Tablet buyers are dropping their laptops

SHINY DRINKS TRAY and fingerprint gatherer, the tablet computer might not be the foppish gewgaw that many thought it might be, according to figures from market research firm Nielsen.

Nielsen polled a number of US tablet buyers on their usage habits and found that rather than being used to hold down sheets of loose paper somewhere, tablets were actually replacing laptop and PC use in the home, to a degree.

Around a third of those polled said that they used their desktop computers less often or not at all since welcoming their new flat device into their home, and about the same number said the same about their laptops. Slightly less, 27 per cent said that they had stopped using their e-reader.

The INQUIRER thinks perhaps people should stop buying all the latest gadgets for a while, though we understand the fascination they hold for people because we suffer from it too. However, we were not involved in the survey.

The main reason for other devices losing favour was the fact that tablets are easy to carry around, and here the difference between them and PCs is obvious. Other factors included the ease of use of mobile operating systems, their light weight and their handy convenience. Deep stuff, this. µ