What shoulde i give as a present tablet or laptop?

[Junior]

[ThtRandomPersonâ„¢]

See what the person has first. If they already have a laptop than give them a tablet or something.

[racer15]

first see do they have a laptop or tablet then give them the one they dont have and see if they like tablets and if they do have a laptop maybe see if they need a new one

[Coach P]

Depending on your area, I believe most tablets require a contract to use. Are you prepared to pay for that for a year or two? If not, give them a laptop! They can tie into wifi wherever they are (and it's about everywhere these days.)

[Che]

Tablets are better. Try the Microsoft Surface.

[widebutter793]

i would say laptop, but that's just because i dont get what the point of a tablet is.

[Snootz82]

Just remember Laptops are more powerful , Tablets are more flexible.

Tablets: the iPad advantage

Battery life

Chances are, your laptop needs to be plugged in most of the time as its battery lasts only an hour or two. With an iPad, you'll be freed from the mains all day, since it will last for at least eight (if not 10 or 12) hours of constant use.

Portability and comfort

A tablet is also much lighter and more portable than a laptop, so you really can take it everywhere with you. It's more comfortable to sit and use an iPad, it doesn't get too warm and there are no fans, unlike most laptops whose high-pitched fans can drive you to distraction.

Instant on and connected standby

Yet another advantage is that an iPad doesn't take minutes to boot up: it's ready to go instantly, so it's quick to check email and Facebook etc.

When you press the power button, it goes into standby, but remains connected to the internet so you'll hear alerts when you receive emails, Facebook messages or when other events happen.

Touchscreen interface

If you've not used a touchscreen much, you may well think that it can't replace a keyboard and mouse. There are certainly some elements where a keyboard and mouse are quicker, but you'd be surprised at how fast you can type on the iPad's virtual, on-screen keyboard.

iPad onscreen keyboard

If you make a mistake, the built-in auto-correct feature will likely put things right - it will even add punctuation for you. Buy the new iPad, and you'll get voice dictation so you needn't type much at all.

The iPad's interface is, in general, hugely intuitive. Aside from a few hidden options in apps, everything works as you expect it to, so it's easy to attach a photo you just took to an email or Facebook post, or upload a video to YouTube.

Apps

Apps is simply a new word for programs, and is short for applications. Many apps, such as a calculator and timer, are freely available via the App Store.

iPad email

What you don't get is a Microsoft-office equivalent, but you can download Pages (like Word), Numbers (like Excel) and Keynote (PowerPoint) for £6.99 each. Many apps, though, cost just a pound or two, including Apple's own iMovie.

iPad iPlayer
A word of warning, though. The iPad doesn't support Flash so some videos and websites won't be viewable

For the most part, you won't notice any problems, but it's important to have a PC or laptop available so you can access that crucial website which won't load on your iPad.


The laptop advantage

Storage

Buy a new laptop today, and you'll probably get a hard drive with 10 times more storage than an iPad. It's easy to add more storage, too. External hard disks are cheap, and you can buy portable versions which will slip into a bag.

The iPad has no way of adding storage, so you're effectively stuck with the capacity you buy. The smallest has 16GB, and the largest is currently 64GB. There are ways around this limit, but none are entirely satisfactory. You can sign up for a cloud storage service such as Dropbox, Google Drive or even Apple's own iCloud, but when files aren't stored locally on the iPad itself they can be slow to load or in the wrong format, so will need converting first.

File formats

This brings us neatly to compatibility. Laptops are great because, with the right software, they can display or play almost any file. The iPad is much more restrictive and requires videos, for example, to be in MP4 (H.264) format before they'll play. It means you might have to convert files before you can play them, which could be more hassle than you're willing to accept.

For photos and music, the iPad supports the common JPG and MP3 formats, so these aren't a problem for most people.

Transferring files to the iPad has to be done via iTunes, not Windows Explorer. This lack of drag-and-drop support is initially a bit frustrating, but it's absent for a reason: a good user experience.

Which iPad should I buy?

Assuming you decide the iPad's limitations are outweighed by its advantages (which they are), you need to make a choice. In fact, three choices.

The first is whether you want to be able to get online when you're out and about. If you do, you'll want to buy the 4G version of the new iPad (3G for older versions).

Next, you have to work out how much memory you'll need. Here, the old rule 'get the best you can afford' applies. Apple charges steeply for more memory, so the Wi-Fi only 16GB version is cheaper than the 32GB model, which itself is cheaper than the 64GB model.

[David]

What a great gift during the holiday season. It's hard to know which to recommend without knowing what they will likely be using it for but I would say to try and get a device with a warranty.

My name is David and I work with Dell.