talbets vs laptops

            Tablets have become very popular in today’s world. Thanksgiving night I stood in line for 5 hours with a friend who was going to get a deal on a tablet. I just received an email that advertised that I could be entered to win a free ipad if I sign a lease on an apartment for next year. But what exactly are tablets? Are they more like a computer or they more like a smart phone? Will tablets one day take the place of my computer? Will colleges one day require a tablet instead of a computer?

            My experience with tablets is very limited. I do not have one, but I have observed people around me with them. When tablets first came out, I think that most people thought they were cool but did not see them taking the place of a computer. However, now that more and more people are getting tablets and there are more and more functions for tablets, they are slowly becoming more prevalent. Some medical schools are discussing requiring their students to have tablets. It is much easier to carry all of the books you need on a single device than in separate volumes. It would also make the cost of textbooks go down. You would have one very large up front purchase, but small fees after that for the ebook.

            Tablets also make since for people who travel a lot. Most tablets have a very short start up and shut down time compared to laptops. On my MacBook, it takes over a minute from when I press the on button to when it is ready to use, and it has gotten longer since I installed the new Lion operating system. Tablets startup much quicker than that. It is easy to have it on a plane or on a trip and turn it on to check a single email. The battery life of tablets is longer than laptops as well. This is another reason that they make more since for travel than laptops.

            I do not believe that laptops are a thing of the past though. I believe more and more people will use tablets for the functions they now use laptops for, and they will use laptops for the functions they now us desktops for. Laptops can still do many things that a tablet cannot. Tablets may overtake laptops in the future, but I do not see it happening any time soon.