People often tell me that, yes - TabletPCs are cool and yes - pen input and digial ink add features and flexibility that a notebook just can't match. They will even go so far as to say these features would save them time. And yet these same people tell me that they won't buy a tablet at this time for the following two reasons:
- Tablets are more expensive than an equivilant laptop
- Tablets are underpowered.
Last week I posted a hypothetical example that demonstrated that, over the life of a mobile computer, the marginal cost of a tablet over a laptop was minimal.
This week I'm taking it a step further. I've identified a Toshiba Tecra M2 PM725 laptop and a HP TC1100 tablet that are similar. Both have 512MB RAM running on a 333MHz FSB and and a 5400 RPM hard drive. The laptop has a bigger screen (14.1" vs. 10.4") and a faster CPU (1.6GHz instead of 1.2GHz) and the tablet is lighter, more flexible and has a bigger hard drive (60GB instead of 40GB) and is more portable. But really performance will be about the same (so that takes care of point 2).
Now I'm going to address point 1. To do this we will work under the following assumptions:
- All prices are in New Zealand dollars.
- I've used RRP including GST.
- To the price of the tablet I add the cost of a docking station and a leather portfolio - not required for the laptop.
- I have not added in the keyboard, mouse or monitor, these are assumed to be the same for both solutions and therefore make no difference to the marginal cost.
- The laptop includes a DVD drive. I could not bring myself to pay the price HP ask for a modular DVD writer that slots into the docking station. I added in DVD writer in a USB 2.0 enclosure - getting a better drive and saving $200 (just because I'm buying a tablet doesn't mean I'm a sucker)
- I've assumed approx 260 working days per year. This allows for three weeks off as leave, some public holidays and time off sick. Update: It has been pointed out that this number is too high and does not actually allow any time for sick leave or annual leave. I've reworked using 220 though this may still be too high depending on your contractual terms and the number of statutory holidays where you live. Thanks to Will Williams for pointing this out in his comment below.
- I've assumed a 3 year hardware refresh.
- Given the two points above the working life of the mobile device is 780 days. Update: 660 days
So how much does more does the tablet cost?
The laptop comes in at $3,566.25 (RRP). The RRP of the tablet (plus the accessories mentioned above) costs $846.88 more at $4,413.13. Therefore the marginal cost of tablet over the laptop is just $846.88 total or $1.08 per working day over the expected life of the device. Using 660 days the marginal cost is $1.28
So how do you work out if it is worth it? Well, it depends on what you do. You need to work out if the extra functionality and flexibility of the tablet platform is going to add at least that much value. Basically there are three ways in which a tablet can add value.
Firstly it can improve your productivity - thus fitting more tasks into a day. An example of this is cutting out double entry of notes taken in a meeting to produce minutes.
The second way in which the TabletPC platform can add value is to improve the quality of the output you produce. For example adding diagrams and sketches to a mind map can better capture your meaning than a typed map.
Lastly a tablet can add value by reducing business risk. This one is harder to quantify - but have you ever been unable to find a note you wrote down or forgotten an action item that was assigned to you in a meeting?
So will a TabletPC be a better option for you? I can't answer that - but for me it would only take a productivity improvment of less than 30 seconds a day to make it worth while - to say nothing of improving quality or lowering risk. What I can say is you should do the numbers before you rule out a tablet on price.