# Laptop or Tablet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 15, 2016, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-or-tablet/754824 "2016-05-15T09:11:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2016, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-or-tablet/754824/21 "2016-05-17T20:33:25Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > … > > A tablet is much better for content consumption … … > > Of course laptops are better for most content creation, esp. typing. … Thanks for putting into words my visualization of the main difference. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2016, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-or-tablet/754824/22 "2016-05-19T22:34:48Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > And some content consumption is much better on a laptop. Doing any kind of research is vastly better on a laptop as you can more easily switch between browser tabs and whatever applications you’re using to take notes. Watching videos is a bit of a toss-up, and tablets tend to have a battery live advantage, but then again laptops have a built-in “kickstand”. Fair enough. I guess it’s more correct to say tablets are better for _passive_ content consumption. IMO tablets are much better for video, mainly because there are more, better tablet apps for watching videos than PC software. On my Android tablet, I can download purchased videos from Amazon and Google Play for later off-line playback, which is great for long international airline flights. There are no such options on a Windows laptop. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-or-tablet/754824/23 "2016-05-20T16:51:31Z")
> [@China\_Guy](#): > > How much of a road warrior are you? I think the MSFT Surface pro 4 with the new keyboard is the bee’s knees. By far the best road warrior rig I’ve ever had. I use it 95% of the time as a notebook, and occasionally flip the keyboard back and use it as a tablet. I never detach the keyboard. When I used a tablet only, a huge drawback for me was that when I did want to use it as a backup laptop then I had to find a keyboard and mouse, and it was just easier to use a real notebook in that case. Another vote for the Surface Pro 4. Initially there was a sleep bug (It wouldn’t go to sleep right, or wouldn’t get out of sleep easily), but that has been fixed and I believe it was an issue with the Intel chip. So if you see concerns online about that, that’s the skinny on it. I detach the keyboard every once in while. It’s great for reading comics (from Comixology on the web, not a separate app). It can be good for taking notes with the Surface Pen when the “laptop” mode may seem too ‘closing off of space’ (I’m not sure I articulated it that great). It’s also nice to be able to detach the laptop if you are just watching Netflix or Youtube and don’t need the keys. As a laptop its pretty great as well. The Surface Type Keyboard is absolutely fantastic to type on its touchpad is very responsive. And the innards are just as powerful as anything else out there. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-or-tablet/754824/24 "2016-05-20T16:58:27Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > IMO tablets are much better for video, mainly because there are more, better tablet apps for watching videos than PC software. On my Android tablet, I can download purchased videos from Amazon and Google Play for later off-line playback, which is great for long international airline flights. There are no such options on a Windows laptop. Google just announced that later this fall Chrome OS (the operating systems on its Chromebooks) would be able to get Google Play and Android apps. I wonder if this will cause Chromebooks to be considered more useful for content consumption than Windows or Apple laptops. ---
**Author:** ![quimper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7c8e57/32.png) [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2016, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-or-tablet/754824/25 "2016-05-20T20:41:59Z")
If your day-to-day laptop needs are browsing, writing emails and (light) data entry tasks you may want to consider a Chromebook. The price point can’t be beat, security issues are (largely) nonexistant, and your data is synced across all devices (as well as backed up instantly). If things go south, you can powerwash it with barely a second thought and restore it the way it was before. Caveats are that printer support is horrible (but getting better) and things like multimedia editing are out of reach. You’re also trusting your data to Big G, which is a legitimate concern for some. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-or-tablet/754824.md?page=1)