Over the past few years, advances in technology has lead to more and more people buying a tablet computers. Tablets, such as the iPad, have raised the bar for mobile devices. Even though they have come a long way in the last few years, some people still prefer laptops. My question is: How long until these tablets surpass laptops as a student’s first choice?
Bring It Where You Go
One thing I cannot argue about when it comes to tablets is they are very convenient for traveling purposes. Here on campus, a lot of students have began using iPads to take class notes with (or just slack off and browse Facebook…) and they’re becoming a lot more popular than they were last semester. If you’re walking around all day, lightweight tablets are a nice change from the usual bulky laptops. Still, laptops have become a lot smaller recently, which helps narrow the gap in the portability case.
Is The Time Now?
Tablet computers are made slim and small which may give off the false idea that it is not as powerful as a laptop. The three standard options for storage capacity are 16, 32, and 64 GB of memory. While that’s not as much as most laptops have, it’s still enough for a student to do everything he or she needs to do for school. Tablets support amazingly helpful academic apps such as Evernote (a note-taking app) and Pages (one of the many tablet office suites).
One problem I thought of immediately when I envisioned using the iPad as my main essay-writing source is the keyboard. If you’ve ever typed using a touch screen keyboard, you know it’s not for everybody. I like the idea of typing with just your hands and being able to control things with your fingers but if you needed to write a five page essay, the touch keyboard may prove to be inconvenient. Luckily, some of the more popular tablets (such as the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy) have keyboard docks you can buy that attaches and allows you to type using the keyboard just as you would with a laptop.
All things considered, tablets are light and portable yet still powerful enough to take notes, play videos, download PDF files and create long essays for class They clearly have an edge going up against the soon-to-be “old school” laptops and it will definitely be interesting to see if this tech fad keeps up.
Do you prefer laptops or tablets? Do you think BSU will ever require students to have tablets similar to how they require all students to have laptops?
I don’t… mainly because I don’t have one. I use my laptop, though.