Originally Posted by niceguy1966:
“I think we are seeing a merging of technology with fuzzy edges. How big does a phone have to be before it becomes a tablet? Many are already a lot larger than my first PalmPilot.
Does a laptop with removable keyboard and a touch screen count as a tablet? I'm expecting many laptops to have touchscreens after Windows 8 is released, so then the question is "Are all laptops with removable keyboards tablets?"
Microsoft are planning to roll out Windows 8 across a very wide variety of devices, I'm sure we will have a flood of new names for devices to add to ultrabooks and netbooks that were recently added to try and describe the ever expanding range of laptop types (maybe a touchbook?).
So, to answer the original question, is the surface just a laptop? Yes, except I wouldn't use the word "just".”
A tablet is defined in the dictionary as follows;
Quote:
“tab·let [tab-lit] Show IPA
noun
1. a number of sheets of writing paper, business forms, etc., fastened together at the edge; pad.
2. a flat slab or surface, especially one bearing or intended to bear an inscription, carving, or the like.
3. a thin, flat leaf or sheet of slate, wax-coated wood, or other rigid material, used for writing or marking on, especially one of a pair or set hinged or otherwise fastened together.
4.tablets, the set as a whole.
5. a small, flat, or flattish cake or piece of some solid or solidified substance, as a drug, chemical, or soap.”
Which indicates to me that the essential difference is that a laptop has a permanent keyboard and or must be used with a keyboard.
The surface does not have to be used with a keyboard and does not require a keyboard to be connected in order to use it.