Difference between data fetching through AsQueryable() and through ToList() in ASP.NET MVC 5

According To My UNDERSTANDING:-

Examples 1:

Imagine you have a big basket of fruit with many different kinds of fruit. AsQueryable is like looking at the basket and picking out only the fruits that you want to eat. You don't need to take out all the fruit from the basket, just the ones that you want to eat.

ToList is like taking out all the fruit from the basket and placing them on the counter so that you can see all of them at once. This can be useful if you want to count how many fruits you have or if you want to share them with others.

So, if you only want to eat certain fruits, you would use AsQueryable to pick out the ones that you want to eat. But if you want to see all the fruits that you have, you would use ToList to take them all out and place them on the counter.

Example 2:

Imagine you have a big box with lots of toys inside. You want to take out one toy at a time to play with it. AsQueryable is like peeking inside the box to see which toy you want to play with next. It doesn't take out all the toys at once, just the one you want.

ToList is like dumping out the entire box of toys onto the floor so you can see all of them at once.

AsQueryable is faster because it only takes out the toys you need, when you need them. ToList takes out all the toys at once, which can be slow if you have a lot of toys.

So, AsQueryable is like being smart and only taking out what you need when you need it. ToList is like being messy and taking everything out all at once.