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Thinking about buying a tablet or laptop but can’t decide between the two? When you are investing good money into buying a new device, you want to make sure it’s the right decision. Ultimately you can’t go wrong with either a tablet or a laptop, but there are times when one works better than the other.

Tablets sit somewhere in between a smartphone and a laptop. They are best used for things like browsing the web, watching videos and checking email, while laptops are designed to do so much more.

To help you decide, think about what you want to use your new device for. Do you see yourself doing a lot of typing, writing emails, or spreadsheet work? Or just generally browsing the internet? Do you want the device to use only at home, or do you plan to carry it around with you when you travel?

Laptop vs. Tablet: Which is Right for You?

Are you shopping for a new tablet or laptop but can’t decide which device to choose? That’s no surprise.

Today’s ultra-portable, ultra-functional tablet PCs can function nearly as full-fledged laptops – making the decision more difficult than it used to be. However, if you analyze how you prefer to perform your personal computing tasks and consider the relative advantages of each device we present here, an answer will emerge.

Is a laptop or tablet better?

Tablets and laptops have various advantages and disadvantages, depending on how you intend to use your new system. For example, some users find a tablet’s touch screen interface ideal for casual web surfing, while others prefer a laptop’s regular keyboard to a tablet’s on-screen, virtual one. There’s really no “correct” answer. The pros and cons depend on your personal preferences.

This article only compares laptops to the traditional “slate” tablet form factor (thin, one-sided, without a keyboard). Manufacturers also make combination tablet-laptop models called “2 in 1s.” Therefore, in the analysis below, if a laptop gains the advantage due to its keyboard, faster processor, or something similar, then a 2 in 1 that can be used in laptop or tablet mode might be your best option.

Input Method: You Can Do More With Laptops

Tablets rely solely on a touchscreen interface for input, which can present challenges when you need to input text. Since tablets have no keyboard, you must type on virtual keyboards that have varying layouts and designs. 2-in-1 tablets come with a detachable keyboard, but these models still fall short of the laptop experience because of their smaller size and more restrictive designs.

If you add an external Bluetooth keyboard, you’ll add costs and peripherals that must be carried with the tablet, making it less portable. Laptops are better for people who type a lot.

Size: Tablets Are More Portable

Most tablets weigh under two pounds. Even the smallest laptops, like the Apple MacBook Air 11, weighs more and has a profile larger than most tablets. The main reason for the larger profile is that the keyboard and trackpad take up additional space. Laptops that include more powerful components require additional cooling, which adds to the size. Because of their smaller size and weight, a tablet is much easier to carry around than a laptop, especially for travel.

Battery Life: Tablets Last Longer

Because of the low power requirements of their hardware components, tablets are designed for efficiency. In fact, most of a tablet’s interior is taken up by the battery. Laptops, on the other hand, use more powerful hardware. The battery within a laptop takes up a far smaller percentage of the space needed for its internal components.

Thus, even with the higher capacity battery offered by laptops, they don’t run as long as tablets. Many tablets can support up to ten hours of web usage before requiring a charge. In comparison, the average laptop only runs for about four to eight hours.

Storage Capacity: Laptops Have More Space

In order to keep the size and costs of tablets down, manufacturers rely on solid-state storage memory to store programs and data. This technology has one major disadvantage: the amount of data it can store. Most tablets allow between 16 and 128 gigabytes of storage. By comparison, most laptops still use conventional hard drives that hold much more.

The average budget laptop comes with a 500 GB hard drive, although some laptops have moved to solid-state drives as well. Both laptops and tablets include features like USB ports or microSD cards that make it possible to add external storage.

How much do they cost?

With all of these factors in mind, there is still one key point left to consider: Price. As both platforms cover a wide variety of models, this can be an arduous task. We recommend deciding on a budget before you start looking, then see what fits. Otherwise you could find yourself spending far more than you’d originally intended.

Laptop prices

Laptops tend to fall into three main categories. There’s the budget band, which usually incorporates devices up to around £500/US$500. These tend to be made from plastic, have older and less powerful processors, lower quality displays, and slower hard drives or SSDs.

These limitations don’t mean the devices can’t be useful, as they can handle many of the tasks mentioned above such as social media, email, online shopping, streaming video, and office-style duties.

As you can see from our Best Budget Laptop guide, there are plenty of options in this range, with the ones closer to the top-end coming with some decent specifications.

Another great option in this category would be a Chromebook. These devices run ChromeOS rather than Windows and are designed to work primarily online. They’re an excellent choice for children who need a device on which to do homework, older relatives that want a simple machine to use, or as a secondary, inexpensive device for the home.

Tablet prices

In the realm of tablets one name rules supreme. Yes, there are some very good Android powered devices, such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab S4 and the budget range Amazon Fire 8 HD, but it’s hard to recommend anything other than iPads.

At the moment there are a whole range of Apple’s tablets to choose from, starting with the iPad 9.7in (from £319 for 32GB) and going up to the 512GB 12.9in iPad Pro that costs a whopping £1,119/US$1,119.

If you want a simple tablet that can be used for the tasks we outlined at the beginning of this article, then you can’t get any better value for money than the aforementioned iPad 9.7in, especially if you go for the 128GB version that costs £409/$409.

For a bit more cash you can increase the size of the display and add a better processor, with the iPad Pro 10.5in that starts at £619 for 64GB or wait for the new iPads that are expected to be released in the coming days.

So, which one should you choose?

As we said at the outset, be sure to work out what you want to achieve with the device first, then find one that meets those needs. Tablets have come a long way in a short time, so much so, that everyday tasks and even some advanced ones are now easily within their remit.

Adding an external keyboard ups the ante, turning a humble iPad into a fully-fledged writing machine, while a stylus can further increase a tablet’s abilities.

Laptops remain the swiss army knife of computing. Powerful enough to get some serious work done, but also just as happy playing games or simply sitting back on enjoying Netflix on HD quality displays. Most are light enough to carry around with you all day, especially if you plump for the premium-grade models.

Take your time, think it through, and we’re sure you’ll find one that’s perfect for your situation, and hopefully at a price that’s agreeable.

Top 5 Laptop Brands in the world

Laptop’s are necessity in Today’s times, and on the bright side, they’re never in short supply, and there’s one for everyone with their own budget. On the downside, there are so many that choosing the best one for your needs can get overwhelming. So, to bring the light on brands that cater to our consumer needs, Here’s a list of the Top Brands for 2021.

1. Apple

Apple is definitely one of the luxury brands when it comes to Laptops, Smartphones, Computers and Tablets.

It tops the segments like customer support, build quality, user friendly, design, power and display. Their laptops are extremely attractive with a backlit logo on the back making it one of the best things to show off. When it comes to OS, it totally errors free unlike Windows and incredibly easy to use. Simultaneously, If there’s one thing that nearly everyone agrees on, it’s that laptops are very reliable and predictable.

It has an annual revenue of around $230 billion with a net income of almost $50 billion and has more than 120,000 employees working for one of the best laptop manufacturing companies.

Apple offers the best customer support to MacBook users. Besides physical stores, the company offers 24×7 Support over calls, free for a period of 90 days. Moreover, live chat support is also available. Online tech support is also available.

2. HP

HP also known as Hewlett-Packard is one of the oldest electronics brands that is not as popular as it used to be. When it comes to desktops, they still provide the most reliable machines and are widely used by gamers and professionals.

This leading laptop manufacturing companies make one of the best laptops for students and have annual revenue of around $53 billion.

HP may not have always had the best laptop reputation, but the latest HP laptops have taken some design cues from their contemporaries and have really raised the bar. The current crop of notebooks are fast, powerful, and easier for consumers to adopt for their personal projects.

When it comes to laptop range, HP has convertibles, fanless laptops, gaming devices, detachable 2-in-1s, basic notebooks, and high-end workstations, etc. Their machines excel in performance. Moreover, their high-end series like Spectre, Omen, and ZBook, packs in some of the best features and offers best value for money.

3. Lenovo

Established in 1984, Lenovo is a Beijing based global conglomerate, associated with computer manufacturing. It has a global computer market share of 25.1 percent, closely followed by HP and Dell.

Lenovo has an annual revenue of almost $45 billion and have more than 60,000 employees across the globe.

Lenovo is one of the most premium laptop brands and their prices are slightly higher compared to other manufacturers. However, their laptops are ideal for all kinds of tasks and can be used by anyone including professional gamers, businessmen and college students.

They are mostly known for their business class laptops that offer not only power but also super flexible design. The Yoga and Flex series include some of the best portable laptops of 2020. The Chinese brand has recently started manufacturing smartphones and they are known for their long lasting batteries.

4. Dell

If you’re looking for the best Windows laptop then you will certainly have to go with the Dell. Their technical and after sales support is really worth praising and is appreciated by users worldwide.

Majority of Dell laptops are budget-friendly and most of their design and hardware is very straight forward and powerful. However, not everyone likes a simple design and that’s the only reason some users avoid Dell.

There are number of reasons for why Dell is the best Windows laptop brand like their support, professional design, fair prices and durability. If you want to stick to one brand for all time then you can easily go with their three series’ like Inspiron, XPS and Alienware.

5. Acer

Acer is a Taiwanese computer-manufacturer with a global clientele. The Acer laptops are usually best value for the money and most of the time with you get what you pay for.

Established in 1976, the company has a decent 5.7 percent global market share, when it comes to laptop sales. Without a doubt; the company offers a device for every price range. Moreover, all Acer laptops offer decent battery life. The performance of the Acer Laptops is commendable despite the affordability.

The Chinese laptop brand is known as one of the largest manufacturers in the world and their machines are extremely popular among budget users. Acer is accused of flooding the laptop market with their extremely low-budget laptops as well as Chromebook that are available from just $150.

Besides the widest-possible range of gadgets, Acer also offers a decent customer support system to the customers. These include interactions via live chat, telephonic calls, email, and social media platforms. Acer also offers community or forum support to the user besides offering a well-connected network of physical service stations.

Apple or Windows or Android?

Once you’ve decided whether you want a laptop or a tablet, you’ll have to choose which system you want, and by that we mean whether you want Apple, Windows, Android or Chromebook.

If you are stuck, you can use your current smartphone as a guide. For example, if you already have an iPhone, you may find it easier to use a Macbook laptop or Apple iPad as Apple products tend to work better together, and they share the same apps. However it’s not entirely necessary, your devices will still work if you don’t buy the same system.

It’s always a good idea to speak to family and friends to hear what their experience is with their own device, and even if you’re planning to buy your device online, visit a store to see the different types of model on offer so you can get a feel for weight and other features.

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