Laptop or Tablet, which to buy?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

PeteXXX

Cake or ice cream? The choice is endless ...
Photo Winner
Location
Hamtun
I'm thinking of getting either a new laptop or a tablet instead of my old Desktop PC that is needing both upgrading and a new monitor.. I don't really need a PC as the main use is email, viewing STRAVA, writing a few letters, phaffing around on some forums & general searches for stuff.
I have a wireless printer so that's not a problem with either, and use 'Cloud' for storing pics and vids until I back them up to disc or USB stick, so capacity isn't much of an issue either.
I've looked at a Toshiba 10.1" tablet and a few Toshiba & Asus laptops at around £300 to £350 which is about what I want to pay.
The choice seems to be going Android or Windows 8. (I'm on Android mobile and Windows 7 PC at the moment)

Any suggestions which is easier to use as I've not had much to do with either so far.
 

Spinney

Bimbleur extraordinaire
Location
Back up north
If you want to type much, I'd go for a laptop as it has a proper keyboard.

But as I don't have a tablet myself, you may wish to ignore this advice....
 

martint235

Dog on a bike
Location
Welling
I'm thinking of getting either a new laptop or a tablet instead of my old Desktop PC that is needing both upgrading and a new monitor.. I don't really need a PC as the main use is email, viewing STRAVA, writing a few letters, phaffing around on some forums & general searches for stuff.
I have a wireless printer so that's not a problem with either, and use 'Cloud' for storing pics and vids until I back them up to disc or USB stick, so capacity isn't much of an issue either.
I've looked at a Toshiba 10.1" tablet and a few Toshiba & Asus laptops at around £300 to £350 which is about what I want to pay.
The choice seems to be going Android or Windows 8. (I'm on Android mobile and Windows 7 PC at the moment)

Any suggestions which is easier to use as I've not had much to do with either so far.
Depends how many "writing a few letters" is. I sometimes use my Nexus tablet in meetings for taking very brief notes that I can follow up later but I think that typing anything of any length would require a physical keyboard. I know you can get these for tablets but that kind of does away with the advantage of a tablet over a laptop.

Basically I have a fairly large phone for searches, quick emails, some forum stuff (don't mention tapatalk), a Nexus 7 tablet for more involved stuff and then it's all re-inforced by a powerful PC in my upstairs office if I need to do anything involved. I have found for example that whilst viewing spreadsheets on a tablet is ok, any kind of editing can become a bind.
 
OP
OP
PeteXXX

PeteXXX

Cake or ice cream? The choice is endless ...
Photo Winner
Location
Hamtun
We did a thread about this subject recently which i am sure will turn up if you search for "tablet".

PS There were a lot of results for that search! This thread. :thumbsup:
Cheers, I found the Tablet/Mini tablet thread but not this one.. I'll check it out.

As to previous replies, cheers, yes, a proper keyboard might get on my nerves if I didn't have one.
 

ScotiaLass

Guru
Location
Middle Earth
Windows 8 is horrible!!
I was gifted a brand new laptop with Windows 8 and within 24 hours I had given up on it, sold it on and bought myself a Macbook.
I also have an iPad....I use it for playing games, surfing, emails...the lack of a proper keyboard wasn't an issue for me but I can understand how it may be for some.
 

bikepete

Guru
Location
York, UK
Gromit got a laptop with Windows 8 recently. Astonishing that it got released in that form - it's breathtakingly non intuitive. We ended up googling to find out how to do basic things like close an application or switch the computer off. Bonkers. Getting the hang of it now, though, and maybe the update to 8.1 will improve it a bit.
 

snapper_37

Barbara Woodhouse's Love Child
Location
Wolves
My mom's got windaz 8 and it's already driving her mad. Something do to with IE 'unpinning' itself from the desktop following an update. No one seems to have a clue how to sort it out apart from restoring back to a past date.

Old fashioned me is still using XP and will continue to do so for as long as possible. Only use the home PC for out of hours work (which is very, very rare).

Tablet all the way for me, I've got a nexus and samsung BUT I agree with @Spinney in regards to if you want to do a lot of typing. I prefer an old fashioned key board for that.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
The problem with Windows 8 is that people are expecting the interface to be the same as 7, Vista, and XP and try use it as such. It's not. It is like learning a new operating system. Don't think 7,Vista & XP, Think different, think new. A bit of a learning curve but you will soon find it a doddle to use.

The 8.1 update now allows you to toggle between the Windows 8 interface or the older Windows 7 style interface.
 
Desktop = Screen at eye level, nice mouse, nice keyboard to touch type on.
Laptop= Screen down by hands (neck ache) Odd mouse substitute, flat keyboard that has less feel.
Tablet = Screen flat on table or propped up, OK so you get a touch screen instead of mouse, screen OR flat keyboard.

For anything other than a quick job on a computer I would stick with the desktop. Really don't get on with the other options as they seem to compromise too much.
 

fossyant

Ride It Like You Stole It!
Location
South Manchester
Tablets are fantastic for internet, but if you need to do letters or spreadsheets then you do need a real laptop.

We rarely use our desktop now, even less since I put movies onto a networked hard drive. It is, however the main store for photos and videos, which are backed up onto the networked drive.

We all tend to use phones and tablets for general browsing, then laptops for school work.
 

welsh dragon

Thanks but no thanks. I think I'll pass.
I have a sony vaio laptop that I rarely use now. For me its my samsung galaxy tab all the time. I l ove it.
 

nickyboy

Norven Mankey
It all boils down to how much you actually need to "write". I work from home and as such have a fair bit of email traffic. I also need to write word and excel documents. So for me a laptop suits me. Portability but also much faster writing.
If I was only using it for an odd email here and there and other than that for surfing, watching movies, listening to music etc I would have bought a tablet
Odds and ends surfing, messanger stuff (like whatsapp) and social media I tend to use the mobile phone
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Desktop = Screen at eye level, nice mouse, nice keyboard to touch type on.
Laptop= Screen down by hands (neck ache) Odd mouse substitute, flat keyboard that has less feel.
Tablet = Screen flat on table or propped up, OK so you get a touch screen instead of mouse, screen OR flat keyboard.
My laptop is more powerful than my old desktop PC. I can plug the screen, keyboard and mouse from the desktop into the laptop, and set it up to use the laptop screen as an auxiliary screen to extend the desktop. There isn't a great deal of point in having a desktop PC any more, unless you need a very powerful machine!

I have a Bluetooth keyboard to use with my Tablet when I want to type more than I am happy doing on the touch screen.
 
Top Bottom