Are desktops and laptops really going away?

S

SuperCell

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 24, 2005
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314
I find this hard to believe, especially in professional and office settings.

However, people act like this is the trend, and that mobile devices/touch screens will predominate.

Maybe I'm too old, but I almost never access the web on my smartphone; I don't even know why I have one. It justs seems silly and cumbersome, but I guess the younger crowd loves it.
 
Not at all. There is still a need for computers, regardless of how often the critics hype "The Post-PC Era."

While more smartphones and tablets are used for casual tasks like e-book reading and media consumption, it will be quite a while before they can come close to matching the raw power, storage capacity, and multiprocessing capabilities of a full-blown computer system.
 
It might be going away for the casual crowd, then again the casual crowd was never really that deep into using computers to begin with.
 
All companies who make tablets, smartphones or mobile OS's want you to believe the PC is dead and that it's no longer needed. It's just self serving BS. Eventually things will probably move to a more mobile device that you can dock when at home to have a full "desktop" experience, but we're not there yet. Even most laptops aren't good enough for this yet, let alone tablets or smartphones. PC's will be around for a long, long time to come.
 
I have a tablet for reading (kindle books), and for when I go on vacation and just need something small to check email. I have a laptop for vacations when I know I have time to game. At home, I have a desktop to game on and do everything. I leave it running 24/7 (hardfolding), so any computer experience at home is on the desktop. If I had to choose just one of these three to keep, well obviously it would be my desktop. I can't imagine gaming on a tablet, or even on a laptop indefinitely.
 
It is really ridiculous to assume that. Mobile devices are great for content consumption but actual content creation is always going to happen on a PC. The only true threat to a PC is a thin client but you would have to overcome bandwidth issues (wireless & physical) & it really isn't practical for home use.
 
The market is going to shrink, probably to late 90's level. Basically enthusiasts, buisnesses, and students who need to type lots of stuff are going to have them, everyone else will get by with their phone/tablet devices and whatnot.
 
People have been saying it for years. Ever try doing real work on a tablet or your phone? Yeah, they're not going anywhere. People that actually want to get shit done or serious gamers still need real computers to do things, and always will. I agree that the market will shrink, but they're not going anywhere. The same people that think desktops and laptops are a dying breed are the same people that think the cloud is a new and fresh concept.
 
wtburnette said:
Eventually things will probably move to a more mobile device that you can dock when at home to have a full "desktop" experience, but we're not there yet. Even most laptops aren't good enough for this yet,
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I have been using Dell Latitudes with docking stations for "real work" since 2004 just fine. Outside of gaming, today's dockable laptops are more than capable of replacing desktops.
 
Yeah, I think it has shown with sale trends of desktops.

Unless you literally meant them going away...
 
soupcxan said:
I have been using Dell Latitudes with docking stations for "real work" since 2004 just fine. Outside of gaming, today's dockable laptops are more than capable of replacing desktops.
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That depends on what you consider real work, and not just for gaming. For the average user, sure. But there are things that I do on my desktop that are simply frustrating to do on a laptop.
 
SuperCell said:
I find this hard to believe, especially in professional and office settings.
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Yes they are going to go. But not just yet. At some point, you'll be able to sit in front of a desk and your portable computing device will automatically connect to the keyboard and mouse and monitor or you'll plug it into a docking station. But that's a long while off.
 
PolygonGTC said:
That depends on what you consider real work, and not just for gaming. For the average user, sure. But there are things that I do on my desktop that are simply frustrating to do on a laptop.
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A laptop is not a tablet. A laptop is a desktop computer inside a small form fact with a permanent screen attached to it. What makes a laptop so troublesome to use for most "real" work is the touchpad/thumbpad that laptops have. Using that to do any kind of work quickly and effectively is a PITA sometimes. However, you can easily connect a USB mouse and keyboard to a laptop, as well as a bigger LCD and tuck the laptop under the desk somewhere and you'll never know... until

You are doing really process intensive work. Such as heavy video & photo work, lots of virtual machines to test different environments, 3D rendering, compiling complicated code, intense gaming, etc... In which case it's more a limitation of the hardware the laptop/notebook is running. Since most laptops/notebooks use the same design from desktops, the only major difference is the fact that those parts that are designed from the desktop run slower and use less power due to the nature of a laptop. (Less cooling, less power available)

Though from the sound of it, the trouble you have with laptops/notebooks and anything else that isn't a desktop is the input methods that you use to interact with the hardware.

I still stand by my original statement. Desktop computers are not going anywhere. A decline in sales is not a sign of extinction; in this case it's a sign of a maturing market. Desktops are becoming exponentially more powerful than general software (web browsing) needs these days, thus people simply aren't needing to upgrade/update their desktops unless is physically stops working.
 
The biggest reason that full-featured PCs aren't going away anytime soon is that tablets are still fully dependent on them for development purposes. Development tools on tablets are basically nonexistent at this point.
 
Cameras aren't dead and will probably never completely go away, but the standalone camera industry has indisputably been dramatically changed and reduced by the smartphone and tablet industries. Casual photographers just use their cellphones and tablets now, while standalone cameras are for professionals and do things that cellphone and tablets will never do.

I see no reason to believe the same thing won't happen to the desktop and laptop industries. Players (both major and minor) in the desktop and laptop industries just need to heed the lesson of the camera industry and not be Kodak.
 
soupcxan said:
I have been using Dell Latitudes with docking stations for "real work" since 2004 just fine. Outside of gaming, today's dockable laptops are more than capable of replacing desktops.
Click to expand...

PolygonGTC said:
That depends on what you consider real work, and not just for gaming. For the average user, sure. But there are things that I do on my desktop that are simply frustrating to do on a laptop.
Click to expand...

Exactly, my point was that laptops aren't there for everyone, they can't replace every desktop. Gaming, high end CAD or other content creation still demands a pretty powerful workstation. There are laptops that will do the trick, but they're usually more expensive. I have a gaming laptop that's great for taking to LAN parties, but it doesn't dock, has more limited connections then my desktop and a few other things that make it less suitable to become my main system. Not to mention that after 3 years, I have to replace the whole system again to have the performance I want for modern games, where I could just replace the video card in a desktop.

Anyway, the comment about laptops was more an aside to show that even our current mobile offerings aren't quite there and laptops have been around a long time. I predict a similar timeframe for tablet/smartphone devices to get to the point where they could replace a full desktop experience. For a lot of people, that could be now or pretty soon, but there will be people who need more for a long time to come. Eventually we may have something that meets everyone's needs that is portable for out and about and provides the necessary experience when "docked", whatever that may look like at that point. May be plugging into a home system via wireless so you can view on your full wall screens with some alternative input, who knows? Don't want to look any dumber by making a prediction :p
 
tiraides said:
Not at all. There is still a need for computers, regardless of how often the critics hype "The Post-PC Era."
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The post-PC era is not predicated on the elimination of desktops and laptops. It is predicated on the supplanting of desktops and laptops as the primary form of computing for the majority of users. That is absolutely happening and has arguably already happened.
 
Then that is a difference in definition. When I hear POST-PC era, I think "the era after the existance of PC's", i.e PC's aren't used anymore. PCs are still used, hence, it's not post PC era.

(And if you want to get even more nitpicky you could say as long as it's personal and performs computations, it's a personal computer, hence, tablets are PCs)

So it would be useful to start by using sentences that have no chance of being misunderstood, if you want to have a constructive discussion :D
 
Magix said:
Then that is a difference in definition. When I hear POST-PC era, I think "the era after the existance of PC's", i.e PC's aren't used anymore. PCs are still used, hence, it's not post PC era.
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We are in the post-PC era just as we are in the post-truck era. They're still around, they just aren't the primary means of personal transport.
 
I'm expecting the difference between home computer and workstation will grow.

When I'm at work, I need a workstation with a keyboard and mouse and an operating system with good multitasking capabilities.

When I'm at home, I can get away with a tablet, or touch interface. I don't use my desktop at home much anymore other to work from home. I primarily use my iPad.
 
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