Laptops vs. Netbooks vs. Tablets

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What do all current laptops, netbooks, and tablets have in common? They all want to take your money. With that being said, which is the right one to invest in? While the original portable computer was introduced by Xerox in 1981 , Netbooks and Tablets have only been around in the mainstream market for about four years. Netbooks picked up momentum about in late 2007 when the most desirable features were the smallest size, longest battery life, and little-to-no frills. Tablets have exploded in popularity on the market in the last year. You can’t go into a Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, or Borders (R.I.P Borders) without seeing someone tapping on something that resembles a large cell phone. So, where do you put your money? We must first break them down individually so you can choose the device that best fits your lifestyle.

Since the dawn of the laptop we have seen things as large as a briefcase (most were larger) and as small as Apple’s MacBook Air and Samsung’s soon to be released 9 series laptop. Nowadays laptops pack the same amount of punch as your daily desktop and sometimes more. If you are the type of person who conducts a lot of word processing, spreadsheet editing, or even gaming then a laptop will be the best option. With laptops now able to push 6+ hours of battery life while being barely an inch thick, it’s easy to justify carrying one around.

Even with the increased battery life in newer laptops you may still find yourself in a precarious position, scanning a room like a covert CIA operative for the closest available power socket and possibly some desk space to operate. Purchasing a laptop, like most things comes down to the ratio of price to value. Are you receiving the right size and capability for your dollar? Maybe you’ve sampled a hundred laptops and none of them fit. This is where your alternatives come into play.

Enter the Netbook. Netbooks became all the rage thanks to Asus with the introduction of their Eee PC. With a Netbook, your screen, keyboard and power consumption are all miniature. I honestly believe that part of the rage of netbooks boiled down to one simple item: colors. Netbooks seem to capitalize on tons of different colors, allowing you a greater possibility of being unique. You can finally get away from the generic black and silver that laptop manufacturers tend to stick to. Netbooks were mostly small on storage space and were usually a means to do simple web browsing in your living room due to insanely good battery life. Unfortunately for Netbook manufacturers, demand for them has dwindled severely. They served their purpose, but while people thought they were cute they soon realized that the 10 inch screen and cramped keyboard seemed to be a better fit for Mini-Me from Austin Powers. I personally purchased one for a girlfriend as an intended birthday present, only to return it three hours later for a full-fledged laptop. Thankfully, modern technology has been able to give us something else to fit our needs.

Tablets, tablets, tablets. These things are everywhere now. We can thank Apple’s iPad for allowing the tablet to become a mainstream product so quickly. There is such brand recognition with the iPad that new tablets manufactured by other companies are even being referred to as an iPad. Much like how people commonly say ‘Kleenex’ instead of ‘Tissue’. I am here to tell you that you do have many options with tablets. However, we must first establish the features that define a tablet. A tablet revolves around its touch-based screen, cloud storage, application ecosystem, and its battery life. Most people tend to exclude these things, while considering the device as merely a large phone. On a very basic level, they are right. However, as you pick it up and start playing with it you quickly realize that Tablets are the middle ground that has been needed between cellular phones and laptop/desktop computers. Most tablets are offered in 7-10 inch sizes. Personally I prefer the 10-inch variants as the 7-inch tablets just feel too small to me (such as the original Samsung Galaxy Tab).

One thing that Tablets are exceptional at working with is Cloud Storage. You may have heard that term thrown around for some time now, mostly by Google. The short version is that any work that you do or emails you send are stored up in a heavily-protected server. With your data hanging out in a safe place away from your home, you can survive a complete system failure. Then all it takes is a quick entry of your username and password for your data to be restored, as if you were using the magic of Houdini himself. This is also handy if you need to access the information from different computers.

The third part of the Tablet experience is the application ecosystem. The two main rivals right now are Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Apple has approximately 350,000 apps while Android has about 150,000 apps available. These apps are developed by people that we may know in our daily lives. They set out to creating useful apps to help us do things like find cheaper gas, manage a stock portfolio, or pay bills. The quality and quantity of apps for a device is important for gaining the best possible experience for your money. For example, Google has leveraged the advanced capabilities of the Motorola Xoom by creating Google Body. This slick helps you map out and identify every part of the human anatomy from the names of bones to the placement of organs. It’s almost like an instant X-ray in the palm of your hand. This is just the tip of the iceberg for the capability of these devices.

Tablets, in spite of their large screen size and impressive computing power, have been refined to the point that they have fantastic battery life. If properly managed, the battery life on a tablet can last through 10+ hours of heavy use, which is great for people that want to be able to get through a work day without having to worry about charging their devices constantly. The downsides to tablets are mainly the touchscreen and getting used to a new operating system. Typing full on documents and detailed emails or spreadsheets can get very annoying very quickly if you are not accustomed to the keyboard layouts on a perfectly flat touch-screen. Even then, this can be overcome this by hooking up a Bluetooth wireless keyboard.

As far as the learning curve of a new operating system, unless you are a daily iPhone user you may get confused at first and quickly realize this is not the same as the regular computer you look at every day. Just remember that the developers have built in a lot of functionality out of the box to get you going. And there is always help around the corner from the manufacturers and fellow users of your device.

So, which one do you choose? This is not to be taken as a copout but only you can choose. You have to examine your daily lifestyle and find out what works for you. If you are great at texting on a phone then you will have a leg up on typing with a tablet. If you prefer a more traditional route and have lots of documents or spreadsheets that you are constantly working on then a laptop is most likely the best fit. The only thing I will not recommend is a netbook as they are becoming almost as extinct as the panda population. I will say that tablets will eventually find their place inside everybody’s home while making wallets a few pounds lighter. I predict that eventually, the capability of tablets combined with their battery life will eventually outweigh the need for a laptop. We’re not quite there, but it will happen.