Well, in that aspect you actually have a very close experience with an iPad: except for the device material value, you can toss it and get a new one to be identical just by signing in and waiting for it to restore the automated backup from last night.
One other exception: I gave my mom a Samsung chromebook and an iPad. The touch interface of the iPad is very intuitive for her and she uses it. The chomebook is being used as a paper weight. Btw ... I don't want to be an Apple fanboy here. I gave my wife's niece a cheap Android tablet and she loves it and uses it (mainly games, email and Internet surfing). I suspect a Chromebook would not be the right solution for her as well. I think tablets hit the sweetspot when it comes to content consumption devices.
The question then is the following: are chromebooks appropriate for content creation? I suspect the answer will be yes someday soon. However, the elderly and children market will not be the right audience for such devices.
Yeah, I've always sort of made fun of my father's hunt-and-peck typing technique, but one advantage is that it works just as well on a tablet with an on-screen keyboard. So, his iPad is better for him than any laptop would be.
Yes, the difference being the difference between an ipad an a laptop (full keyboard, larger screen, etc) and the price. Tablets are great but they can't replace laptops for all use cases IMHO.
