Invented a few years apart, tablets and laptops seem to serve the same purpose and therefore confuse many during shopping. Laptops, invented in 1984 are the advanced versions of desktops which can be used while on the go. Tablets, first invented in 1987 seem to do the same, but there are a few important differences between the two. Once you get to know them, you’ll know which one to buy.
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To know their real differences, continue reading.
How Is a Tablet Different from a Laptop?
Their differences are many and important to know. These can be summarized in the following table:
| Tablet | Laptop |
| Designed for net surfing | Designed for productivity |
| Smaller and lighter | Offers more features than tablet |
| Longer battery life | More powerful |
The above mentioned is a broad and not an extensive analysis of the two. For example, a laptop is not always more powerful than a tablet. Top of the line tablets would be more powerful than budget laptops. Furthermore, budget laptops and mid-tier tablets cost the same yet laptops have more to offer than tablets.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using a Laptop
The following are some of the benefits and drawbacks of using laptops over tablets:
Laptops Have More to Offer: If you type a lot, you should get a laptop. Tablets rely solely on touchscreen interfaces for input, which restricts your typing. This is not to suggest that you cannot type with a tablet. Tablets offer virtual keyboards. However , these keyboards have varying designs and layouts. For comfort, you can buy an external bluetooth keyboard but then you would be adding to the cost of owning a tablet. It would also make it less portable.
Laptops Have Better Storage Capacity: Generally speaking tablets offer 16 – 128 GB of storage. On the other hand, laptops offer 500 GB of storage and more. This is because laptops use conventional hard drives, while tablets use solid-state storage memory.
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Laptops Are More Powerful: Laptops have faster processing power. You can tell the difference when you are performing more demanding tasks that involve multitasking. However, both devices perform equally well when you are internet surfing, emailing, watching YT videos, etc.
Bigger, More Expensive, Weaker: Laptops weigh more due to their size and heavier batteries. They also have bigger screen sizes. This makes them not as mobile as tablets. Also, they tend to be more expensive than tablets. This is not to suggest that all laptops are more expensive than tablets. But a top of the line laptop would be more expensive than a top of the line tablet.
They are also more vulnerable to virus attacks since viruses are specifically designed to attack computers.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Using a Tablet
The following are some of the advantages and disadvantages of using tablets over laptops:
Tablets are Smaller and Portable: Smaller than laptops, tablets are easy to carry anywhere. They are also lighter than most laptops. Laptops are bigger in size due to their keyboard and since they have more powerful components, they require additional cooling which adds to the size.
Battery Life Is Better: As compared to laptops, tablets use less powerful hardware and therefore their battery life is longer. On the whole, a tablet’s interior is made up of a battery.
Better Camera Quality: Most tablets have cameras at par with the latest smartphones. The same can’t be said for laptops.
Restrictive App Use: Running Windows on a tablet and laptop will offer you two different experiences. It will be slower on the tablet. This is largely due to the tablet’s hardware limitations.
Hybrid-Convertible Laptops
A hybrid or convertible laptop is where a traditional laptop meets a tablet. Whoever designed the 2-in-1 device wanted to eliminate all the cons of laptops and tablets.
This laptop offers the complete typing experience of a traditional laptop. A 2-in-1 laptop has both the trackpad and touchscreen features. So, if you need to type an extensive document you can use the trackpad, meanwhile you can use the touchscreen feature when listening to music or watching a movie, etc.
Unlike tablets, a 2-in-1 laptop comes fitted with a powerful processor. However, there are some cons associated with this device too.
They are costly. If you’re on a budget, you should go for a tablet instead.
Conclusion
In short, if your purpose of buying a portable personal computer is internet surfing, playing games, listening to music or reading e-books, you need to get yourself a tablet. However, if you need this portable device for using powerful software, create documents or send emails, get yourself a laptop.
If you can afford only one, go for a laptop. Remember they are NOT each other’s substitute as they were designed to fulfill different purposes.
Did you know these differences when you bought your laptop/tablet? Let us know. And to checkout a wide variety of new and used laptops and tablets, visit OLX Pakistan’s website.
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