Laptops have long held a niche combining both portability and computational power. For business road warriors, they will still be the go to device. However, most people that own laptops rarely use this combination to its full potential. Friends and family are always asking me for advice on purchasing electronics and computers. Mac vs. PC, laptop vs. desktop, laptop vs. tablet. It all comes down to, "what do you need it to do"?

Away from home, most people only need an internet device to check email, surf the web, chat with friends, and access social networks. At home, needs are a little different. You need a fully fledged computer that can burn DVDs, play games, open and edit documents, edit photos & videos and more. Rarely do you need to do these things from a coffee shop.

Let’s face it, laptops are a compromise. For the same amount of technology power you are going to pay more. They are mobile, but still fairly heavy and bulky. They have limited upgrade options. A better solution is a desktop and tablet combination. You get the best of both worlds, more processing power and more mobility. The best part is together they cost less than the laptop.

Tablets are thin and light and relatively cheap. They may be limited in functionality, but when you get down to it, they do exactly what you really need them to do. For all other tasks, you have your trusty desktop. With the advancement of cloud computing, it has never been easier to access the same data from multiple places. Other limitations of internet devices like physical memory can be overlooked for the same reason.

Right now you can buy a blazing fast desktop with a terabyte hard drive and a decent monitor for around $800. This machine will last for years and can be easily upgraded. It will handle nearly anything you throw at it. An equivalent laptop (that won’t give you a sore back) will cost over $1400, nearly twice as much. To compliment that desktop, get a 7" or 10" tablet. These tablets have big enough screens that you can experience the full web and they are a fraction of the weight of a laptop. Battery life will be longer too. Sure, they have their limitations, but most users won’t miss them. The tablet will set you back about $300. Your grand total for the best of both worlds is $1100.

I predict that the major manufacturers are going to start pairing this winning combination together and giving a price break if you purchase both. We’ve seen it before with printers and other accessories. And that brings us to why tablets will replace laptops. With more and more processing taking place in the cloud on big powerful servers, the need for laptops will diminish. You can already do 90% of your mobile computing on current tablets. In 3 years, laptops for the business road warriors may even be a dying breed.