Go down the subway, go to the airport lounge or on a nice summer day, sit down on a park bench. Look around: on the left, someone is drumming enthusiastically with the keys on the keyboard of a netbook, on the right, someone has fascinatedly buried himself on the tablet screen. These two devices quickly entered our lives and are actively used by both studying youth and business people - their compactness along with high functionality was appreciated. However, in proportion to the number of users of portable equipment, the number of people obsessed with the question is growing: which is better - a netbook or tablet?
What are they like?
With a netbook, by and large, everything is clear - this is a small copy of the laptop. Smaller screen (up to 12 inches), smaller keyboard. The processor, respectively, is weaker, but the price for such a device is lower than for a laptop. Having adapted, on a netbook you can quickly type texts, it is convenient for Internet surfing, watching videos, reading, games. That's just the serious work of a laptop, and especially a desktop computer, it will not replace - for example, for graphic editors, neither the power nor the screen resolution of the netbook is significantly lacking.
With a tablet computer, the situation is somewhat different. To say that this is a netbook without a keyboard with a touch screen will be, perhaps, a little clumsy, but intelligible. In order to give a more complete picture, it would be worth talking about what kind of tablets are. There are three main groups that differ by operating system. This is, first of all, the Apple iPad, from which the tablets began. In general, this is the classic tablet. Next comes the Android-based tablet, which is in serious competition with the iPad, as its operating system is free, as are applications that don't have a number. And the third “whale” of tablets is a Windows7 device, which is closest to a netbook, but loses to “Android” in price, and iPad - in a standard “stuffing”.
Comparison options
Now back to our main question: which is better - a netbook or tablet. You can try to search for an answer by comparing several parameters that are of most interest to a regular user.
A tablet is definitely lighter - 600-800 grams, while the weight of a netbook starts from a kilogram. Still, you won’t put it in your pocket either, but in the bag the difference in dimensions and weight is hidden.
The tablet works longer without recharging, some models up to 14 hours, while record holders among netbooks only up to 10 hours. In addition, the tablet can not be turned off, but put into standby mode, from which it exits instantly.
A netbook supports most multimedia file formats, while playing some movies on a tablet is problematic. The netbook has more memory (250GB vs 64GB at best), in addition, you can connect an external hard drive and a TV tuner to it. But on tablets, videos and photos look more profitable - brighter and more contrast.
The netbook supports flash animation without any problems, while many tablets cannot do this at all. In this regard, it is more convenient to play on a netbook and all sites are displayed on them without "holes".
The touch screen of the tablet makes it faster and easier to work with the Internet, but any peripherals are connected to the netbook .
Let's try to summarize
Well, how can you based on the foregoing make an unambiguous conclusion about which is better: a netbook or a tablet? Maybe. But this conclusion will be true exclusively for you. It all depends on personal preferences and on the purposes for which you need a portable device. Researchers say that creation takes about 25% of the total time that users spend at the computer, and everything else relates to consumption. So, if creating content that is convenient on a netbook from all positions is not a determining factor for you, then both devices will again be on equal footing. And then figuring out which is better: a netbook or tablet is a little different from the dispute between the heroes of the movie “Fir-trees” about who is cooler: a skier or a snowboarder.