Ever since tablets first started to gain popularity, there have been endless debates as to whether tablets could replace laptops. Unlike netbooks which were miniature versions of laptops, tablets have presented something completely different and innovative through their touch-based system and various app selection in place of software.
So, in the year 2013, where there are various kinds of tablets with especially a lot of releases last year, it is worthwhile to examine whether tablets can replace laptops.
1) Business Tasks
For many people, laptops served the purpose of checking/sending e-mails, writing reports in Microsoft Word, making presentations in Microsoft Powerpoint, editing monthly budgets with Microsoft Excel, and occasionally, editing photos to put in pamphlets and other documents. Can tablets achieve these tasks? The answer is yes. E-mail is widely supported through all the platforms of tablets, and as far as Microsoft products are concerned, viewing is supported by many free and paid apps, and there are several apps out in the market – granted, paid – that allow editing them. It’s not too surprising though since Microsoft files are available to use after paid purchase for laptop anyway. With photo editing, there are many apps that do this, and while adding layers may be a slight complication, photo editing apps are getting better and better at this.
2) Entertainment
Outside the office, laptops are used for two types of entertainment – online and offline. Online entertainment includes watching movies and TV shows through Netflix, talking to friends on Facebook and Twitter, reading newspapers/magazines, and of course, web browsing. They are all possible in tablets with specific apps in tablets, and more magazines and newspapers are releasing their own app to optimize their contents for tablets. For offline usages, listening to music, reading e-books (Kindle and PDF formats), storing and viewing photos, and playing popular games. Similar to online usages, all these tasks have improved greatly in hardware and software aspects. Storing and viewing photos improved with better graphics and Cloud services that offered greater space, and with games, enhanced graphics cards and faster processors enabled vivid gaming experiences that are hoping to challenge videogames as a matter of fact.
3) Multi-Tasking and Speed
The opponents for tablets argued that because tablets felt below laptops in specifications, they would not perform well in multi-tasking – that is, running HD videogames and running browser up at the same time. With more recent tablets, this concern has been completely defeated as tablets manage to do multi-tasking easily and quickly. Operating system has been uniquely developed to meet the needs of tablets, so even though specifications are different, comparing laptops and tablets cannot lead to belief that tablets are less superior than laptops.
4) Display and Weight
Even with all the apps available and impressive software, there is no way to overcome the difference between 13-17-inch laptop display and 7-10-inch tablet display. Though larger than smartphones, tablets still have smaller screen display. But, an important question is this – if screen display is really an issue, then it can be argued that laptops are still smaller than TV, right? So, the display size can be overcome by using HDMI cables on tablets to show the screen on television, useful for playing Netflix, Hulu, and so forth. And, this is all possible because of tablet’s extreme portability and lightweight that cannot be compared to most laptops.
5) Cost
This is the deciding factor in my opinion. Though tablets are cheaper than desktop, they are still comparable to laptops in cost, and because laptops offer much more storage than 64GB (highest built-in storage space for many tablets), laptops may be a better device for some people. But, if you are willing to spend money just a little more to buy actual keyboard and utilize the touch screen, then tablets are better investments since tablet OS get upgraded automatically (this is partially true since installations must be manually started by the users).
Bottom line? I think tablets can more than easily replace laptops because anything that you can think about doing in laptops – you can do the same with tablets. My only commentary to this analysis is that like laptops, tablets are each very different and must be compared to ensure that they fit your needs.
