As a current university student, I see a lot of iPads and Surface tablets in my classes. They have essentially replaced traditional laptops in any specialties that isn’t computer science adjacent.

You can handwrite notes straight your textbooks/slides or type with an external keyboard without having to carry around a textbook+notebook+laptop. It’s very convenient.

Heh, reminds me of this ancient meme from when the iPad first came out

Tablets are very good for things that you wouldn't wanna do on your phone because of its small screen.

Reading comics.

If you're a digital artist or someone looking to get into digital art, an IPad Air with an Apple Pencil is the cheapest entry-point that doesn't require a computer and doesn't absolutely suck.

Tablets are good for "consumption" vs laptops/desktops that are better for "creation/production".

If all you want to do is browse the web, social media, watch videos, etc then tablets are a simpler interface for doing that, compared to dealing with all the extra things involved in a desktop OS.

For creation/production, aka "real work", laptop/desktop is obviously much more efficient and powerful for that.

I used to think the same.

Turns out they are a good alternative to laptops.

If you don't need powerful hardware, then tablets allow to save space in the backpack, are way lighter and always have a touch screen, which in connection with a stylus is big deal for taking notes. Laptops with a touch screen, in comparison, cost way more (at least where I live they do).

Personally, I use it for studying and media consumption. It replaced almost all of my paper. You can also sign documents using those (depends on laws in your country). Inserting photos into documents is one thing you can't do as easily with laptops as well.

And when I do need access to better hardware, I just remote to my PC at home.

Even though I have relatively decent phone which can display 1080p videos no problem, I still prefer watching videos on my crappier tablet scaled down to 720p because it's still better to watch worse quality video on bigger screen than better quality video on smaller.

Comic book and sheet music reader for me.

Digital Comics. They're the best device for them.

Replacing paper for handwriting.

That's literally my only use for my iPad. Which is sort of sad, since it's a very capable device, just hamstrung by Apple's shitty software.

A lot of digital artists use the iPad because of Procreate. It's a nice alternative to having to use a separate laptop + pen display.

For many people, a tablet is a decent alternative to a laptop. Not everyone needs the capabilities of a laptop.

Digital cook books (either in PDF or on Kindle) are amazing on a tablet.

Also, any other kind of PDF. Way better for D&D rulebooks (or other rpg games).

Also comics, video, youtube, etc.

I don't really see the use at home either, but for notetaking at school it is an absolute godsent. No more forgetting stuff at home or carrying around a heavy folder

Reading on the train

Being in a highly technical field I agree with you in wondering the point of tablets, but I am seeing a couple of people in the local transport use it as a replacement for pen-paper with an added advantage of collaboration on a document with multiple people.

I'm not bothered to check, but tablets might be cheaper than 2-in-1 or otherwise touchscreen PC laptops.

With a 6,6" phone I don't need a tablet for everyday carry because the screen is just big enough. Back in the day of 5" screens I always had a need for a tablet. Nevertheless, tablets are great for certain professional tasks.

Like taking inventories, putting together orders and other warehouse tasks where I need to work with spreadsheets on the go but a laptop is just too unwieldy.

Tablets are also absolutely great for live mixing with digital boards—you can walk around in the audience and adjust the sound on the spot. Same for adjusting the system settings while doing installations. And for small gigs, the mixing board can be tucked away in a stage corner and not clutter the floor.

Pilots use tablets as digital kneeboards for checklists and other necessities.

Tablets also make great POS devices and there are many specialised models for just that task.

Tablets are simply fantastic for wallmounted or desktop control panels for smarthomes. You can even use the front camera for motion detection so the screen comes automagically on when you approach it. I use WallPanel, but Fully Kiosk Browser is also very popular.

Having a lightweight computer that you can in your hand with a large enough screen. Typing this reply to you on my Galaxy Tab S6 Lite now; nicer to use than my phone.

Handwriting but digital. I used to use a 2in1 laptop (Fujitsu T935, the weird mechanism is a great conversation starter) for that before I eventually stopped handwriting altogether, but I can see how a tablet is more convenient because you don't have to deal with windows BS or make linux work well with a touchscreen. An ARM SoC also helps a lot with weight and battery life at the cost of not having a full computer.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S6 Lite. Mostly use it to take handwritten notes and read books/papers.

At home. 10 years ago I had a phone with a 4.3" screen. I bought a Nexus 7" 2013 (I still have it) and was using it at home for web, games, videos, etc.

In the case of the iPad, cash for apple. Otherwise, a very bad hybrid between portability and workflow. And I mean that on iBads too. The workflow on those is much worse than on Android, especially if files or multiple apps are involved. You know what else has the size of a tablet, built in keyboard, does not need an external monitor to produce a Desktop (in Androids case) and costs 1.3k and not 3k? A Laptop! Case closed. Bonus points with Waydroid if you need your apps that hard.