Tablet or Laptop? What’s Best for You?

Tablets are small, light, intuitive to use, but rather underpowered, and laptops are heavy, but fast and practical? It’s no longer that simple. Tablets have caught up in terms of processing power and multitasking capability, and laptops have become thinner and lighter. The mobile operating systems of most tablets now also cover most everyday applications that Windows and macOS also fulfill. For some, the legitimate question arises as to what is better: a tablet or a laptop?

To be clear from the get-go: If you depend on using specific software or want to do extremely CPU-intensive tasks, you are still better off with a laptop. The vast majority of programs are only available for Windows, Linux or macOS in their full scope, and if you depend on one or more special programs or features, you won’t be able to do without a laptop.

If you do most of your tasks in a browser anyway and are already well served by mobile versions of your apps, a tablet can offer you a more intuitive and efficient experience, including Microsoft Office and other programs. Both Android and iOS offer good multitasking options on tablets, and certain applications are even easier and more intuitive on a touchscreen, such as graphics and design applications or signing and highlighting documents.

Do you tend to sit at a table or on the couch when you work? Do you type a lot or are you more of a reader? Do you use your computer mostly at home or on the go? The demands on your device depend entirely on how you use it.

If you sit at a table when you work, a tablet with a keyboard folio or a Bluetooth keyboard can be a good solution for longer typing sessions. But if you prefer to lean back in an armchair or on the sofa when typing, you will find the fixed keyboard of a laptop more comfortable. If you generally do a lot of typing, you are likely to have a better experience with a laptop, since most laptop keyboards are the standard size and therefore allow for more comfortable typing.

If, on the other hand, you primarily read documents or e-mails, you will love the lightness of tablets. Unlike larger laptops, tablets allow you to read comfortably with one hand, whether you are sitting at a table, on the sofa or even in bed.

In this day and age of web-based applications, it is more important than ever to be able to go online anytime, anywhere. Both tablets and laptops offer options for mobile internet, but the implementation differs. Many tablets have a SIM card slot that allows you to connect directly to a mobile network. This is particularly convenient for people on the go, as it eliminates the need for a separate hotspot.

A mobile internet connection is the exception rather than the rule for laptops. You can set up a mobile hotspot using a smartphone or use a USB dongle, but an integrated solution like on a tablet is less common.

We have collected our favorite mobile laptops for you in this article.

So if you are on the move a lot and need a reliable internet connection, you should consider the options for mobile internet when choosing between a tablet and a laptop. A tablet with a SIM card slot often offers the more practical solution in this case.

In this article, you can find out when 5G makes sense for tablets and when the WiFi version is sufficient.

When choosing a mobile data plan, you should make sure that you do not enter into a long-term contract and that you can also pause the plan if you do not use it for a longer period of time.

You can find corresponding data tariffs from Digital Republic here.