Well not only that, but the average quality of system offered by big box retailers gone DOWN over the years instead of UP.
I remember not that long ago WalMart had lots of MicroATX systems with Core 2 Duo E7xxx or AMD Athlon X2, X4 at legit speeds, etc. Not GREAT systems, but at least usable imho.
Now they have a ton of AIOs and other garbage with AMD netbook processors, along with other neutered laptop crap. Look at this pile :
http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Pavilio...ows-8/27436153
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-E-Series-E1-1500-Notebook-Processor.84852.0.html
"On average the cpu performance of the E1-1500 is a bit below an Athlon X2 L310 at 1.2 GHz. "
Barf. Yes, I've used one of those systems (not that exact model, but the same thing in a super slim case), and it was BEYOND horrible.
SFD - Small Form Desktops such like ITX, mini-ITX, NUC or other will win with complete AIOs. Not permanently because technology process shrinkage will work in full AIO favour, but for quite some time they'll be winning.When my company went through and replaced its desktops, it replaced them with more desktops. When I go to other offices, I see monitors with ITX cases strapped on the back (what do you call these? AIO hybrids?). Or I see Dell all-in-ones.
I think AIO's are the future for office computing, but I think the current desktops, AIO hybrids and AIO's running Win7 will not be replaced for a long time -- until the companies -- like mine -- that bought underpowered slow machines realize their mistake and upgrade. Once a company makes a decision on screen and CPU/mb, the thing will physically last years or decades. So why not buy the monitor with the system? AIO.
But business systems designed to sit on the desks of receptionists and caseworkers need not be large. So they will shrink.
Hobbyists like the larger boxes and motherboards because they give us room to work. Judging from the amount of effort expended and the number of companies expending that effort, it appears that there are large numbers of hobbyists out there.
Then there are the people who do serious computing with their desktops. How big is that market?
But it appears to me that although hobbyists and serious computing folks once were a large part of a small to medium-sized market, we are now a niche in a large market.
I am not sure if the hobbyist market will continue on its own, or piggy-back on the market for serious computing folks. What concerns me is if the market for the two continues to shrink -- even in relative terms -- the cost of our rigs will rise.
PC's are dieing that's all there is to it. A lot of you people make me think of natural disaster situations where they refuse to see the rising water or the smoke from the volcano, go back in there home and start dinner while everyone else is running away. Or the stock holder that keeps saying "it'll come back"
It's not coming back. When I walk into realestate offices I see laptops now. When I walk into a lot of businesses it's laptops. My Mom's house has changed over to laptops a while back. Now her husband has changed over to an ipad and retired his windows 8 laptop. He has a keyboard for it and can't be happier. My mom actually mostly uses her phone most the time. Kids don't want PC's it's mostly done on their phones or tablets.
Eventually the phones will be so powerful you'll just wirelessly connect to your TV or a separate keyboard and screen and do everything you need. And now with cloud computing taking off it'll mean less to compute at home.
There will always be an enthusiasts section though. But that landscape will change too. Perhaps with a powerful tablet that connects with an outboard video card that is connected to your 4k TV or something. They will break new barriers to make things happen.
At some point too it's going to get to expensive to make enthusiasts PC parts since it won't trickle down anywhere to midrange owners that don't exist by then. The laws of volume/price will be gone. You'll probably be buying server parts or something for the diehards.
Well not only that, but the average quality of system offered by big box retailers gone DOWN over the years instead of UP.
I remember not that long ago WalMart had lots of MicroATX systems with Core 2 Duo E7xxx or AMD Athlon X2, X4 at legit speeds, etc. Not GREAT systems, but at least usable imho.
Now they have a ton of AIOs and other garbage with AMD netbook processors, along with other neutered laptop crap. Look at this pile :
http://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-Pavilio...ows-8/27436153
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-E-Series-E1-1500-Notebook-Processor.84852.0.html
"On average the cpu performance of the E1-1500 is a bit below an Athlon X2 L310 at 1.2 GHz. "
Barf. Yes, I've used one of those systems (not that exact model, but the same thing in a super slim case), and it was BEYOND horrible.
It's called a docking station. On one side of your desk, you have the docking station, with all your office peripherals plugged in. On the other side, you have your keyboard, mouse, and maybe a USB hub, if your monitor doesn't have one, or you need USB 3.0. Avoid HP printers (they like to get re-detected as new devices, while Brother, Xerox, and Lexmark units don't have such problems, IME--I have no recent experience w/ non-networked Canons), and it works great. Of course, it seems most people get that, and think they'll take it with them, but then use it like it's a SFF desktop, leaving it docked 100% of the time . It's great for people that really take advantage of it, though.Frequently connecting and disconnecting cords and peripherals to and from a portable device gets annoying. Even if only for the sake of convenience, many people would rather have a device that sits there and is always ready for them to sit down and go to work without having to fiddle around with anything.
That'll either be an enormous device to attach to one's hip, or another display revolution is required, perhaps some sort of projector unit to shine the display up onto a (purpose made?) surface, or some sort of holographic projection.
Otherwise, there are reasons why people go for large monitors so they can actually see what they're doing, because I doubt that the next major revolution is going to involve everyone carrying around a super-magnifying monocle for their smartphone-type device.
To say that the desktop PC is going to be replaced entirely by the smartphone is as absurd as suggesting that smartphones are going to replace televisions. While there is some television-type watching going on on desktop PCs and smartphones, the large screen in the living room is hardly likely to be phased out. Such basic 'needs' for technology aren't going to disappear, but they do merge together, just like most people have something with a lot of computer-type functions sitting beneath their television already that digitally records episodes and can handle complicated schedules and probably browse the Internet too.
Everything you can do on a television could already be done on a computer that is more than ten years old. Who wants to bet that people were predicting the death of television ten years ago?
It's called a docking station. On one side of your desk, you have the docking station, with all your office peripherals plugged in. On the other side, you have your keyboard, mouse, and maybe a USB hub, if your monitor doesn't have one, or you need USB 3.0. Avoid HP printers (they like to get re-detected as new devices, while Brother, Xerox, and Lexmark units don't have such problems, IME--I have no recent experience w/ non-networked Canons), and it works great. Of course, it seems most people get that, and think they'll take it with them, but then use it like it's a SFF desktop, leaving it docked 100% of the time . It's great for people that really take advantage of it, though.
AIOs are pretty popular, and good for many home users, but when something hardware-wise goes wrong, they're not easier to support, so I think they're not the best idea for business (they add cost, and save only a small upfront setup annoyance). You also get stuck with the display they chose for it, which may be crap.
Tablets, need to all have digitizers, and the software on the desktop needs to improve for touch, and software on phones and tablets needs to improve in features and available options. I like the idea of a tablet, but the implementations are still a decade behind what can be done by current hardware, just due to the poor touch screens and limited UIs--or, going Windows, and having UIs that need a magnifier and stylus.
Yep, and most of those better AIO's are still using low-clocked neutered laptop processors instead of the desktop ones, further adding insult to injury. One of my clients just bought one not long ago, and then took it back after I showed him what a bad deal he had gotten.
tolis, you havent been around long enough to make any claims about the desktop computer not dying. lol
Well there you said it. Desktop PCs will always exist but will increasingly become more of a niche; I mean there are few people in the US who own a Corvette. There are enough people buying those for it to make financial sense to continue production, but it isn't a mass market item.
Desktops aren't mass market items anymore. Sure, there is a niche of PC gamers and content creationists that like desktops, but most people do not fit in this category. Nearly EVERYONE I know uses a laptop or macbook nowadays, whereas 10-15 years ago ALL of these people were using desktops.
Fact of the matter is, mobility caught on and portables are now better than they ever were. They're not as powerful as desktops, that is true, but the bottom line is that the CPU arms race is for mobility and efficiency - it isn't for all out desktop IPC. Heck, even for the data center and corporate world, ARM SOCs are catching on due to efficiency. This trend is not going away.
Again, desktops won't "die". But they will not ever have the foothold that they had 10 years ago. Most people would rather use a laptop or portable. So while desktop parts will continue to exist, what I see happening is that it will increasingly be a case of of PC enthusiasts buying cut down server parts with excessively high prices. It won't happen in the next 2-3 years, but I see that being the case perhaps 10 years from now - mobility as a trend isn't going away IMO, especially considering that mobile battery life is increasing by leaps and bounds every year.
Let's see how fast your Desklette is when I throw some 3D rendering at it. Maybe it will burst into flames and keep the family warm during winter.A tablet that can run all your office software but can also dock to a full size keyboard and monitor will be the end of pcs. I think I'll name this new device tabtop, or desklette, or even notelette. Trademark it now and make trillions from qualcomm
Because you want portability, yet also the ability to leave peripherals plugged in.Why should I need to pay extra for a docking station?
By how much? Most software costs per PC, not merely per user (not realistically being able to do that is one of the good points of hosted software, IMO), and that's going to take up hundreds of dollars, typically. It's often as cheap or cheaper to have a single computer, just on account of software. So, if you need/want a laptop, making that the only one is better. A desktop is no easier to use. That one is simply false (usability is equal, so long as laptop parts are sufficiently fast, which, if you can do your work on a laptop, they are). Also, aside from the HDD and ODD (if there even is one), there isn't much in the way of reliability problems, that I've ever seen. Easier to repair, sure, but the laptop still isn't easier to repair, if you have both.A desktop will already be cheaper, easier to use, more reliable, and easier to repair than a laptop or tablet.
And man, is that a hassle! With a bunch of USB dvices, you might have to wait all of 5-10 seconds, before you can use it again, twice a day (assuming you take it with you to lunch, and go home with it). Ugh! That it is such a hassle! Seriously, it's a matter of pressing a switch ad picking it up to go mobile, or setting it firmly down into the doicking station and waiting a few seconds, to go stationary. Worst-case, you might have to use a menu from your graphics driver's systray app to re-enable a specific multi-monitor config, though typically, they'll get it right, if the notebook's lid is closed when it is put in the docking station. The only major issue I've yet seen are HP desktop printers, hooked up USB, being detected as new devices, rather than the previously-configured device.Having to purchase a separate docking station just adds to the extra cost of a laptop or tablet as well as the hassle of hooking and unhooking it every time you want to switch from mobile to desktop mode.
Netbooks died because Microsoft wanted them to die. In order to get a cheap Windows 7 Starter license, netbooks had to have crazy limitations like a screen with no higher resolution than 1024x600- and those limitations stayed in place for years and years, even as screen tech rapidly improved.
Because you want portability, yet also the ability to leave peripherals plugged in.
By how much? Most software costs per PC, not merely per user (not realistically being able to do that is one of the good points of hosted software, IMO), and that's going to take up hundreds of dollars, typically. It's often as cheap or cheaper to have a single computer, just on account of software. So, if you need/want a laptop, making that the only one is better. A desktop is no easier to use. That one is simply false (usability is equal, so long as laptop parts are sufficiently fast, which, if you can do your work on a laptop, they are). Also, aside from the HDD and ODD (if there even is one), there isn't much in the way of reliability problems, that I've ever seen. Easier to repair, sure, but the laptop still isn't easier to repair, if you have both.
And man, is that a hassle! With a bunch of USB dvices, you might have to wait all of 5-10 seconds, before you can use it again, twice a day (assuming you take it with you to lunch, and go home with it). Ugh! That it is such a hassle! Seriously, it's a matter of pressing a switch ad picking it up to go mobile, or setting it firmly down into the doicking station and waiting a few seconds, to go stationary. Worst-case, you might have to use a menu from your graphics driver's systray app to re-enable a specific multi-monitor config, though typically, they'll get it right, if the notebook's lid is closed when it is put in the docking station. The only major issue I've yet seen are HP desktop printers, hooked up USB, being detected as new devices, rather than the previously-configured device.