# Laptop vs tablet **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 26, 2012, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173 "2012-11-26T17:33:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lantern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d26b3c/32.png) [@Lantern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/21 "2012-11-28T07:05:21Z")
I also would recommend checking out the Windows 8 convertible tablets that are coming out. Lots of interesting form factors and ideas. The Lenovo Yoga is one. Samsung’s Ativ Smart PC which is like the Asus Transformer with Windows 8 is another . ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/22 "2012-11-28T07:07:18Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > But one sometimes gets the impression, from all the hype, that a tablet gives you the ability to do a bunch of things you never used to be able to do before, which (correct me if I’m wrong) doesn’t seem to be true. The tablet is usable in situations where a laptop isn’t - e.g. when you don’t have a desk or table to set a laptop on. Reading an e-book while standing in a subway or leaning back on a recliner is something you couldn’t do before with a laptop. Not very comfortably, anyway. Another thing you couldn’t do easily with a laptop is to hold it in portrait orientation and display a full page of a document, magazine or comic book. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/23 "2012-11-28T14:04:33Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > The tablet is usable in situations where a laptop isn’t - e.g. when you don’t have a desk or table to set a laptop on. Reading an e-book while standing in a subway or leaning back on a recliner is something you couldn’t do before with a laptop. Not very comfortably, anyway. That’s what I meant about the main advantage of a tablet being its holdability and portability. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/24 "2012-11-28T17:07:11Z")
You aren’t going to use a tablet to edit your photos in Photoshop, edit video footage in Final Cut Pro or iMovie or Premiere, develop a database in FileMaker Pro, render a 3D model with textures after setting up your light sources, edit audio recordings in a wave editor, and you probably aren’t going to emulate any other environments that CAN do those things, although that could change. (As far as I know, there’s no way to run MacOS Mountain Lion or Windows 7 or Fedora in a virtual machine in a window). I’m not even sure if you can print a boarding pass on your hotel’s inkjet printer. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/25 "2012-11-28T17:27:57Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > That’s what I meant about the main advantage of a tablet being its holdability and portability. And I was trying to point out that the " holdability and portability" enables you to do things you couldn’t do before with a laptop. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/26 "2012-11-28T17:31:47Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > (As far as I know, there’s no way to run MacOS Mountain Lion or Windows 7 or Fedora in a virtual machine in a window). You can run an application like Splashtop and remotely control your home desktop from your tablet and access things that way but this supposes that you have a desktop at home (that no one will be using when you need it) and it’s obviously less nimble than mouse + keyboard. I mainly ever used it for accessing video media off my desktop without needing to “physically” move it all onto my tablet. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/27 "2012-11-28T17:55:24Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > And I was trying to point out that the " holdability and portability" enables you to do things you couldn’t do before with a laptop. The way I interpret it, the tablet doesn’t allow you to do _what_ you couldn’t do otherwise; it allows you to do things _where_ you couldn’t otherwise do them. My point was that I couldn’t think of anything you could only do with a tablet or its touchscreen _that wasn’t a direct corollary of being able to hold it and carry it around with you easily_. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/28 "2012-11-28T17:57:28Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I don’t agree with this. I’m not a road warrior, taking only maybe five trips a year. But I’d be dead if I couldn’t carry my environment with me when I do go, and sometimes I need my laptop at work. With my laptop I can ssh into my work environment and edit code from my hotel room. > People who are pretty much always at home or have no need of a computer for work or external activities are good candidates for a desktop. My 96 year old father-in-law has no need for a laptop. But for me it is vital. > > My laptop is heavy - but this is because I like a big screen. I’ll probably go smaller my next upgrade. You are someone for whom a laptop makes sense. So is Littlebro, who inherited one of mine and takes it on his trips so he can offload and edit pictures if he feels like it, and who has often done so (it’s pretty neat actually, getting his “look at my pretty pics” email before he gets back). Middlebro, on the other hand, didn’t get murdered this past weekend because I suspect I wouldn’t be allowed to play MMORPGs or bore you guys from prison. He bought a laptop (because “it has to be portable”) to replace his previous one which had not left the desk in seven years, and what he bought… I offered to give him my current one but he refused it because “you can never trust any second-hand things” (excuse moi, it’s not me who has frequent virus problems because of a brother-in-law’s surfing habits). That would have been my current road warrior gamer’s laptop, which cost less than the one he bought, has a more powerful CPU, four times the RAM, a real graphics card and a HD bigger than a fingernail :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/29 "2012-11-28T21:50:45Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > A touch screen interface is more portable and holdable than a mouse-and-cursor interface, but aside from that, I’m having trouble seeing any advantage to it, and I think part of its popularity is due to the novelty and gee-whiz factor of being able to touch the screen directly and have it do stuff. In fact, I’m having a hard time thinking of any advatage of a tablet over a laptop beyond its holdability and portability, which admittedly is a big plus for some people in some situations. But one sometimes gets the impression, from all the hype, that a tablet gives you the ability to do a bunch of things you never used to be able to do before, which (correct me if I’m wrong) doesn’t seem to be true. Aside from that? From my perspective that’s what it’s all about. Jophiel does bring up a good point about the price. But I have a convertible laptop that I take out with me when I would have never considered it with my old laptop. I flip the keyboard back and use it as a tablet for consuming media; when I need to actually write a lengthy response to something (SDMB, Email?) then I flip the keyboard out and type away. As far as I’m concerned it’s not novelty, it’s a better way of doing things. I can’t wait to get touch screen monitors at work. Usually a mouse is fine, but sometimes it’d be nice to touch the screen to interact with it. I’d be curious to know who else thinks that touchscreens are hyped as giving “you the ability to do a bunch of things you never used to be able to do before” because I never thought that. It’s just all about making it easier any any situation. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2012, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/30 "2012-11-28T22:01:23Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > I can’t wait to get touch screen monitors at work. Usually a mouse is fine, but sometimes it’d be nice to touch the screen to interact with it. Like when? ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/31 "2012-11-29T00:51:45Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > The way I interpret it, the tablet doesn’t allow you to do _what_ you couldn’t do otherwise; it allows you to do things _where_ you couldn’t otherwise do them. By that definition, a laptop doesn’t allow you to do anything you can’t do on a desktop or a mainframe. I would point out another new thing you can only do on a tablet (or smartphone): run apps. You may not consider that a new thing either, but tablet/phone apps are very different from PC software. They are typically optimized for ease of use and smooth operation. They are also designed for use on a mobile device with GPS, camera, etc. The Google Maps app on Android shows current location, allows you to search for businesses within a certain distance of your current position, and even does turn-by-turn navigation. I don’t know of an equivalent software for a Windows laptop. Win-8 is the best of both worlds, it runs both apps and Windows software. Though currently the selection of apps is somewhat limited. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/32 "2012-11-29T02:59:37Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > By that definition, a laptop doesn’t allow you to do anything you can’t do on a desktop Oh, I agree totally there. I consider a laptop and a desktop to be the same kind/species of machine; the laptop is just the portable version of that machine. But they do exactly the same things; you use them exactly the same way (at least, I do) while you’re actually _using_ them. There is, on the other hand, a noticeable difference between using a tablet and using a laptop (or desktop), though that difference may be shrinking with Windows 8 or whatever comes next. > [@](#): > > I would point out another new thing you can only do on a tablet (or smartphone): run apps. You may not consider that a new thing either, but tablet/phone apps are very different from PC software. They are typically optimized for ease of use and smooth operation. They are also designed for use on a mobile device with GPS, camera, etc. The Google Maps app on Android shows current location, allows you to search for businesses within a certain distance of your current position, and even does turn-by-turn navigation. I don’t know of an equivalent software for a Windows laptop. When I first read the OP’s original question (“I need to know what a tablet can do that a laptop cannot and vice versa”), I wondered whether it was worth mentioning that they have different operating systems or that tablets run apps while laptops run Windows (or Mac, or whatever) software. I wasn’t sure, and still am not, whether there’s a fundamental difference between an **app** and a **program** , or whether it’s just a variation in terminology. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2012, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173/33 "2012-11-29T11:26:35Z")
On Macs, the term “application” has always been used instead of “program”. (Word is an application. Photoshop is an application. etc) The ubiquity of “apps” as the terminology du jour on tablets is due to Apple. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/laptop-vs-tablet/642173.md?page=1)