Please tell me the difference. All I see is that it's more difficult to switch when using buffers instead of tabs (have to press :, have to add ! if it's not saved).
There are multiple plugins to cosmetically improve interaction with buffers, my favourite is minibufexplorer. Using tabs like you might in other editors is fine for a beginner, but once you begin to learn and use more advanced vim features you'll very quickly realize they don't scale.
Also, you should always make sure 'set hidden' is in your '~/.vimrc'. It's a crime that it's not default in my opinion. Takes care of the dumb "have to add ! if it's not saved)." thing.
