Tablets are NOT a replacement for a full-scale computer!

Tablets are NOT a replacement for laptops or desktop computers. So many of my students and others are talking about getting this tablet or that tablet or some type of netbook device like the Chromebooks. Those devices are great and have their place. But you, as a buyer, need to know what you will be using the device for and buy appropriately. I always have to warn my students who are graduating and going on to college that they need to be thinking of a device that will fulfill all their needs in school. If all you plan to do is surf, type papers and email - great! Get a tablet or Chromebook, by all means. However, there are many uses students do not foresee themselves doing. Watching videos, making videos, Skyping, doing multi-media presentations...Can you do them on tablets and netbooks? Yes. Will you go crazy trying to do them on tablets and netbooks? Probably. When you are looking for an all-purpose device that will do not only what you want to do now, but will be able to expand with your needs and skills---get a full computer! Otherwise, you will rue (love that word) the day that you chose something less. And these days, most computers are just a cheap, if not cheaper, than the fancy-shmancy tablets. Do you want a device to last you as long as possible? Here is my advice that I share with anyone who will listen... Get the most memory you can (RAM) for that device. If it only has 4GB of RAM, maybe you can purchase additional RAM from Crucial.com or someplace else for much cheaper than adding it through the place you are buying the device (if you are comfortable doing that kind of thing). But get as much as you can, max that baby out in RAM. And, as for storage, get a much as you can. I know, I know. You can plug in a flash drive, an external hard drive, upload to the cloud, etc. But, let's say you are somewhere with no Internet (God, forbid!) or it is a really slow connection. You can't access your files unless you have your external drive. But, worse yet, if you want to run a program you need to load that program (most of them anyway) into the operating system to work. You can't run most programs from a flash drive or external drive. Get as much internal storage on your hard drive as possible. I know a lot of tech people love the solid state drives because there are no moving parts like the old hard drives and the solid states are faster. But I need storage space. I always want to have enough so that I don't get to a point where I can't run something. Also, keep in mind, that programmers are always writing software that demands more storage, more memory and more power from your computer (yes, computer, not tablet). So you want a computer that will last because it can keep up with the demands of the newer software. Plan for what has not even been thought of yet. Get as much RAM and hard drive storage as you can. But, back to my original point...A tablet is NOT a computer. So, if you don't have the money to burn on both a computer and a tablet type device, get a computer with enough RAM (my opinion, 6GB minimum, no less) and at least 750GB of hard drive. Again, this is my opinion only. There is one exception to this tablet/computer thing. I bought the original Surface Pro. I loved it and can't wait to see the new Pro 3 with a bigger screen, better resolution, etc. A Surface Pro really is a computer. I can do most things I want to with it but still turn to my ASUS 17" at home for the heavy duty stuff. (Don't let anyone tell you a 17" laptop is a portable, I have the bad back to prove it.) So, make your choice wisely. The iPad and Samsung Galaxy tablets, etc. are great. You can see my earlier post about the Chromebooks. But tablets are NOT computers and cannot be expected to replace computers. Email, surf, play Angry Birds, whatever. But get yourself a durable, all-purpose computer. At least, that's what I think and that's what I tell my students.