Will our hobby die?

[randomrogue]

No. A tablet can't replace people's 24"+ monitor setups. Using a ipad it doesn't feel like a tool at all, it feels like a childs toy. I really can't use it for much more than angry birds, pvz, and checking facebook. A laptop can be plugged into a monitor but it, for the time being, can't accommodate the heat from a high end video card. Say you introduce external video cards for laptops - then maybe we're in for some real changes. However a laptop, with an external videocard, plugged into a keyboard, mouse, speakers, and monitor is still pretty much a desktop unit. I'm sure we'll still be able to tinker with it a bit (hard drive, memory, and hopefully CPU in the future)

 

[jhansman]

I guess you haven't noticed that all the other tech sites are mostly talking about smartphones these days instead of PCs and video cards.

Oh, we noticed all right. Talk is cheap. My phone was free, as are most of the apps. You know what's not cheap? The CPU, motherboard, RAM, SSD drive , PSU and vidcard I just put in my desktop. Why? Bigger, better, faster, pushing pixels like never before, on displays never seen before. We know mobile devices are here to stay, but I seriously doubt they can supplant the desktop.

 

[StrangerGuy]

Given how long a 4-year OCed Q6600 and a 2.5 year old $120 4870 held up till now even an enthusiast like me is finding the scene pretty dull.

 

[randomrogue]

Given how long a 4-year OCed Q6600 and a 2.5 year old $120 4870 held up till now even an enthusiast like me is finding the scene pretty dull.

Buy a huge monitor, get a SSD, find a new game, try something new. That PC can't run a CPU intensive game today.

 

[Minerva]

This hobby isn't dead yet, but people just aren't building gaming desktops like this used to. I blame console games and the iPad for stealing resources from PC game developers.

Personally, I'm surprised that nobody is offering a bare-bones kit for building your own Android tablets yet. What's up with that??

Because tablets are the perfect companion to a real computer. You know something you fire up next to the bed when you want to catch a late night flick or to nef on the boards, etc. You don't need a multiple kilowatt system capable of heating a 12x20 henhouse in Barrow to do just that.

They are small and ready to go out the door. No installing stuff, no assembly, just turn on and nef!

 

[erikvanvelzen]

Does anyone have statistics on how many retail motherboards are sold these days compared to a few years ago?

 

[Arachnotronic]

Buy a huge monitor, get a SSD, find a new game, try something new. That PC can't run a CPU intensive game today.

I agree. It's easy to run "all games on high" on a low res monitor. It's hard to do it at 1080p with the details, AA/AF cranked. And that's what being a PC enthusiast is about.

 

[SZLiao214]

Buy a huge monitor, get a SSD, find a new game, try something new. That PC can't run a CPU intensive game today.

I had your exact same cpu and gpu in my last system. At 1080p it was unable to keep up in fps to the games i was playing. I had the cpu at 3.6.

The world of building computers and overclocking is still exciting to me. The sheer performance you can get from a sub 1000 dollar computer is amazing.

SLI/Xfire though buggy at times has shown fantastic scaling.

I can't wait to see the direction things go.

 

[Fritzo]

Because tablets are the perfect companion to a real computer. You know something you fire up next to the bed when you want to catch a late night flick or to nef on the boards, etc. You don't need a multiple kilowatt system capable of heating a 12x20 henhouse in Barrow to do just that.

They are small and ready to go out the door. No installing stuff, no assembly, just turn on and nef!

Tablets are like the microwave of web browsing. For big meals, use an oven, for quick bites, use a microwave.

....and I bet you use the microwave more than the oven...

 

[iroc409]

Desktop CPUs are still way ahead of laptop CPUs. I have a i7 quad laptop and it's fantastic, I do almost everything on it. But, I can't install 16Gb RAM nor have a 2500/2600 CPU. I'm even going to take a gaming hiatus for a while, but still upgrading my desktop because I really want to and I'm getting into CAD/3D stuff.

The desktop doesn't really have a replacement for certain tasks (like rendering, servers, games, etc). We're getting closer, and for most everyday tasks nobody needs that.

I even just bought a AMD C-50 based netbook. It's dog slow with updates and so forth, but basic Word/Excel and internet browsing is just fine.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

I think we've got at least a decade left. When new consoles come out in a few yeas, there will be a small surge of demand for powerful desktops once more (as long as publishers are still making PC games). My main fear is that with the desktop slowly becoming obsolete, building one in the future will be much more expensive than it is now.

 

[randomrogue]

Businesses can't replace their servers and work computers with tablets. A laptop is debatable but every laptop we've had at work had a docking station, keyboard, mouse, and monitor. So it was basically a desktop. So it seems to me that the desktop is here to stay for a long time. Enthusiasts? Well I already commented on that and the only way I see it going away is if they pull what Apple did in the mid-late 90's where you couldn't get some programs for the platform and almost no games. If they stop developing games for the PC and go console only that will hurt the enthusiast market. I highly doubt that will happen within my lifetime though. They are making money. People are enthusiasts with more than games too. Photoshop for example requires/desires tons of computing power and with the cost of digital cameras nowadays lots of people are into it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

My main fear is that with the desktop slowly becoming obsolete, building one in the future will be much more expensive than it is now.

This. By and large, the R&D necessary for high-end desktop CPUs, has been borne by the purchasers of more modest end-user systems. Once sales of those drop off, then the R&D dollars will slow down, and retard the advancement we are used to as far as high-performance microprocessors go.

 

[nickb64]

If it weren't for wanting to play games and have a large monitor (I'm hoping to eventually get something like the U2711) I wouldn't really need more performance than my laptop provides.

Hell, it plays BC2 well enough for me on my older monitor and it's own display. These are only 1440 x 900 and 1366 x 768, respectively. It has an i7 2630QM, 8GB of RAM, 6770M 1GB, and a 1TB HDD. I will likely swap out the hard drive when I get around to it, for something at least 7200rpm, but for much of what I do, it's more than enough. I can get through one of my college classes at least with the GPU set to the HD 3000, using just Notepad/LibreOffice Writer to take notes.

I'm fairly certain this laptop is faster than the desktop my friend has used to play WoW for the last few years in every way other than disk access speed.

 

[Idontcare]

Will our hobby die?

No.

Look at the evolution of automobile hobbyists as well as aeronautical (including sub-space rocketry) over the past 100 yrs.

Industry evolves, technology evolves, the demographic of the typical hobbyist evolves (as does their disposable income level and technical expertise)...but the hobbies themselves never come to an end.

NASCAR did not kill the hobby of the weekend grease monkey from racing his non-stock car at the track. NASA didn't kill the hobby of personal rockets. Etc. Desktop hobby builds are here to stay for generations to come IMO.

 

[Rifter]

Desktops will never die. Some people love 3d gaming which laptops will never have the power to use. Some people game in surround which laptops cant do. Not to mention desktop prices are way way lower and they last alot longer.

Unless AMD or intel crams the GPU power or 2-3 top end chips(so 580 ot 6970 right now) into a die(like fusion but superpowered) we have nothing to worry about. Desktops will be here to stay.

 

[HeXen]

wont die comnpletely, but for the most part yes eventually they will. sales on any kind of desktop has slowed a lot recently. Cloud computing may one day put some nails on the coffin too, but of course no one here wants to hear that and totally scuff the very notion off.

i believe that if/when quantum computing comes around, i think we'll definitely be all cloud at that point.

 

[Minerva]

Tablets are like the microwave of web browsing. For big meals, use an oven, for quick bites, use a microwave.

....and I bet you use the microwave more than the oven...

Microwaves are kind of gross. Yes I have one but it only gets used for snacks and reheating. My range and ovens will NEVER be replaced, ever!

Tablets are crazy convenient. I have a Galaxy Tab and keep it by the bed or nearby in the kitchen to look up something. Very convenient and no keyboard to get trashed by a spill.

 

[Fritzo]

I agree. It's easy to run "all games on high" on a low res monitor. It's hard to do it at 1080p with the details, AA/AF cranked. And that's what being a PC enthusiast is about.

I run things just fine on a 23" monitor. Upgrading to a ridiculous sized monitor so you have an excuse to upgrade something on your PC doesn't make sense.

 

[ultimatebob]

Because tablets are the perfect companion to a real computer. You know something you fire up next to the bed when you want to catch a late night flick or to nef on the boards, etc. You don't need a multiple kilowatt system capable of heating a 12x20 henhouse in Barrow to do just that.

They are small and ready to go out the door. No installing stuff, no assembly, just turn on and nef!

Yeah... but wouldn't it be cool if you could get a kit to build your own tablet? It could just be an empty chassis and system board, and you get to choose what memory/storage/CPU you want in it. Then you can install whatever version of Android you want.

 

[sxr7171]

Tablets are like the microwave of web browsing. For big meals, use an oven, for quick bites, use a microwave.

....and I bet you use the microwave more than the oven...

This point couldn't have been delivered better.

 

[jhansman]

I can't build a tablet. I can't build a phone. Doesn't matter that portability "frees" or that my desktop "ties" me to it. I've used mobile devices of all kinds and I still prefer my homebuilt, large screen, fast, graphically superior boat anchor

 

[drizek]

Yeah... but wouldn't it be cool if you could get a kit to build your own tablet? It could just be an empty chassis and system board, and you get to choose what memory/storage/CPU you want in it. Then you can install whatever version of Android you want.

The CPU/memory are on a single chip the size of your fingernail. There's no customization to be had.

If you want to build tablets, go work for Foxconn.

 

[AdamK47]

The CPU/memory are on a single chip the size of your fingernail. There's no customization to be had.

If you want to build tablets, go work for Foxconn.

You missed his point. You're looking at the world of tablets according to Apple, HP, and whoever else makes them where everything is integrated and proprietary. Take a step back and imagine an open hardware architecture for tablets.

 

[nanaki333]

wont die comnpletely, but for the most part yes eventually they will. sales on any kind of desktop has slowed a lot recently. Cloud computing may one day put some nails on the coffin too, but of course no one here wants to hear that and totally scuff the very notion off.

i believe that if/when quantum computing comes around, i think we'll definitely be all cloud at that point.

cloud computing won't take off like a lot of people thought with ISPs trying to cash in with UBB