A few decades ago, buying a computer used to be easy—the only choices were between portability (laptops) and high performance (desktops). These days, the choice is not so simple. But if your priority is portability and efficiency, the two obvious choices are laptops and tablets.
While the differences in performance and efficiency between these two devices have decreased over time, some significant distinctions still require serious consideration before purchase. If you’re planning to buy a portable device for work or study but are unsure which one to go to, here is some information to help you.
What Is the Main Purpose of the Device?
You need to determine if you’ll be using the device for work or personal use. If you intend to use it for work, you want your device to be as powerful as possible, which makes the laptop the more obvious choice. Tasks such as coding, graphics design, web design, and more are better suited for laptops.
On the other hand, tablets are much better suited for personal use and light tasks that don’t require a lot of computing power. Tablets are lighter and easier to carry around than laptops. They’re a comparatively better option than smartphones due to bigger screens and longer battery life.
Tablet Pros and Cons
Despite being laptops’ weaker sibling, tablets have strengths and weaknesses, which might appeal to many users. Here are the key pros and cons of tablets.
Pros
- Has Touchscreen Capability for Ease of Use
The key feature that sets laptops and tablets apart is the touchscreen. Touchscreens make device navigation easier than the usual mouse-and-keyboard setup.
- Quick Start
Since tablets are lighter devices with bootup and cache speeds similar to smartphones, they turn on within seconds of powering up.
- GooglePlay and AppStore
Depending on the manufacturer and OS (Apple or Android), tablets come with default access to Google Play or Apple’s Appstore. These storefronts host thousands of free apps that desktop and laptop users don’t have access to.
- Better Cameras
Tablets are a hybrid of smartphones and laptops, which is why a standard tablet will have better camera lenses and resolutions than a standard laptop.
Cons
- Limited Processing Power
With the smaller size of tablets comes less processing power to run apps simultaneously. This can prevent you from doing more complex and power-intensive tasks on tablets.
- Difficult to Repair or Upgrade
Tablets can be a lot more difficult to repair and almost impossible to upgrade than laptops. Considering how finicky tablets can be repaired, this is quite a disadvantage.
Laptop Pros and Cons
Here are some of the common pros and cons of laptops that you should consider if torn between
Pros
- Ergonomic Keyboard
Laptops have built-in ergonomic keyboards, making it much easier and less stressful to type and use shortcuts. This gives it an obvious edge over tablets.
- More Powerful
Thanks to bigger and better hardware, laptops are more powerful and efficient, making them the ideal choice for more processor-intensive tasks.
- Larger Screens
The larger screen of laptops makes it much easier to read and view things on screen than on tablets. While this doesn’t apply to movies, documents and games can benefit from the larger font size of texts.
- More Connectivity Options
Laptops have more connectivity options than tablets and are often backward compatible with older internet models, such as 3G and 4G.
- Larger Storage
Laptops have comparatively higher storage space than tablets. This allows you to store more on their primary hard drives without investing in additional storage devices.
- Easier to Upgrade and Customize
Laptops, especially gaming laptops, are easier to upgrade and customize than tablets. Granted, desktops are the most flexible in this regard, while tablets are definitely the most restricted.
- Easier to Maintain and Repair
Laptops are easier to repair and maintain compared to laptops. The average MacBook repair price is quite easily affordable and can prop up your device for a few more years of use.
Cons
- Can be Bulky and Heavy
Compared to tablets, laptops are heavier and bulkier. This makes it difficult to carry them around compared to tablets.
- Battery Isn’t Always Great
Laptops have gained notoriety for poor battery life. Unfortunately, this issue hasn’t been addressed properly to this day.
Making the Right Choice
At the end of the day, deciding which device you want to buy will be greatly influenced by your needs and circumstances. Provided you already have a desktop, a tablet might be the smarter choice. But if you don’t have one, laptops are the better option.
Featured Image by fancycrave1 from Pixabay
