• Mistic@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I used to think the same.

    Turns out they are a good alternative to laptops.

    If you don’t need powerful hardware, then tablets allow to save space in the backpack, are way lighter and always have a touch screen, which, in connection with a stylus is big deal for taking notes. Laptops with a touch screen, in comparison, cost way more (at least where I live they do).

    Personally, I use it for studying and media consumption. It replaced almost all of my paper. You can also sign documents using those (depends on laws in your country). Inserting photos into documents is one thing you can’t do as easily with laptops as well.

    And when I do need access to better hardware, I just remote to my PC at home.

    • TheMauveAvenger@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      You can sign documents with the click of a mouse on a desktop. The validity of a digital signature comes from an authenticated account, time stamps, and an encrypted key; not your finger tracing on a touchscreen.

      • Mistic@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Not every digital signature is legally binding, I’m afraid.

        In my country, there are 3 types of it. A simple one (login/password), unqualified (encrypted series of numbers), and qualified (same as unqualified, but encrypted using certified means by government). The last two are stored on a physical drive.

        The higher the grade, the more legal power the signature holds.

        When signing it by hand from a tablet it’s the same as signing it personally where I live. Which, unlike qualified digital signature, can be used for any document.

        • Captain Aggravated@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          That’s actually something we need to get handled as a society. Unfortunately the justice system still runs on fax machines so we’re basically not viable as a species.

          • entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.org
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            1 year ago

            On the government timescale, these devices blinked into existence 10 minutes ago. I’m just glad I can digitally submit my taxes

                • SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  1 year ago

                  What? The components are the same and work exactly the same way, maybe on just less power and different thermal configurations on laptops. Meanwhile phones use a different CPU architecture (at least, I don’t know the specifics of the rest), and a completely different OS structure. Meanwhile laptops use the exact same operating systems as desktops.

                  The same software will work the same in a desktop vs a PC, but that is not the case between a pc and a phone. It could in principle, because they are capable of the same things, but in practice it needs a rewrite, and so a lot of software doesn’t exist on phones.

                  • SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    Apple’s putting its own chips - the same chips - in both its MacBook and iPad product lines. Their iOS also shares significant architecture with macOS, and is basically a derivative thereof.

                    Meanwhile, my tablet is running Windows 10 on its Intel i7 CPU.

        • TheMauveAvenger@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          SkyeStarfell already said it more politely than I was going to, but you can also sign things from phones. The point was that it doesn’t have to be a written signature so the tablet medium provides no benefit.

    • sacredbirdman@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I don’t need that powerful hardware… it’s the software side that’s mostly lacking for me (as a software developer :)