Why the PC crashed: our love affair with tablets

STEPHEN Bernasconi walked into his local shopping centre on Nov 25 intending to buy a laptop. His three-year-old Dell Inspiron had broken down and he wanted something to keep up with gaming.

Instead, the 23-year-old walked out of PC World with an iPad Air. “I decided that this would be a more effective purchase as it allows me to do everything I require — Netflix, Spotify, Twitter, good games. It’s light and can run loads of apps at once and doesn’t slow down.” He’d considered buying a Google Nexus 10 tablet, but having recently switched to an iPhone, he decided to stick with Apple.

Emma Gilliam, meanwhile, hasn’t replaced the Toshiba laptop she used at home since it died in Jun 2012; she also bought an iPad. A university lecturer, she has a PC for work, but said, “I don’t need more than a tablet for domestic or social use.” She said a big benefit is that because the iPad doesn’t run Microsoft programs, she can keep work and home separate.