The best tablets are more powerful than some budget laptops, but are tablets a viable alternative to a traditional laptop? Learn about the differences between tablets and laptops to help you decide which is best for your needs.

You want a laptop if you can only afford one device. Budget laptops cost the same as mid-range tablets and can do much more. Tablets are primarily designed for surfing the web, reading e-books, playing games, listening to music, and other passive activities. Laptops, on the other hand, are designed for productivity, creating documents, sending emails, and running powerful software. There are also hybrid or convertible laptops, which you can use in tablet mode to get the best of both worlds.

Tablets rely exclusively on a touchscreen interface, which can present challenges when entering text. Since tablets don’t have a keyboard, you have to type on virtual keyboards with different layouts and designs. Some of the best 2-in-1 tablets come with a detachable keyboard, but these models still fall short of the laptop experience due to their smaller size and more restrictive designs. An external Bluetooth keyboard adds cost and peripherals that have to be carried with the tablet, making it less portable. Laptops are better for people who type a lot.

Most tablets weigh less than two pounds. Even the smallest laptops, like the Apple MacBook Air 11, weigh more and have a larger profile than most tablets. The main difference in size is that the keyboard and trackpad take up extra space. Laptops with more powerful components require additional cooling, which increases the size. Because of their smaller size and weight, a tablet is much easier to carry than a laptop, especially when traveling.