Does it Still Make Sense to Buy a Desktop PC?

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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The question is a real one to most non-power users out there, but grates on the ears of computer enthusiasts. It’s a fact that desktop sales are diminishing and hand-held devices like laptops, netbooks and tablets are now the highest demand, but is it enough to signal the beginning of the end for general use desktop PC’s?

Laptop sales first eclipsed desktop sales back in 2008, and that was pretty much the beginning of the end for desktop superiority.
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It helps that Desktops are built like tanks compared to the mobile equivalents and offer more horsepower for less money. With more software being developed with slower mobile hardware in mind, desktops are lasting longer compared to their throwaway counterparts.
 
it also helps that there hasn't been huge developments in speed and features on PCs in the last few years...

most people still running c2ds that ask me if they should upgrade... i tell them no... c2d w/ 2 or 4GB ram is fine for 95% of people...
 
After getting the rMBP, I don't see a point in getting a desktop. It's the best computer I've owned.

I can run 3 external monitors at 1920x1200 or 2 at 2560x1600 and another at 1920x1200. I can use the same machine to be mobile and use it for presentations and working with others away from my desk. For my needs, I don't see a reason to go back to a desktop.
 
Better question - does it make sense to buy a tablet?

What in gawds name would I use a tablet for that a desktop/laptop and phone don't already cover?

A laptop + docking station + external monitor and hard drive probably makes more sense for the majority of users, but if you A. game B. listen to music C. Anything computationally intensive a desktop still makes sense. I admit, I could probably ditch my desktop and get by just fine.
 
Paradigm shift in the market for personal computing. Desktops are becoming a niche market. Such is business. Just because they made TV, didn't mean movies became obsolete.
 
Yes, buy a desktop, they don't make laptops (at least cheap ones) with 22" LCD's.

Buy a laptop if you really don't have room for a desktop & display.

As for me, I'll stick to building my own desktops. It's cheaper and I can reuse parts when I upgrade. My 5 year old Power supplies and LCD's still work fine. Besides, Laptops don't have room for 4 harddisks :)
 
For anyone who's not a girl, or like a girl (yeah, that's an insult), no laptop or portable computer can replace an ergonomic keyboard and a giant monitor of a Desktop. I find laptops and portables to be very annoying to use.

While Desktop power isn't as important as it once was, a real man demands more horsepower than anything portable delivers - just on principle.
 
This question has come since the big push on smart phones started. Of course there are still good reasons to get a PC, just not for a majority of the people anymore.

For that majority they just want video play back and internet. Thats where Dell/HP/Asus used to make their money, selling the dirt cheap, crap computers that could barely load WinXP but give you a good enough internet experience. Tablets do a majority of this just fine, and that says a lot.

For those who have real office work, legit hobbies that can use a computer (audio recording, video encoding, office apps, gaming, etc.) you are going to pay out more to have the same in the mobile world then on the desktop.

So yea I still think PC Desktops are very much legit. My laptop (i7, 8gig, 6770m) has done a great job of supplementing my aging desktop, but it won't ever replace it.
 
nutzo said:
Yes, buy a desktop, they don't make laptops (at least cheap ones) with 22" LCD's.

Buy a laptop if you really don't have room for a desktop & display.

As for me, I'll stick to building my own desktops. It's cheaper and I can reuse parts when I upgrade. My 5 year old Power supplies and LCD's still work fine. Besides, Laptops don't have room for 4 harddisks :)
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Except I have 2 22" 1080p LED Monitors that I run off my laptop. It allows me to have all the real estate I need when I'm at my desk.

But then I can unplug it and take my actual computer on the road. Not a hastily synced copy of things, not a "similarly laid out machine", my actual computer.

And to be perfectly honest, I've never run across anything that this MBP couldn't overkill.

Now part of that is because I REALLY don't game anymore, but at the same time, a mobile Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge is as fast, or faster then anything from any previous generation, and while it would loose to a desktop Sandy/Ivy Bridge, I have yet to notice any performance difference between the two except in synthetic benchmarks, which have almost no actual value in the real world.


Don't get me wrong, there is still a purpose for a desktop, but for the majority of people, that purpose has gotten really hard to justify when a unnoticeably-slower-laptop is the approximately the same price as a big and bulky desktop.
 
Every few months somebody asks this question... for years and years people have been saying the pc is "dead"

Walk into any sizable business anywhere in the western world and tell me that the pc is dead. It's a load of horseshit, just like it always has been.
 
Cobalt35 said:
Every few months somebody asks this question... for years and years people have been saying the pc is "dead"

Walk into any sizable business anywhere in the western world and tell me that the pc is dead. It's a load of horseshit, just like it always has been.
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The article isn't about business users.
 
answer, depends entirely on what your computer needs. If you want a cheap, dependable computer or a powerhouse desktop is the way, portability and gimmiks are reserved for tablets and laptops
 
Zumino Zufeilon said:
Except I have 2 22" 1080p LED Monitors that I run off my laptop. It allows me to have all the real estate I need when I'm at my desk.

But then I can unplug it and take my actual computer on the road. Not a hastily synced copy of things, not a "similarly laid out machine", my actual computer.

And to be perfectly honest, I've never run across anything that this MBP couldn't overkill.

Now part of that is because I REALLY don't game anymore, but at the same time, a mobile Sandy Bridge or Ivy Bridge is as fast, or faster then anything from any previous generation, and while it would loose to a desktop Sandy/Ivy Bridge, I have yet to notice any performance difference between the two except in synthetic benchmarks, which have almost no actual value in the real world.


Don't get me wrong, there is still a purpose for a desktop, but for the majority of people, that purpose has gotten really hard to justify when a unnoticeably-slower-laptop is the approximately the same price as a big and bulky desktop.
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I do agree that is is the greatest thing about moving a laptop around.
 
In my eyes, desktops will be less common, but still with a pretty big share. Reason is simple - the ones who were buying desktops for the absolutely basic usage (web, email, skype, word processing) will swithc to laptops. But the rest of the market will slowly wake up from the laptop/tablet usage, as they will notice the shortcomings of the laptops and tablets (low performance, usually low gaming performance, bad displays, noisy cooling) and some will slowly come back to desktops, or mini PC's.
 
My desktop bogs when using photoshop and that's at 4.7 GHz. No way I'm trying that on a laptop. I use my laptop when I go out of town and that's about it.
 
All this means as that desktop components may start going up in price as there is less demand for them..
 
personally i'll buy or rather build a desktop for ever, as i game alot and try to improve my 3d modeling skillz. but for the average joe i dont think so for alot of peeps who just need it for basic use the laptops and tablets make more sense
 
goodcooper said:
most people still running c2ds that ask me if they should upgrade... i tell them no... c2d w/ 2 or 4GB ram is fine for 95% of people...
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While I think I can agree with this statement, even though I just put together an X79 platform desktop. I use my MBP with a C2D for the same tasks most people use computers for: email, general surfing, etc and it still works great. For games, that's where the desktop comes into play for me. I also tend to write more of my papers on the desktop but it would work about the same if I just setup a laptop with external monitor, keyboard and mouse I suppose.

sleepeeg3 said:
Better question - does it make sense to buy a tablet?

What in gawds name would I use a tablet for that a desktop/laptop and phone don't already cover?.
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I use my TouchPad mostly for browsing at night while laying in bed. A laptop would work but it takes up more space on the nightstand than the TP sitting on its dock. The more interesting use I have seen is other students using tablets with a bluetooth keyboard to take notes during class. If I had an iPad I would probably do this since it does have more useful apps but I don't really want to buy one. I'm thinking more about an 11" MBA or 13" Ultrabook. The 13" MBP is nice and was pretty lightweight with a solid build when I bought it but damn does it feel heavy compared to the others now. I'm also only traveling back and forth to class now instead of taking trips for work so I don't really need something much more powerful than a ultraportable for the next 3-4 years while I finish school, finally.

I don't forsee me not using a desktop in the near future unless something completely magically happens to make them obsolete. I tried that when I first bought an Xbox 360 but I always found my way back to playing and enjoying PC Games more.
 
1) Desktops are cheaper
2) Desktops are faster
3) Desktops break less often due to less physical abuse.
4) Desktops tend to have more screen real estate.
5) Desktops are harder to steal.
6) Desktops are more upgradable.

If you don't need portability, a desktop is a much better solution. I wonder how much of laptop sales outpacing desktop sales is more due to the fact of laptops having a shorter usable lifetime compared to desktops and needing to be replaced sooner.
 
Considering that most people don't really do anything that CPU/GPU intensive on their computers anyway, it makes sense for quite a lot of folks to skip a desktop. The portability of a laptop and tablet just make more sense.

Personally speaking, I could probably do without a desktop if Intel/AMD offer some good on-die GPU improvements next year. If Haswell and Kaveri are able to drive 1080p gaming at medium settings then I'll probably sell my desktop :p
 
siliconnerd said:
If you don't need portability, a desktop is a much better solution. I wonder how much of laptop sales outpacing desktop sales is more due to the fact of laptops having a shorter usable lifetime compared to desktops and needing to be replaced sooner.
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Probably not much considering that the usable lifetime of a laptop for Facebook is something like 15 years.
 
pelo said:
Considering that most people don't really do anything that CPU/GPU intensive on their computers anyway, it makes sense for quite a lot of folks to skip a desktop. The portability of a laptop and tablet just make more sense.

Personally speaking, I could probably do without a desktop if Intel/AMD offer some good on-die GPU improvements next year. If Haswell and Kaveri are able to drive 1080p gaming at medium settings then I'll probably sell my desktop :p
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Read my mind. This is the best answer so far.
 
pelo said:
Considering that most people don't really do anything that CPU/GPU intensive on their computers anyway, it makes sense for quite a lot of folks to skip a desktop. The portability of a laptop and tablet just make more sense.

Personally speaking, I could probably do without a desktop if Intel/AMD offer some good on-die GPU improvements next year. If Haswell and Kaveri are able to drive 1080p gaming at medium settings then I'll probably sell my desktop :p
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Settling for medicre performance is so [H]ard.
 
Just for energy consumption, if your only surfing a cheap apu goes a long way.

For gaming , there's alot of sense in a desktop , cause laptops tend to be hotter with discrete vid cards.
 
pelo said:
Considering that most people don't really do anything that CPU/GPU intensive on their computers anyway, it makes sense for quite a lot of folks to skip a desktop. The portability of a laptop and tablet just make more sense.

Personally speaking, I could probably do without a desktop if Intel/AMD offer some good on-die GPU improvements next year. If Haswell and Kaveri are able to drive 1080p gaming at medium settings then I'll probably sell my desktop :p
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Meh. If you want to work/game do it on a desktop. If you have need of portability get a tablet. Laptops are a no man's land IMHO. Pricey, non-upgradeable, easily broken, expensive to repair short of a great warranty, and they run hot when doing anything intensive which can burn out thermostats.
 
I'll never buy another desktop.. Actually I haven't bought a desktop since my first 486DX25.


I just build them myself now.
 
Skripka said:
Meh. If you want to work/game do it on a desktop. If you have need of portability get a tablet. Laptops are a no man's land IMHO. Pricey, non-upgradeable, easily broken, expensive to repair short of a great warranty, and they run hot when doing anything intensive which can burn out thermostats.
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Actually, MS's figures show that desktops are more prone to hardware failure than are laptops.

You can also use a laptop just as you do a desktop. It has (nearly) all the same ports and considering we're so far ahead of the curve in hardware-to-software, a laptop is more than enough computing power for nearly everyone. Gaming is really the only issue I'd personally have but that'd be easily fixed with a good on-die GPU. You can plug in two or three monitors to your laptop just as you can a desktop, keyboard and mouse and even upgrade the components yourself. It's also more fun taking apart a laptop than it is a desktop =P

Considering my usage, I'd be fine with a laptop and so would a majority of people. The only intensive task I do is gaming and that's only for 5-6 hours a week. I have 3 monitors which I could hook up to a laptop (intel also offers wireless display), a mouse, external storage with an HTPC serving as a server/storage box or just a couple of hard drives connected via expresscard/usb. There really is nothing tying me to a desktop other than that 5-6 hours of gaming a week, and for most people it's even less. Frankly, it's not surprising to see the sales figures: 3/4 of all PCs sold are laptops.
 
To the masses interface and portability will mean more over time. Desktops will still be around and the users that support the market will continue to be strong. In many countries where the poor is finally coming out of the lowest class of income , expensive portable computers that even as close to as fast as a home solution will provide the desktop much needed longevity.

However I think the hobbyist market surrounding ultra high end parts will not be as strong overtime. But I also don't believe they will simply disappear. Every time the media decides its time to declare the "Desktop PC is dead" I laugh.

Relax. It'll be around for a long time to come. It'll evolve , you'll be fine.
 
pelo said:
Actually, MS's figures show that desktops are more prone to hardware failure than are laptops.
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And there is much skepticism about what hardware they were surveying that had such a high failure rate. I remember the story, and I remember lots of incredulous reactions to the story.
 
Desktop PCs will remain relevant. Not everyone wants solder togethered laptops. I have a tablet and I realized that a) I never use it without the dock. B) I do PC stuff on it poorly. Truthfully, it is only good for the movies as the battery life is fantastic (Transformer).

Otherwise, I noticed I take my laptop with me on the road. So I have two units. No purpose.

I'll probably sell it and my next major purchase will be an ultrabook capable of high resolution (Asus has one now that does 1920x1080 on its 13").
 
My older customers prefer to have both a desktop and a laptop. While they can dock a laptop or plug it in to peripherals they just don't care to bother with that. They prefer to turn the damned thing on, sit down and do their thing. My younger customers have no problem with connecting external monitors and such, but their eyes are better and they know which way connectors have to be positioned to quickly connect them without a hassle. Nothing pisses off older customers than fussing with connecting some item to use it. They want convenience and they will pay to have it.

That said, most of my customers are running older desktops because they just don't need all of the computing power than the newer systems offer. With that fact alone I can see why desktop sales are flattening out or even dropping slightly. I clean, tune and update their systems regularly and until there are some major changes that require new hardware or they experience a major hardware failure, they will stay with the desktop systems they have now.

As far a MS and their hardware failure reports, that's one of the first things I turn off on a customer system (mine too). I'm sure that I'm not the only one who does this.
 
Skripka said:
And there is much skepticism about what hardware they were surveying that had such a high failure rate. I remember the story, and I remember lots of incredulous reactions to the story.
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But you can't claim laptops are somehow more failure prone. The MS figures are derived from countless machines over a long period of time and your personal opinion on the matter isn't going to change that. I was surprised at the figures myself, but if you think about it you'd realize it makes a bit of sense. Laptops are put together and fired up, tested and then an OS is installed along with all the other applications. When you build a PC you don't get that sort of attention to detail unless you do it yourself -- prime95, Linpack, etc, and any errors get logged. You go through RMAs/replacements until you find one that's suitable. The only tangible failure rate where laptops would be higher than desktops would be due to being dropped but if you treat it as a stationary device like a desktop (meaning matching them evenly) then that too goes away.

You don't get as many parts to pick and choose from with laptops but it's slowly getting there. With thunderbolt you might even have a dedicated GPU box, meaning you can come home, plug in your laptop through thunderbolt to your external GPU and start gaming :)
 
pelo said:
But you can't claim laptops are somehow more failure prone. The MS figures are derived from countless machines over a long period of time and your personal opinion on the matter isn't going to change that. I was surprised at the figures myself, but if you think about it you'd realize it makes a bit of sense. Laptops are put together and fired up, tested and then an OS is installed along with all the other applications. When you build a PC you don't get that sort of attention to detail unless you do it yourself -- prime95, Linpack, etc, and any errors get logged. You go through RMAs/replacements until you find one that's suitable. The only tangible failure rate where laptops would be higher than desktops would be due to being dropped but if you treat it as a stationary device like a desktop (meaning matching them evenly) then that too goes away.

You don't get as many parts to pick and choose from with laptops but it's slowly getting there. With thunderbolt you might even have a dedicated GPU box, meaning you can come home, plug in your laptop through thunderbolt to your external GPU and start gaming :)
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With Thunderbolt you have to pay a $50 premium on every single part...and there are no end devices that support it yet. I'll bet that Thunderbolt goes the way of FireWire actually. So all your talk of Thunderbolt is falling on deaf ears until it actually goes anywhere.

I doubt the stats Microsoft generated in that story. I'll just say that. I and many others on [H] and elsewhere think those numbers were about as scientifically and statistically valid as the number the RIAA comes out when talking about infringement.
 
Cobalt35 said:
Every few months somebody asks this question... for years and years people have been saying the pc is "dead"

Walk into any sizable business anywhere in the western world and tell me that the pc is dead. It's a load of horseshit, just like it always has been.
Click to expand...

If you were to walk into my business you would find very few desktops. about 95% of our users have Laptop with a docking station at their desk. We also have a very liberal environment were as long as they can be gotten a hold of, we don't much care where they are. Home, office, coffee shop, grocery store, makes no difference as long as the work gets done.
 
Here in Brazil desktop sales are increasing really hard, and fast. Tables and notebooks too, but desktops are with them.

1) People here love to game
2) Poor families buy a desktop for the whole family instead of one notebook per person, of course.

Maybe that's the reality in the USA, but don't forget most developing countries (which are ATM the ones that are growing) haven't reached the highest point on the desktop sales curve.

Is the desktop dead? Not so fast.
 
Skripka said:
With Thunderbolt you have to pay a $50 premium on every single part...and there are no end devices that support it yet. I'll bet that Thunderbolt goes the way of FireWire actually. So all your talk of Thunderbolt is falling on deaf ears until it actually goes anywhere.

I doubt the stats Microsoft generated in that story. I'll just say that. I and many others on [H] and elsewhere think those numbers were about as scientifically and statistically valid as the number the RIAA comes out when talking about infringement.
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I agree with you about Thunderbolt, though only because it's proprietary atm. Proprietary connections just don't work in the long run. You can still set up an external GPU with an express card. I see external parts (HDDs, GPUs, monitors) playing a larger role. People are already skipping the desktop in record numbers, it only makes sense that hardware vendors accommodate that.

MS isn't going to purposely sway anybody and forge their figures. They more to lose with desktops going the way of the dodo bird than anybody else and perhaps even more so.
 
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