What is the difference between a convertable note and a regular seed round, in laymen’s terms?

People often refer to "seed" capital as an early stage raising of equity capital — i.e., selling stock. By comparison a convertible note is the sale of debt that may be (but is not necessarily) converted into stock at a later date. These are both describing the sale of different types of securities.

However, I think "seed" capital is better thought of as a stage of raising capital as opposed to the type of security you might sell. In this way, it usually refers to raising a smallish amount of money (usually $1M or less) in order to get a company up and running and prove out certain parts of the business model. So, "seed" in this manner would better be compared to Series A funding, which normally comes after the seed funding.

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