This is a question I’ve been asked several times in recent months. As with the PC or Mac question, the answer is, again: it depends.

But getting to this answer is, I think, a little easier, and boils down to: what do you want to do with it?

Emails?
Watch movies?
Read books?
Surf the internet?

If you do a fair amount to typing, you will hate not having a keyboard.

If you want to watch movies, you’ll probably prefer a tablet, since it’s a whole lot lighter than any laptop.

If you want to read a lot of books, you might want to consider getting an eInk reader, which is much easier on the eyes, is lighter, and has a significantly longer battery life.

If you want to be able to pull the thing out of your pocket and play games or surf the internet while you’re waiting or bored, you’ll want a tablet.

If this is going to be your primary tech device while you travel, you might be better off with a laptop, since in addition to having a keyboard, a should also have USB ports, SD card reader, etc.

Essentially, think carefully about what you want to do with it and how you want to do it. Do you want to lie on the sofa and watch movies? Do you want to curl up in a chair and read books? Do you want to sit down in comfort and type emails etc? Imagine doing these tasks with each of these devices and decide which device will provide the least amount of frustration when doing most of your tasks.