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bluebird34 | 14:48 Tue 30th Jul 2013 | Computers
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What are the main differences between a laptop and a tablet please'
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The biggest difference between a tablet and a laptop is portability. A tablet can be slipped into a bag (or if you have a smaller 7" screen tablet, a jacket pocket - just) without you being weighed down.

Laptop computers however typically come with far more storage than a tablet. You can pick up a cheap laptop (or notebook) computer with 500Gb of storage, whereas the average tablet has between 16Gb and 128Gb of storage.

Tablets are largely designed to consume content (reading books and magazines, watching films and tv shows, browsing the Internet), whereas laptops are much better suited to content creation.

On price, tablets range from £129 to £450, whereas laptop cost more, but you get more features, and laptops are far more configurable.
Laptops usually use the Windows operating system, whereas most tablets use the Android operating system or something else. (i.e. using a laptop is basically the same as using a Windows PC, whereas there's some additional learning to be done to get the best from a tablet).

Laptops are (fairly obviously) bigger and heavier than tablets and often have a much shorter battery life. However, unlike tablets, they've got proper keyboards; typing large amounts of text on a tablet is no fun!

Tablets generally have far lower storage capacities than laptops.

More here:
http://compreviews.about.com/od/buyers/a/Tablets-vs-Laptops.htm

Remember though that there's some 'middle ground' with netbooks. They're basically mini-laptops, so they're much smaller and lighter but still with proper keyboards and good storage capacity. I use one of these (rather than either a laptop or a tablet):
http://www.cnet.com/laptops/acer-aspire-one-d250/4505-3121_7-33676723.html
Tablets are all touchscreen (only some laptops are)

Tablets don't have a proper keyboard (they have a virtual keyboard you use to type in). You can buy some plug-in keyboards for tablets.

Some tablets can be turned into a phone by putting a sim card in it.

Tablets connect to the internet via Wi-Fi (or via a phone SIM card) while laptops CAN connect via wi fi OR a cable.

Tablets are generally less powerful than laptops, and have less memory.

Tablets tend not to have as many connections as laptops (USB, HDMI that sort of thing).

Most laptops run the Windows operating system software, but most tablets either run Android or iOS (for iPads). There are Windows tablets but they have only just been released and are not selling well.

Tablets come in small sizes (6", 7", 9", 10" etc.) whereas most laptop are larger.

Tablets don't come with a CD/DVD drive (most laptops do).

All tablets (?) have cameras in them, wheras I don't think many (any?) laptops do, though they can have built in webcams.

I cant think of anything else but I am sure others will.
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Well thank you all for your comprehensive answers. I shall buy one immediately - love this site thank you once again x

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