A tablet is only better than a laptop for portability and ease of convenience....when you appreciate the space savings and lack of bulk, just like browsing on your phone, but it's a larger screen with higher tech specs and features. I say 2-in-1 because when you need to be productive I can slap a keyboard on it and go. Viola, you have a laptop. But wait, there's more! The beauty of the Surface is that it can not only be a laptop but it can desktop too! It has a high-definition A/V out, so you can connect it to a larger monitor. Then if you want to grab it and take it to the couch to browse around while watching TV, or on the move, or on a plane, you can do so without the keyboard and it's convenient, like an e-reader. With the Surface though you have the size and portability of a tablet, WITH the keyboard. The type and touch keyboards are just a couple millimeters thick. It's a cover with a keyboard that takes up virtually no more space when folded. Very slick and convenient.
Some people do just fine with a laptop, and maybe you one of those people. A tablet is a luxury product, like a boat. A nicety. I myself would not have purchased the Surface unless it could have also replaced my aging laptop, which it has because its internals are a full computer, but it's in a tablet form. 2-in-1.