When traveling, what can a laptop do that pad not?

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CarLuver

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i don't really travel much,but when i do i have a habit of taking my laptop. i find it easier than my phone for cruising the web at night. this is not for biz but personal travel.

was thinking of getting a pad device for travel instead. So is there anything a laptop can do that a pad can't ?
 
Some people use tablets for everything 'computer' they do. I am not one of those.

I can't stand to use a phone/tablet for any kind of real browsing type work. Too hard to fill in forms, switch tabs, etc. One of the first things I added to our RV right after we got it was a small micro computer that I can use through the TV with wireless keyboard/mouse.

I know I can do everything I need to on a phone/tablet, I'm just old and stuck in my ways.
 
IDK if a tablet loads the "real" webpages or the mobile versions, but I prefer the "real" ones.

I use a chromebook which satisfies most of my needs, but is cheap and good on battery life.
 
My experience is the OS is always different, as is the processing power. I deal
With some pretty expensive tablets at work often $3500-$6000 and you’d be surprised how many complaints. Simple things like trying to navigate Citrix for example. Or going to the web and being identified as a mobile device.
 
I used to travel with both.

The tablet (ipad) handles everything you suggest - browsing, reading, shopping. Get a keyboard cover and you’re good to go.

The laptop does things that the ipad cannot - computer games (if you’re a gamer), business work, windows software, including VPN for my USN laptop. Having a mouse and a windows PC allows me to operate more effectively in Word, PowerPoint, and other software. But that is work, not recreation. If you’re not doing work (or again, gaming) you don’t need your laptop.

For what you’re considering, an iPad with the Apple Keyboard.

My iPad has subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Scientific American, Fine Woodworking, Road and Track, and many other periodicals.

Web browsing, shopping, and reading on the road - the tablet is all I really need.
 
Desktop specific apps, some of which I need access to. Another thing is processing power. Not always necessary, but I have the occasional need to process lots of spatial data. Support for all file types is yet another thing.
 
ctechbob said:
Some people use tablets for everything 'computer' they do. I am not one of those.

I can't stand to use a phone/tablet for any kind of real browsing type work. Too hard to fill in forms, switch tabs, etc. One of the first things I added to our RV right after we got it was a small micro computer that I can use through the TV with wireless keyboard/mouse.

I know I can do everything I need to on a phone/tablet, I'm just old and stuck in my ways.
Click to expand...
I'm a millennial working in the tech field and still think tablets suck for anything besides maybe watching youtube videos. I'd take a thin laptop like a Macbook Air for travel every time over a tablet.
 
I can't stand tablets, they encompass the worst of both worlds with no upsides. A mobile device too big to fit in your pocket so you can't always have it on you, but too small compared to a normal laptop so you can get the same productivity out of it. I have a Galaxy tab from work but I never used it. None of my users like to use tablets either.

Pablo said:
Is there such thing as a tablet you can use a mouse with? (ok lousy sentence structure and ignorant question :D )
Click to expand...

Yep, Bluetooth mice you can.
 
Security is a consideration. Our corp laptops can launch VPN. In the old days, personal computers could also launch VPN by using one’s network login.

Today, only corporate laptops can access the VPN. They have a machine cert that’s pushed down to them.

We’ve done similar with Android tablets managed by a MDM. They get a user cert pushed down when they successfully login to shared device. We have “not” done the same with the Windows version of the same tablet. They are essentially the Wild West in our case and not allowed on the corp network. I don’t need to describe in detail where those have gone, just use your imagination and you’d be correct. Grown men and women getting highly comp’d—I used to laugh and be surprised what they’re willing to do with their employers’ assets, as if it’s not tracked in any way. Not today.
 
Pew said:
I can't stand tablets, they encompass the worst of both worlds with no upsides. A mobile device too big to fit in your pocket so you can't always have it on you, but too small compared to a normal laptop so you can get the same productivity out of it. I have a Galaxy tab from work but I never used it. None of my users like to use tablets either.



Yep, Bluetooth mice you can.
Click to expand...
I have drawers full of nice tablets. Every time a new ask is generated, I’m sent a tablet, and when it can’t do what was wanted, into the drawer it goes. One that I think is nice is the Galaxy Tab Active Pro 5G. It’s a fraction of the cost of the others that didn’t work. They’re in Knox and e-Fota.

I have a demarcation between work and personal. Some don’t. I’d love to have a tablet like that at home. But I let them sit in the drawer never to see daylight again 😂
 
John105 said:
I have drawers full of nice tablets. Every time a new ask is generated, I’m sent a tablet, and when it can’t do what was wanted, into the drawer it goes. One that I think is nice is the Galaxy Tab Active Pro 5G. It’s a fraction of the cost of the others that didn’t work. They’re in Knox and e-Fota.

I have a demarcation between work and personal. Some don’t. I’d love to have a tablet like that at home. But I let them sit in the drawer never to see daylight again 😂
Click to expand...

Hah that's the only one I ordered for storm water prevention planning, I think they used it once in 2 years.

Like you mentioned, they require an MDM, bunch of linked APIs, and knowledge of the device and OS. Kind of a pain to track and deal with all of that in addition to all the other mobile devices.
 
I never understood tablets and iPads. I use my phone or a small laptop I have when I travel. My Dell XPS 13 is no bigger than an iPad with a keyboard case. I do buy larger phones, so maybe that bridges the gap.

I have a theory that Apple kept the iPhone screen so small for so long in order to move iPads.
 
Something to consider. You can plug a Samsung Android Phone into a USBc Docking station and use it like a computer with the monitor keyboard and mouse. I assume you can do this with a samsung tablet as well.
 
I haven't read the other responses; forgive redundancies. My concerns, mostly from a "work" perspective, but applicable personally:
  1. Screen size from a viewability angle. Full disclosure: I am of a certain vintage where everything is blurry.
  2. Screen size from a dimension angle: If my tablet has a screen of "not very many pixels" x "also not very many pixels" I'll be getting the "mobile" version of web sites.
  3. Apps versus proper applications installed on my OS or available as web apps online. If I had to perform meaningful work on the Google Sheets app, for example, I'd find new work.
  4. Connectivity. A colleague hands you some data on a USB thumb drive. That and $4'll get you on the bus if you don't have the required ports. Need to hook up to the conference room's TV's HDMI port? Unlikely.
  5. Storage. My laptop has a 1TB SSD in it and I can carry several lifetime's worth of work. I haven't had a tablet in some time but the last one I had featured some 64GB of storage. Probably enough to hold a short trip's worth of work or personal stuff (movies, photos, etc.) but nowhere near on par with a laptop.
With that said, the tablet'd have clear advantages over the laptop if portability and battery life are mission-critical. This might make it a better choice pool-side blasting the brightness so you can read your eBook or watch the Detroit Lions make fools of their opponents.
 
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Thanks for the replies . i think ill just stay with my laptop. i got a new surface 5 laptop for a steal recently .
 
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