what the difference between a tablet and an ipad?

Question

The tablet and IPad seem very similar. What makes them different? What's the best Tablet out there? That kinda cheat also. I'm a little undecided if should get a IPad or a Tablet. What's the better choice?

Answer 1

The iPad is itself a Tablet.

There are other tablets besides the Apple iPad though, such as...

Google's "Nexus 7"

Amazon's "Kindle Fire"

Microsoft's "Microsoft Surface"

Samsung's "Galaxy Tab"

Barnes & Noble's "NOOK Tablet"

Asus's "Eee Pad"

Toshiba's "Toshiba Tablet"

There's probably more out there, but if you're going to go cheap, you'd probably want to take a look at the Kindle.

Answer 2

Like others have already mentioned iPad is the brand name used by Apple for their tablets, just like Galaxy Tab by Samsung, Surface by Microsoft and Kindle Fire by Amazon etc. They have different hardware, form factors, features, operating systems and applications. Right now there are three main tablet operating systems : iOS by Apple, Android by Google and Windows 8 by Microsoft (which is just announced, but has lot of potential to be a strong competitor). Kindle and Nook also run a variation of Android.



Between the three Apple may have a slight advantage in the number of apps and games, but Android is not far behind, therefore don't let the app availability be a factor when choosing between an iPad or an Android tablet. But we still have to see how developers are going to embrace Windows tablet platform, since it was only announced recently. Android has lot of customization options like home screen widgets and loads of other tweaks and modifications to really make it look and function exactly the way you like. Some android tablets like the Asus Transformer series have a keyboard dock that can turn it into a netbook like device. You can also connect external USB devices like mice, keyboards , flash drives and hard drives like you would with a PC. In terms of features and customization options Android is the clear winner. However so far there aren’t any fully featured Office suits for either Android or iOS , there are some apps, but they only provide very basic editing options. Therefore if you are looking for a notebook replacement tablet that can run Microsoft Office then the recently announce Microsoft surface tablet might be a good option. Microsoft also announced that they are planing to release MS office for Android and iOS but still no details on when to expect it.

Answer 3

The iPad IS a tablet, Apple just called it an iPad, but if you want to generalize it into a group, its a tablet.



Its like, well, a Mac is a Mac, and a Windows PC is a Windows PC, but the term 'computer' applies to both, its similar if you have an Android tablet and an iPad they are both 'tablets'.



EDIT: as to which one you should get, I'd wait for Windows 8 tablets, they are by far the best tablets, if you don't like those, pick up an android tablet, iPads are overpriced and don't do much.

Answer 4

the only real difference is the iPad is made by apple I think a better choice would be a tablet because they are 1) cheaper and 2) you dont have to use iTunes and iCloud with it and some tablets you can even add your own SD card in for more storage. but if you would use it mor for apple specific fetures than you could invest in the iPad.











P.S. an iPad is still a tablet but it is just a version of a tablet made by apple :)