Why Buy a Tablet PC?

Why Buy a Tablet PC?

Tablet PCs are the ultimate convertible computer; you have a beautiful laptop with a 12.1-inch screen (on average), a keyboard to type away and a mouse trackpad to navigate the screen. But swivel the screen around and you’ve got a fully functional tablet, much like the Apple iPad. Unlike the iPad’s somewhat limited iOS, the tablet PCs we looked at run a full version of Windows 7.

This system is the ultimate dual-purpose computer: it’s a laptop and a tablet, with all the features commonly found in both. This includes a physical keyboard and mouse trackpad, but also sensitive touchscreen and multitouch features found in tablets.

But what’s the advantage of this “convertible computer”? Why not just buy a laptop or a tablet, or both? Well, cost for one thing. Most people buying a tablet like the iPad have a standalone laptop or desktop, for a more robust computing experience, plus to store more files, photos, etc. Much more than the iPad could possibly hold. The cost of buying two separate systems adds up.

Then there’s the convenience factor: why have two separate computers when the tablet PC can do both, equally well? If the on-screen keyboard is too much to deal with when writing long papers or reports on the tablet, switch the system back to the laptop to get some work done.

The Apple iOS is limited, as are some of the more netbook-style tablets, and the processors, amounts of RAM and hard drive capacities are usually slim. It’s tough to get serious computing accomplished. The tablet PCs run full versions of Windows 7 and come with at least 1 to 2GB of RAM, with some units able to take up to 8GB. Hard drive capacities are good, if not great at up to 500GB, and most of the systems we looked at are running the latest and greatest Intel core i3, i5 or i7 processors.