For the ease of scooting around long distances then zipping into places, I find the tablet the best thing for planning. It makes a laptop clunky for the same work. And then on power, my ipad pulls .15 amps while my macbook takes 1.5 amps to charge @ 115 volts. But you can go direct with the ipad through a 12v plug(slower charging but the draw is half). It's a non issue for charging. It will serve all your internet needs, photo loading and manipulating, it goes on and on. Your laptops will become the new back up.