RANKED: The 4 best tablets to replace your laptop

Laptop and desktop sales have contracted since their last peak in 2011, while people do more and more of their daily computing on their tablets and smartphones. That's led gadget makers to chase the dream of a laptop-replacement tablet: a machine with all the flexible, adaptive perks of a tablet, but the functionality necessary to be your personal computer.

The problem is, designers still deeply disagree about what such a device should look like, and their resulting products scarcely resemble one another. That can make it hard to choose between them on specs alone. We took a look at the four most serious tablet contenders to boot your laptop out of your bag.

Here's what I found.