Smartphone vs Laptop: Which is Worth Your Money

Not too long ago smartphone manufacturers were racing to make their phones smaller.  It seems now that this trend has started to reverse course. With the expected release of foldable smartphones, cell phones may well be on their way to replace larger devices, especially laptops.  There is no doubt that as cell phones became smarter, the need for laptops decreased. How long has it been since you checked Facebook or Twitter on a laptop?  Probably an eternity. Smartphones have reduced so many laptop functions to fit right inside of our pants pockets. But can smartphones really replace laptops entirely?  In this article, we go over a few considerations to take into account when contemplating buying a smartphone vs. laptop.

Operating System

An operating system is what makes a smartphone or laptop work.  Without an operating system, these devices are just a bunch of electricity and wires.  An OS allows the hardware in the device to translate into what we see on our screen. Laptops and smartphones use different operating systems, with different capacities.  The most used operating systems are Microsoft Windows, for computers, and Android for smartphones, followed by macOS which powers Apple devices. The biggest difference between operating systems in laptops and smartphones is that computer operating systems are full-featured, while smartphone operating systems are limited due to the highly specific hardware features of smartphones, according to Computer Hope.

Battery Life

Comparing the battery life of smartphones vs laptops is a tricky affair.  Cell phones and laptops are used differently, so this may be a bit of an apple to oranges comparison.  For one, use patterns for cell phones and laptops vary greatly. Cell phone use is a continuous thing. You keep your cell phone in your pocket and continue to use it for short intervals of time consistently throughout the day.  On the other hand, laptops are used for an extended period but done so within a limited time frame during the day. This is true even for students and professionals who, despite heavy reliance on laptops, usually use them much less frequently throughout the day than they do their phones.

So what do we look for when comparing the battery life of smartphones vs. laptops?  To put things in context, smartphone batteries that are considered long-lasting are ones that give upward of fifteen hours of screen-on battery life.  By comparison, laptops that last longer than ten hours are considered long-lasting. If we only consider this information, it would make sense to conclude that, overall, smartphone batteries last longer than laptop batteries.  However, this may change if we take use patterns into consideration. A laptop that’s in use for just a few hours every day can go without a charge for several days. A cell phone, on the other hand, likely can’t go more than two days without being charged.  So in terms of duration, even though smartphone batteries technically last longer, the difference in use patterns should be considered when making a comparison.

Portability

It almost seems ridiculous to compare the portability of smartphones vs. laptops.  Yet there are nuances to take into place when assessing portability.  There is no denying the convenience of having a calendar, a camera, an alarm, a music player, email, and social media apps all in your back pocket.  Portability is one of the biggest advantages of smartphones, but a phone cannot achieve everything that a laptop can. While it’s true that there are smartphone-compatible apps such as Microsoft Office, using such an app on a smartphone is inconvenient.  Imagine typing a ten-page paper on your phone!

Despite taking on tasks that usually require access to a laptop, smartphones have not been able to successfully replace laptops.  And while smartphones certainly have the advantage of portability, laptops have made great strides on this front as well. Compared to ten years ago, laptops have become thinner, lighter, and sleeker.  Far from the gigantic over-the-shoulder laptop bags from the previous decade, a laptop can now easily fit inside of a medium-sized purse or handbag without adding much weight. Cloud storage has also made it much easier to bring your work anywhere.  Instead of buying an external hard drive, for example, one can simply back up his laptop to the cloud and access his files from anywhere. In the last decade, as smartphones got more compact, laptops got thinner, lighter, and smarter as well.

Connectivity

Connectivity is one of those things that we have taken for granted recently.  Wi-Fi and Bluetooth use has become so common that we’ve grown to expect them. Everywhere from coffee shops to grocery stores, from schools to hospitals, we expect to have connectivity.  In urban settings, connecting your devices to the internet is relatively easy: just be within a short distance of some establishment. Even commercial buses offer free Wi-Fi. In the absence of Wi-Fi, it is easier to connect a smartphone to the internet than a laptop.  Most cell phone plans come with mobile data—often limited—but that can easily be offset by using Wi-Fi whenever possible.

Connecting a laptop to the internet in the absence of Wi-Fi can be a challenge. While most laptops come with an Ethernet port, finding an Ethernet connection is hardly as easy as connecting to Wi-Fi.  Bluetooth connectivity is another important feature of smartphones and laptops. With more and more devices being Bluetooth compatible—think wireless headphones, for instance—Bluetooth connectivity is more useful than ever.

Conclusion

Perhaps there is no stronger indicator of the increasing comparability between smartphones and laptops than their quickly eclipsing prices.  If you haven’t heard, some smartphones cost upward of a thousand dollars now. This easily costs more than a laptop.  But that is not to say that smartphone prices now match laptop prices; those run in the thousands of dollars for a high-functioning laptop.  It all depends on specs and what we want to achieve with the devices. Usually, light use purposes mean that one can buy a cheaper device and be fully satisfied. This goes for both smartphones and laptops. If the purpose of a cell phone is mostly to communicate, then there is no need to dish out thousands for a high-functioning smartphone.  The same goes for laptops: if the intention is light use, then you probably will not feel the need to pay over $3,000 for a laptop.

There is no denying that smartphones have taken on many functions that we used to rely on laptops for.  But no matter how efficient smartphones get, their small size will always hinder them from fully replacing laptops.  For gamers, professionals, and students, there is no rush to replace laptops with smartphones. The two are very efficient in their own way and in no way mutually exclusive.  Rather, they complement each other.