So, I’m an Apple guy. Everyone knows this. If you follow my blog, I’m sure you know this too. I think that Apple devices are great. I have enough rationality to know that they aren’t always the best, but I like them anyway. But as I sit here and write this blog on my 10.5” iPad Pro, I’ve gotta say: I believe that tablets can and possibly even should replace some of the computers in your company’s or employees’ possession.

Tablets Can and Should Replace Some of Your Company’s Computers

I’ve been a tablet fan since I got my first one in 2013. It was a Christmas gift from my dad when I was still in college. Looking back, that specific generation of iPad was not very good, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t love it then. Somewhat enamored by the aesthetics of the hardware and the (then) super gorgeous display, I began using it for a lot of stuff. As time went on, I found that I began using it for even more stuff. By the end of my spring semester in 2014, I used my iPad as much or more than my laptop. But I’m not here to tell you about how great it was typing documents for class on my iPad with one hand on the screen and the other holding a cold one. I’m just giving some background.

Fast forward to 2018. I’ve graduated, I’m a business owner, I have cold ones in my hand far less frequently, but I use my iPad more than ever. Technology in general has come a long way. If I dare utter the phrase “hey Siri” too loudly in my apartment, six devices light up at the same time, I don’t remember what wired headphones look like, notches are super in now (why?), and best of all, my iPad and a handful of competitors’ tablets have specs comparable, identical, or better than most standard laptops. Who’d have thunk it?

Like I’ve said, all of my experience comes from iPads, but I am admittedly a massive fan of the Surface Pro tablets as well and the Google Slate looks pretty cool as well. All are likely comparable in terms of performance, but again, this isn’t a hardware review. This is a hardware for business purposes review, so let’s get to it.

Some Key Points on Tablets

There are a few key points that I would like to make in this piece that lead me to believe that tablets would be beneficial to your business: price, portability, and functionality. You might have expected the first two, but the third one is actually the biggest by far.

So first off is price. While there are a handful of tablets that can reach the price of laptops like the 12.9” iPad Pro and the Microsoft Surface tablets (which are essentially laptops, to be fair), most tablets range in the $300-600 range. Apple’s newest non-pro iPad starts around $329 and Microsoft recently released their Surface Go for a similar price. And just an aside, for the love of business, don’t ever spend that little on a laptop, I’m begging you.

Tablets, particularly for business, will also generally require additional accessories to complete the productivity suite, but again, unless you want to ball out on Apple’s Smart Keyboard or the Microsoft type cover, you should be able to find perfectly functional keyboards for less than $50 on the web, whether they are standard Bluetooth keyboards or attachable type covers (highly recommended). If your company does design-type things or if you deem it best fit for your employees, most tablets now also support very wonderful active styluses and some also feature mouse support. These factored in usually will take the price of your tablet $100-250 higher, but that’s still not the worst thing ever.

The second key point here is portability. Whether your company has an office space or is a virtual team of telecommuting titans like my own, portability always has its place. I could get into a whole 10,000 word digression about why telecommuting and workplace modernization is not only desired but almost mandatory at this point, but I will save that for another day. What I will say is that allowing your workers to have free-floating work ability, whether that be on a plane to Boston, at home on the couch, or just in the break room to get a change of scenery is a huge benefit to worker productivity and employee satisfaction. Tablets are perfect for this. You don’t have to lug around a big laptop with a charger or worry about your 17” HP laptop getting knocked off the sad little trays on the airplane. You also typically don’t have to worry about needing to carry around a charger in general (see point three for more on this).

And back to worker productivity, tablets are perfect for this! I have been here typing this blog without a single distraction since I started it. You know why? Because I don’t have fully exposed access at any given time to my web browser. Obviously I can summon it by finger or by voice at any given time, but it’s out of sight and out of mind. What about Facebook? Same thing. Twitter? You guessed it. I’m locked in, and your employees will be too. Surface tabs may be different in this regard, considering they run Windows 10, but even so, the screens are small enough to keep one or two applications open with no issues but not big enough to (feasibly) have email, web browser, Excel, and YouTube open at the same time. And while you may be thinking that’s a bad thing, you’re wrong. Why have four tabs open if you’re only supposed to be doing one or two things? Sounds like procrastination to me.

If you’re not convinced yet, we get to talk functionality. Like I said, times have changed in the tablet world. Apple had their controversial “what’s a computer” advertisement, and despite your personal views on the ad, it does make a good point in a sense. Let’s face it, tablets come with up to Intel i7 processors now, the processor in the iPad Pro are comparable or better (depending on Geekbench scores), possess 4 GB or more of RAM, and so on. Tablets can be total beasts these days! Like I said, I’m currently writing this on my iPad Pro. I create a lot of financial documents on this same device. I write almost all of my blogs, record some of my podcasts, frantically type away transposing spreadsheet data into useful and informative reports in Pages with both apps open side-by-side, and keep track of my company’s and my clients’ accounting systems from the QuickBooks app all on my iPad. And I probably do all of this with my email tab floating open somewhere. Pretty good for a 10.5” screen, which rarely feels cluttered. Need more screen? Get a 12.9” if you lean Apple or take a look at the comparable competitors. Not only that, but most tablets can support external displays if a second screen is desired. Oh, and of course almost any tablet should be able to get you through almost two days of work before having to plug in the charger. The point is, work can get done.

Wrapping Up

Of course, you’ll need a laptop for some things. I can’t run full the QuickBooks app on here, nor should I. I also don’t think I would enjoy dealing with 500-row spreadsheets on here compared to my laptop hooked up to the 22” display. But what I’m getting at is that not everyone in your company will be dealing with data like that. Not everyone in your company will require more than email, web browsing, simple productivity suites, and a handful of analytical apps or whatever that are probably available via Apple/Android/Google/Microsoft app stores, such as Tableau. And of course with the increased dependence on cloud storage, any tablet will be able to access all of your company’s data at any time.

Between the price, portability, technical specifications, enhanced multitasking abilities, work-focused designs, incredible battery life, and wide arrays of applications complemented by excellent cloud storage services, not only can you replace some of your employees’ computers with tablets, but perhaps you should.