New equipment

[daginge]

Hi ABers
Our home desktop PC has gone chips. The question is; do we opt for a laptop replacement or one of these new fangle tablet things? Does anyone have any idea of price and performance difference and are there any down sides to one or the other.
TIA
DG

[MarkRae]

It really depends on your requirements. What did you mainly use the desktop for? Was it primarily stuff you access through a web browser, or did you do lots of Word processing, spreadsheet work, or maybe programming? Some people take to a tablet like a duck to water, but others hate e.g. the lack of real keyboard etc.

[Buenchico]

If you're going to be any significant amount of typing it has to be a laptop. If you're wanting a high screen resolution (e.g. for viewing/editing photos) it has to be a laptop. If you ant to be able to use CDs or DVDs (either to read from or to write data to) it has to be a laptop. Only consider a tablet if those factors are unimportant AND portability is a priority:
http://tablets-review...he-pros-and-cons.html

Chris

[MarkRae]

I find tablets really irritating, Chris - they're too small to be a laptop and too big to be a smartphone. I'm perfectly happy with my laptop and HD7. Of course, Windows 8 is already looking great, and has been designed very much with tablets in mind.

[Old_Geezer]

Obviously personal choice. If it were me I'd not touch either of your suggestions. I'd replace a desktop with another desktop.

[Buenchico]

I'm with O_G on this one. Unless portability is important, a desktop is still best. They're cheap (I'd never pay more than about £30 for a modern one at auction) and usually have better specifications than either laptops or tablets.
[My first post was based solely upon the assumption that a desktop was not required]

[Hopkirk]

Apparently people are getting neckache from tablets, as you spend so much time with your head tilted forwards.

[beso]

Tablets such as the iPad and Galaxy have their place but are no substitute for a computer of any kind. They are really just high end media readers with a bit of extra whizz.

[daginge]

Lap top it is then! Thanks everybody!