Touch Pad or Laptop?

[Mugz]

I'm not up to speed on any of the new technology these days...

This is for the wife for X-mas...

I see the HP touchpads are reasonably priced at about $300.
ipads seems to be upwards of $700. What's the $400 difference?
Capability wise they seem to be the same 16 or 32.
Basically she uses the computer for MyFace, searching the internet, shopping, checking email and picture storage. I figured a Touchpad type doohicky would suffice. She won't be doing any gaming, creating spreadsheets or using any software that requires a large amount of Memory or storage.....put it that way.

Laptops are pricey but if someone can convince me they are a better bang for my buck, I'll consider this avenue as well.

Also...I'm confused about wiFi....do I call Comcast and have them set me up (I imagine so). What will that cost?
Will a touchpad work though wifi or are these used via cell phone signals, etc, etc....I'm clueless. In other words, do I have to buy through AT&T and have that cost added to my cell bill?