Kindle vs. Laptop: Why Kindle Beats a Laptop When It Comes To eBooks

Kindle has been around for a while, but surprisingly a lot of people are finding about it these right now. When it was released, people were complaining about its lack of compatibility with PDF files (?) and its high cost. Now, the whole PDF issue was blown out of proportion as you can convert most PDF files to Kindle format and play it on your Amazon Kindle. The cost was high at first, but I find the $359 price tag to be reasonable, considering the free wireless service that you get with your Kindle. But now at $259 (the limited time price), you would expect people to stop complaining so much about Kindle. But here is the new complaint that is going around the net: a laptop does everything a Kindle does and therefore is a much wiser option.

Well, here is why Kindle TKOs a Laptop when it comes to reading:

• Portability: Even the lightest laptops can’t hold a candle to Amazon Kindle. Kindle is simply made for the portable life. If you are on the go all the time and you would like to keep up with your favorite newspapers, blogs, or books, Kindle is a hands down.
• Convenience: a laptop is great for reading ebooks that you already have, but it does not allow you to download new ebooks in less than 30 seconds (unless of course Amazon offers your favorite books in PDF format as well). Kindle on the other hand is linked to your Amazon account, and one can argue that buying from the Kindle store is the fastest way you can buy a book anywhere.
• Experience: I don’t know about you, but my eyes hurt after an hour of reading an eBook on my MacBook. I also can’t really take to bed and use it to read books before my asleep. With Kindle, it’s so tiny and convenient, that you can take it anywhere and read your book in any position, even when you are half asleep. Besides, I have never read a book on my laptop and said afterwards, “boy, it felt like I was reading a real book.”
• Price: Most laptops are more expensive than Amazon Kindle, and you wouldn’t buy a second laptop just to be able to read eBooks. Besides, Laptops don’t come with a wireless plan, so you have to take that into account as well.
• Battery Life: Amazon Kindle beats any laptop in the market in the battery life department hands down. No laptop can go for a week or even 4 days all the way without needing a recharge. If you are reading a book on your laptop, you’ll either have to be plugged in all the time, or you need to turn your laptop off after 4 hours MAX (if you don’t have your adapter with you).
• Features: comparing a laptop and a Kindle is a little bit like comparing apples and oranges. Kindle comes with features that are specifically designed for people who like to read, a lot. Whether it’s bookmarking, taking notes, or researching on Wikipedia, the Kindle has it all. A laptop is simply a laptop. It can do a lot of things, but it is not designed specifically for reading.

Am I suggesting that you should choose the Kindle over a laptop, if you don’t have a personal computer? Absolutely not. The Kindle is designed for people who read a lot of books and can use a separate device for that purpose. The Kindle can’t handle Microsoft Word or other software solutions, so if you need a laptop, you should get a laptop. That’s the whole point. A laptop is used for a lot of different things whereas the Kindle is used for reading (or listening to audio). That’s its purpose. It’s perfect for college students, but not so much for programming C#. Would you buy a car when you want the whole bike riding experience?