Tablet is a cheap portable device with no keyboard that is handy for browsing the Web.  Downloading apps and playing games.

Notebook is a small laptop without a disc drive, so you can't play your extensive reggae collection or watch foreign films.

Laptop would mean you can.

Wouldn't be paying a huge amount for them. I just went into tesco to get.my last laptop and asked what they had on offer. Got a decent one for £250 quid

Tablets aren't always cheap, particularly compared to a £250 laptop which is very cheap, you can buy mainstream tablets from £79 to £449, depending on size, brand, spec, space etc.

A tablet is a touch screen device, like a big smart phone that doesn't have a a mobile phone call contract, although you can do everything you need to on a tablet including call and text, using apps.  Most tablets are used on WiFi only so you pay up front and away you go though you can get some with a data plan (pay nothing up front but £25 a month etc) or you can buy a data dongle that allows you to connect to the internet without WiFi.

Most ablets can be connected to cases that contain keyboards if that suits you.

A notebook to me is a wee laptop for using online, its not great for anything "work" related but does all a tablet can do without the touchscreen but with a keyboard.

A laptop is what you expect it is, performance, size, battery life, drives, graphics etc all dependent on price.

You can get a hybrid of one and three, a touch screen tablet that clicks into a proper docking keyboard to become a full laptop.

If having power for more than a couple of hours use without charging is important then you need a laptop, otherwise a good tablet is probably all you'll need - unless you don't want touch screen.

Thanks Andy and Hunted. Much appreciated.