As tablets climb, laptop growth slows

One of the hottest technologies to hit the market in recent years, tablet computers have captured the enthusiasm of business users and consumers alike. However, as a recent BusinessDay report notes, the meteoric rise of tablets has come at a cost.

The news provider states that laptop sales have slowed as a result of the tablet's success. Though their functions are not exactly identical to one other, tablets and laptops overlap enough that some may not find it necessary to own both.

Tablets, for example, tend to be more portable and easily navigable than most laptops. They require less hardware and, of course, carry something of a "cool" factor given the amount of hype surrounding them.

This isn't to say that tablets eclipse laptops in all ways. On the contrary, the physical keyboards of laptops and their larger storage capacities tend to make them useful for productivity purposes. Additionally, laptops have the advantage of familiarity, which many users may favor.

Last year, research firm Gartner identified tablets as a disruptive force in the PC industry. However, according to Gartner, PC sales are still expected to remain strong, increasing nearly 16 percent this year over 2010.