Laptops vs. Tablets: The Ultimate Showdown

　　Ever since the emergence of the iPad as a major technology product, the question has been asked: laptop or tablet? Is a laptop even necessary when tablets can perform so many of the same functions? Are we truly living in the post-PC era? The answer is, it depends. Every person uses their technology a bit differently, and some can indeed get by with a tablet alone. But don't go assuming that the days of the laptop are numbered. While some can make do with a tablet, there are some compromises required for the tablet-only lifestyle that some users can't make. To help you figure out which device is right for you, here are a few of the best features of each.
　　Laptops
　　Laptops, like desktop PCs before them, have a built-in benefit over tablets, and that benefit is power. As a rule, laptops have more powerful processing hardware, allowing for a wider range of uses, faster performance and better multitasking. Laptops can easily handle common tablet uses—like Web browsing and media streaming—and then go significantly further, with uses ranging from simple data entry to complex tasks like photo and video editing.
　　And while games may be a significant part of any app store, serious PC gaming is worlds away from Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, relying on faster processors and discrete graphics processing to crank out complex rendered environments at resolutions and frame rates that tablets can't touch. Even a PC gaming tablet like the Razer Edge Pro can't match the raw performance offered by the likes of the MSI GX70 3Be-007US, our Editors' Choice for entry-level gaming.
　　Joining the processing hardware is storage. Where tablets may boast anywhere from 16 to 128GB of storage space, the average laptop offers 500GB or more. Even the slimmest laptops featuring smaller SSDs—like the Apple MacBook Air 11-inch (Mid 2013)—offer at least 128GB, starting where tablets top out. Add in features like optical drives for DVD or Blu-ray discs, card slots for full-size SD cards, and USB-connected flash drives and portable drives, and you can have mountains of data at your fingertips.
　　There's also the question of form factor. Laptops have the benefit of having a keyboard and mouse built-in, allowing you to do all of the typing and mouse-related work you would do on a desktop. Touch screens don't offer the same level of granular control that a mouse and cursor does, while on screen keyboards are really only fit for entering short bursts of text, such as a status update or a tweet. A physical keyboard is a must for entering long blocks of text, and a mouse is far more efficient than a touchscreen for frequent swapping of windows, clicking of links, and general mousing around. This is even more important in the workplace, where those very tasks may make up the bulk of your day.
　　Then there's the question of ports and peripherals. While both laptops and tablets have an ecosystem of accessories and devices around them, laptops—with their broadly compatible USB ports, HDMI outputs, and other features—work with a universe of accessories that don't need to be tailored to a specific device, but will work with most any properly equipped PC. From mice and keyboards to webcams and storage devices, laptops are the easy choice.
　　Bottom line: If you need to do serious work, need powerful processing or multitasking, or need compatibility with a specific accessory or storage device, there's no good alternative to the laptop. Tablets can fulfill some of these needs some of the time, but when it's time to get things done, the laptop still reigns.