Tablet

One consideration that deters me for a long time from buying a new laptop computer is my tablet.

In other words, why do I need a laptop computer? I have my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 with me most of the time. With the leather cover, it is still nothing more than 300-g in weight. Although used primarily for reading journal papers and Kindle books during travel, it is good enough as a web browser, scanner (by its Evernote document camera), and word processor (especially for its capability of recognizing hand-written Chinese). When used with my blue-tooth keyboard, it is almost a miniature computer - with the advantage of being easy to carry.

Nonetheless, I finally conclude that a laptop is needed, for travel as well as home office during the rare incident of long holiday. However powerful a tablet is, I could only have all my files at hand in an ordinary computer. With a tablet, it is not convenient for writing long papers or working on Excel sheets, and an even worse idea to create charts. Powerpoint slides prepared in a tablet usually need extensive editing when transfer back to an ordinary computer. The two gadgets are, therefore, complementary rather than one replacing the other.