your Laptop?

March 22, 2016

Tablets are popular gadgets these days, and it’s understandable why people love them. They’re small, lightweight and portable. They come filled with apps for gaming, keeping organized and managing your finances. You can use tablets for email, social media and even work-related tasks.

So has it come time to replace your laptop with a tablet?

It depends on what you use your laptop for.

While tablets certainly have a lot of great features, there are still many things they don’t have the power or capability to handle.

Let’s take a look at how tablets stack up to laptops.

Input Method

The majority of tablets are touch screen, which is fine if all you plan on doing is pointing, clicking and dragging your way around programs. If you do a lot of typing, you will want to stick with your laptop. The keyboard on a laptop is more comfortable and efficient.

You do have the option to buy an external keyboard for a tablet, but even these are not as comfortable and responsive. Plus, they are an additional expense.

Size

If size is an issue for you, tablets have the edge. They’re no bigger than a pad of paper and weigh just a couple of pounds, if that. Laptops are far heavier. If you need the power of a laptop, however, you can’t just choose a tablet based on size.

Luckily, there are a lot of options for lightweight laptops. The Vector 14 Laptop from Velocity Micro weighs less than 4 pounds with the battery pack. It also has a slim design that makes it easier to carry around.

Battery Life

Laptops use powerful hardware, and because of this, they have a shorter battery life. A tablet, on the other hand, has most of the interior saved for the battery. The average tablet gets about 10 hours of usage, while the average laptop gets about 4-5.

Again, if you need the power of a laptop, you can’t choose a tablet because it has a shorter battery life. Your best approach is to choose a laptop with good battery life, practice battery-saving habits and invest in an external battery pack.

Storage Capacity

To keep their size down, tablets have solid state storage memory, which doesn’t allow a lot of room for files. Most tablets come with about 16-64 GB, whereas the average laptop comes with 500 GB. If you want to store a lot of files, install software, etc., a laptop is a must-have.

Performance

Laptops outperform tablets for demanding tasks, multitasking and gaming. Tablets are comparable to laptops for lighter tasks such as checking email or browsing the internet. It’s also worth noting that because laptops have the ability to have software installed on them, they are capable of handling powerful jobs like video editing.

The Verdict

If you use your laptop primarily for checking Facebook, playing audio and downloading a few apps, you can switch over to a tablet with no problem. If you rely on your laptop for more than that, you will want to stick with it. Laptops exceed tablets on many tasks because they have more hard drive space, faster processors and software capabilities.

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