Returning an Eloquent model as JSON in Laravel 4

Question

How do you return an Eloquent model to the browser as JSON? What is the difference between the two methods below? Both seems to work.

#1:

Answer 1

Response::json($someArray) is a generic way to return JSON data.

return $model->toJson() is specific to returning a model as JSON. This would be my preferred approach when working with an Eloquent model.