Answering the question will depend entirely on what you use your technology for. I will use myself as an example as to why a tablet could not replace a laptop for me; your mileage may vary. The major difference in the technology is subtle but significant. Tablets are designed for the consumption of media (movies, websites, & email). The interface tools are limited to a point & click or touchscreen interface. Tablets do not have keyboards, so heavy duty data input is limited to whatever one can manage with the on-screen keyboard. Because of their limited interface and limited power configuration, most tablets boast a significant gain in active battery life in comparison to a laptop.In a simple comparison of laptops vs tablets, these are the things to keep in mind, regardless of which brands you are personally interested in considering:
Hardware Functionality: Winner - Laptop
I am a computer consultant and technology power user. The primary benefit of most laptops is their physical hardware resources for different media. My laptop offers me access to a CD-R/DVD-R drive, USB connectivity, a complete operating system (in my case, Windows) and to my complete suite of application software optimized for my OS.
Most of this software has been gathered over a significant career in technology, so I am invested in its use. It is likely that if tablets want a space at the table, they will need to invest in docking hardware to give them access to a keyboard and any other peripherals they are not built with. The minor advantages some possess such as forward facing video do not make up for the relatively low quality of the video gathered from that device, in comparison to a dedicated technology designed to do the same thing.
Networking - Enterprise: Winner - Laptop
Laptops are basically compressed desktops so their ability to be compatible with the enterprise network includes functionality for IP networking including dynamic addressing, VPN security connectivity and domain access. Tablets are still evolving their software and their relationship to the enterprise is still developing. Some are better suited than others, but this is likely to be an area of growth for the tablet if companies want tablets to work in the enterprise.
Networking - Wifi: Winner - Tie
Tablets are built with Wi-fi as part of their programming and good laptops also have this as an established norm. Depending on the expense of the device, your ability to access a variety of different network services will vary. Some tablets cost will increase significantly if they have the ability to access telecom wi-fi such as 3G networks. Since almost all 3G and "4G" network access is very slow and increasingly burdened, there is little to distinguish either offering as significant. Wi-fi networks using local access devices like Cisco or Belkin do not favor one device over another either and both perform equally well.
Battery Life: Winner - Tablet
Where tablets truly shine is their incredible battery life. The reason for this is their lack of internal moving-part peripherals such as hard drives or other device drives, a lack of a video card or any other major power draining technologies. As a solid state device optimized for low power use (LCD screens for instance) they are ideal for maintaining both an excellent stand by state and a long battery life. With a laptop, most top out at 2.5 hours without an extended or enhanced battery. Even a modest tablet can double that time easily with the best having times of 8-10 hours active and more than a twenty hour standby time.
Malware Security: Winner - Laptop
Currently, there is no or little known malware for most tablet devices. That is likely to change as the devices grow more powerful and as people begin to depend on them more. This will drive hackers and spammers to begin to tailor their attacks on these devices in the future, since people will be storing their passwords for their accounts on these systems and until such software is created, it is, in my opinion, a less secure environment to place your data.
At the moment, tablets are utilizing "security by obscurity" meaning, no one knows you exist so, you are just a less tempting target. That will change as these devices gain a larger market share, the same way Apple was generally exempt from malware until recently. As their market share has grown, they have started becoming targets of zero-day exploits and other kinds of malware.
Software Base: Winner - Laptop
Yes, I know about the number of apps that tablet technology has put onto the street these days, likely over 500,000 different apps are available between the Apple and Android lines, but an app and a program are not the same thing in the literal sense.
In most cases, an app is about manipulating an already existing source of data and making that data attractive. At least this was what they were at first. Nowadays, they are starting to become fully fledged programs in and of themselves and a few are even trying to migrate from the tablet to the mainstream OSs.
But for the most part, the computer is the primary source of inspiration for programs and software for the tablet device, not the other way around. As laptops and tablets blend and become more alike than different that trend will change and more software will simply be created for more environments. Currently, there are millions of programs for all the different PC platforms all over the world.
Ease of Use/Portability: Winner - Tablet
There is little debate as to which is easier to use. Tablets are designed to be light, portable and user-friendly to non-computer users, while delivering functionality that was previously reserved for computers into the hands of the technologically-less sophisticated. As tablets grow more powerful, and likely more technically capable, they are likely to grow more challenging to learn, as well.
Summary
So, as I stated earlier, the real question is: What do you do with your computer? That will determine whether a tablet is a better choice for your needs or whether you should stay with the laptop for the time being. A simple rule of thumb is to determine if you are planning on being a consumer or a producer of information.
Tablet: Designed for the consumption of data. It is light, easy to use, has a long battery life and can communicate over a variety of environments. It is the ultimate consumer device, able to play simple games, access a wide array of commercial media, movies and websites. As the devices develop they will likely grow more powerful, but their main focus, the easy consumption of media will not likely change.
Laptop: Better suited for developing your own information, whether that be writing, editing, designing, laying out, video production and/or sound production. Laptops have more powerful processors, so do all of these things faster than a tablet. In some cases, a table cannot do any of these things well, if at all. You are more likely to find data and software that is in a format that is more compatible with your laptop and its established software. You will also find the laptop to be more enterprise friendly than a table for the immediate future.
Thaddeus Howze
@ebonstorm
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