Are laptops headed "the same way" (stagnant) as desktop CPU's?

[nerp]

You're not going to see incredible leaps in performance if you're still working with a 2012 machine. The real improvements over the past couple of years have been in packaging, build quality and battery life. I think it's safe to say that PC makers have caught up and surpassed Apple in terms of build quality and design. Now, expect refinement, higher quality displays, awesome battery life and gradual but steady improvements in speed.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Laptops still have a long way to go. Essentially when they reach relatively fast quad cores at 5-15W. And remember like servers, performance/watt is king.

But if we look 5-10 years out. I would guess that servers is the only single growth left in the semiconductor industry. And everything else is in decline/stagnant. And I wouldn't be surprised if the industry was only 2/3rds the size of today.

 

[Commodus]

You're not going to see incredible leaps in performance if you're still working with a 2012 machine. The real improvements over the past couple of years have been in packaging, build quality and battery life. I think it's safe to say that PC makers have caught up and surpassed Apple in terms of build quality and design. Now, expect refinement, higher quality displays, awesome battery life and gradual but steady improvements in speed.

I don't think that claim entirely holds water. Windows laptop makers are certainly paying much better attention to design, but I still see high-end models with problems that Apple fixed years ago. How many laptops still have lousy keyboards and trackpads? Even the Dell XPS and Lenovo Yoga lines suffer from that to some degree. It's true that you do get touchscreens and more flexibility on the Windows side, and there are some design elements that trump Apple's (hello, Dell XPS "infinity" display). However, I wouldn't call them resounding victories.

With that said, Apple ought to spice up more of its laptop line -- the MacBook Pro hasn't had a significant redesign since 2012. I don't think it has to add touch or become a convertible tablet (OS X would need to be touch-optimized for this to work), but it does need to adapt with the times. Thunderbolt 3, slimmer, maybe longer battery life.