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Tablet Vs. Laptop: Why Tablets Are Winning?

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tablet vs laptop
Critics continue to dismiss the iPad as a "toy," and the tablet market as a "fad." But the iPad is demolishing PC sales, especially sales of laptops and netbooks. Indeed, Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore believes as many as 30% of iPad owners are using their iPads to replace their PCs, not to supplement them.

So why is this happening ... and what does it mean for your next PC purchase?

1. Many People Don't Need A "Computer"

That is, if you define a "computer" as a box that sits on your desk and has a keyboard and monitor. (And yes, laptops like mine are meant to be used at a desk, unless you like neck strain and bad ergonomics.) We call these things "personal computers," but the reality is that many people use them for anything besides web browsing. And judging by my mother's reaction to Firefox, even web browsing is about ten times more complicated than it needs to be for her.

Is she an idiot? Heck no, and neither are the other people who never learn how to use a "computer." They're smart people, who don't have the time or the obsessive interest needed to figure out how to install Ubuntu or defrag a hard drive. It's a failure of the tech industry that people like her are disenfranchised, in today's Internet age, just because they're not people like me.

But, guess what? She wants an iPad, if only so she can play with the spinning globe in the Good Morning, America app. I don't blame her.

2. "Apps" Are Better Than "Software"

What is "software," anyway? Is it something you install on your "computer?" Then how is it different from desktop wallpapers and web browser plugins?

"Apps" are different. Everyone knows that an app is a magic button you press on your smartphone or tablet's screen, and then neat stuff happens that betters your life. (Or wastes time, in the case of Farm Frenzy, but everyone needs a good time-waster.) In a nutshell, Apple's made the concept of "software" useful and comprehensible, and people are buying it up like candy.

"Software" like the GIMP and like LibreOffice will be with us for ages. There are people who need good software, to run on their personal computers where they Get Things Done with keyboards and big screens.
 But a lot of people are finding out that they Get Things Done just fine with their tablets, because "there's an app for that."

3. Tablets Are just Lain Better Than Computers

Don't believe me? I didn't either, at first. Then after I got my Android smartphone, I found that I was using its tiny screen for web browsing more and more often, especially while taking walks. Checking my bank balance on my Android phone is as easy as swiping to the next home screen, and transferring money by Paypal is a lot less of a hassle with the app than it is with the website. I don't know if it takes less time or not, but it feels faster.

Web browsing's a joy with a large, glassy touchscreen. Even video games feel more personal. That's because there's a lot of cognitive overhead that goes into using a computer, that those of us who teethed on joysticks don't even notice. Until all of a sudden it's gone, and you realize it was there by the absence of it.

The Upshot

Are tablets going to replace laptops and netbooks completely? No, not any more than those replaced desktop PCs, or desktop PCs replaced mainframes.

But there are a lot of people who are using a laptop computer right now, who would do better if they had a tablet instead. And there are a lot of things that we're doing on our computers, that we'd have more fun and less frustration doing on a tablet like the iPad. Until they existed, we didn't know that. But we do now, and there's no excuse for decrying their existence when people like my mom need them.
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