Why A Tablet Can't Replace Your Laptop

I've used every possible size of tablet, from a 6-inch-plus smartphone big enough to be one, to something table-sized from Lenovo. I've used them with keyboards attached and without. I've taken them out with me and used them curled up in bed. But no... they don't replace a laptop. At least not for long.

Typing on Glass
First of all, there's the method of input. Typing on glass, is a certified pain. For those who know how to type using the correct designated fingers for each key, it's worse because one is not used to looking down. You need to touch keys and get tactile feedback so your brain recognises the key-press and its position.

Even though there are all sorts of workarounds such as predictive text, the trace method used in software keyboards like Swype, and even an attempt to recognise key presses when they're approximately in the right place such as with Flexy, it's slower and more awkward. Heck, even inputting by voice isn't particularly quick as the recognition lags the speaker's words.

So, for serious work, it's back to a proper keyboard that you can touch and feel and even hear.

The Keyboard Cover
There are full-fledged keyboards you can attach to a tablet. But then you bump into a new problem -- the software isn't the same as on a laptop. Unless you use something simple and stripped down of features, or unless you pay a lot for apps that are still not quite the laptop or desktop equivalent.

If you're traveling or doing the lightest possible work and don't need any complex software, then you could make do very well with a tablet and a keyboard attachment. For instance, if I go out on a holiday, I tend to take either a big phone or a tablet along with a small keyboard. That ensures I can write an occasional article and tackle mail, messages and social media.

Applications vs Apps
If I were at all fond of Excel sheets and making PowerPoint presentations, I could manage those too, because Microsoft's Office suite and alternatives are on the app stores. So is Apple's suite. But the going is still slower and every feature you'd find on a desktop version isn't available on a tablet version.

Often, you have to switch from an application you're used to and settle for something else as you move from laptop to tablet. Most of the major platforms are trying to make sure you have seamless continuity between devices such as from phone to tablet or laptop to tablet or any combination of these, but it isn't yet as easy with everything. If you want to work with something like PhotoShop for example, the tablet will just not have the full desktop version. There are many business applications that won't work the same way, if at all, on tablets.

Pens and Pencils
While tablets take away the mouse and trackpad you may be used to, they do give you an additional advantage -- some of them. If they happen to include handwriting recognition and a stylus, you have a new set of possibilities such as marking up reports or creating a sketch or making a flow plan. This is where it's the tablet that rules and the laptop is a big fail even if it has a touchscreen because you can't possibly keep your arm extended at the screen for very long.

For an artist, a large roomy tablet with a surface that accepts stylus input, is a dream. Designers and others who have to create by drawing and marking precisely will feel the same. The iPad Pro and Samsung's tablet with S-Pen, for example, would give the freedom to design and create untethered, without having to physically be rooted to a desktop or laptop. But even though apps have become very sophisticated with handling complex stuff like 3D very quickly, the more complete and powerful versions of most software applications are to be found for computers.

Double Duty
Hybrid and convertible devices are in a different category. If they have the processing power built in and allow a separation of the screen and keyboard, and run Windows, you could certainly get some work done. Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 is thought to be pretty much the ultimate ideal combination for this scenario.

You won't get all the enjoyable apps you have on Apple's App Store or customise the way you can on Android, but most people would give an eye and a tooth for the Surface Pro 4 and its beautiful cover-keyboard and pen because you can be productive with it as with a laptop and to some extent use it like a tablet.

The iPad Pro comes into this difficult equation with its 12.9-incher. Now, you have a wonderful keyboard which docks into the tablet, you have a honey-smooth pencil that works with no lag, and you have the screen real estate. But you still don't have the heavyweight software. On top of that, you're left with a tablet that's too big to curl up with to say, read a book or browse the net. It's too heavy to hold for very long. Samsung and Lenovo also have tablets that are too big to be tablets in the true portable sense but give you a canvas to work differently from a laptop. They blur the lines between laptops and tablets.

So there you have it. It depends on the work you need to do and the fun you need to have. But if you need a lot of both, you may need separate devices because a tablet replaces a laptop only with great difficultly and a laptop-screen-tablet replaces a tablet with some compromises as well.