Phone tethering tends to eat through the battery, also, there's just a difference in how you use it and how it feels. On the one hand you've got a laptop that

Phone tethering tends to eat through the battery, also, there's just a difference in how you use it and how it feels. On the one hand you've got a laptop that is online the whole time, on the other hand you've got a situation where you have to have to fiddle with two devices to get online. Moving onlineness from a deliberate, modal thing to a continuous thing changes the way you interact with the network.