Replacing laptop with a tablet

Has anyone replaced their laptop with a tablet? My laptop has officially crapped out and I will be starting my MSc soon so do need something for word processing, research, web browsing, and my ebay shopping addiction :p. However, I will be at uni most days of the week and will have use of the computer facilities when I need them so it's not a total replacement.

Any recommendations? Or is this a silly idea in the first place? If I were to replace my laptop with a tablet, I'd also buy a keyboard that goes with it so I can have physical keys.

I don't think it's a silly idea. Tablets are far more transportable than laptops - as I found out on my latest journey back to the US. I would have loved to have had one while at uni.

I ended up buying an iPad. I had tried a lot of tablets in shops and simply was not impressed with them. Plus, at the time I was working for a publisher that was quite innovative in digital development and the iPad was offering the most opportunity in the market for us (and Apple had selected us to develop the first iBooks). That's not to say there aren't decent non-Apple tablets out there; they just weren't for me when I was looking to buy one.

Just be sure when you're looking at them to check out potential accessories to come along with it. There were some really nice iPad cases with keyboards integrated into stand. If that's what you're looking for, be sure to check costs on that to factor into your budget because the ones I was finding for the iPad were around $100.

I'm sure it works for some people, but I have both a laptop and a tablet and definitely couldn't do without the laptop. But then I'm a mouse person. I still find it too awkward to do a lot of things without it. I guess it would depend partly on what you use your laptop/tablet for.

I have had my iPad for about 2 months and I really like it. I would like it more if I understood all the things it can do.
I don't miss having a conventional key board.
It helps if you have friends or family who could walk you through things.
I made the choice of iPad over the laptop. The laptop would have been cheaper.
Cheers

I'm not sure I would replace my laptop with one but I bought a Blackberry Playbook last week as PC World were selling them at a ridiculous price of £129 and I have been amazed by it. I absolutely love it! There are some great reviews out there and some not so great ones comparing it with the iPad... but I would say it's like comparing apples n oranges and I would love an ipad but can't afford one and never will...but this tablet is amazing for the current price! 64 gb too!

I love me gadgets and am a sucker for them all.  I have fallen in love with the tablet...I love the 2 cameras on it and ease of access and how quick it is and it just looks and feels pretty gorgeous...
 
I still love my laptop and find it easy to type on the lappy - I have it set up with a monitor and wireless keyboard but I find I am using the tablet more and more

I have both a laptop and an ipad, and use them for different tasks.

The iPad is for everyday web browsing, (especially at the local coffee shop!), internet shopping, reading Kindle books, listening to audiobooks, and always goes with me on vacation.

The laptop is used at home for web browsing as I prefer the full sized "regular" keyboard, and for word processing, spreadsheets etc.

IMHO the ipad might not be sufficient for academic research and word processing.

If you're using it for uni, I'd probably stick with a laptop, although I do fancy the Microsoft Surface. I've used one extensively and it's a nice piece of kit, it's not available until 26th October, if you can wait that long it may suit your needs really well, you get your keys, it's a tablet, it's portable etc

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx

I got the newest generation iPad as my last laptop finally passed into electronics heaven.

I found the on screen keyboard alright, but it wasn't something I wanted to use for prolonged typing.  IMO, it is fine for quick email on the go, or for web browsing, but became a bit frustrating to use for anything more than a few paragraphs.  I got an external keyboard recently and it has definitely helped.

Still though, I don't think I would consider an iPad a replacement for a laptop if you're doing uni work.  I only got mine as a laptop replacement since I wasn't using it for school or work and my old laptop had essentially become an overpowered browsing machine.

Thanks for your advice everyone. It seems like a new laptop is best for me since I'll have another dissertation to work on .

Thanks for your advice everyone. It seems like a new laptop is best for me since I'll have another dissertation to work on .

I agree with the consensus. I have an ipad and I've hardly used my netbook since I got it, but any time I want to type something that's longer than a twitter update or a quick comment here, I pull out the netbook.

That said, my netbook keyboard is probably comparable to what you'd get as an ipad keyboard and it is perfectly usable if not as nice as a good ergonomic keyboard would be.

Id still keep a laptop or even just a desktop over replacing either with a tablet.

Tablets are great, but limited in their power and ability to upgrade silly things like hard drives and memory. Things like that worry me when dropping £XXX on something thats relatively new to the market. We dropped a pretty penny on our netbook 4 years ago and its now currently gathering dust. XP went on it and is it didnt have a CD drive, unable to do a recover or anything. My partner installed Ubuntu on it, in a super round about way (and it took him a few days) and after all that just turned it off for good. Decided the next time we wanted a cheap laptop, would just splash the extra £100 or so for one. It was great while it lasted, but yeah...

Oh, I'd so recommend the Google tablet, the Nexus 7 - if you still want a tablet.. Its lovely and super portable (it fits in my partners back pocket, though hed never do that). Its perfect for quick browsing and the such. It doesnt have 3G but if your phone can become a wifi hotspot will work like a dream.

Oh, I'd so recommend the Google tablet, the Nexus 7 - if you still want a tablet.. Its lovely and super portable (it fits in my partners back pocket, though hed never do that). Its perfect for quick browsing and the such. It doesnt have 3G but if your phone can become a wifi hotspot will work like a dream.

I have the Google Nexus 7 tablet and it's brilliant! If you want a tablet, look no further! (But I still need a laptop as well.)

Ah yes I've heard about the nexus 7. It sounds so great. I really do want one but will probably just stick with  a laptop for now.

I read this and thought of you

http://whatever.scalzi.com/2012/09/16/dont-mind-me-im-just-testing-out-using-a-keyboard-with-my-ipad/

(John Scalzi is a professional writer so typing is what he does for a living)