Flight of the Desktops 430
theodp writes "Slate's Farhad Manjoo has seen the future of computing, and it's looking mighty bleak for desktop computers. In the last decade, portable computers have erased many of the advantages that desktops once claimed while desktops have been unable to shake their one glaring deficiency — they're chained to your desk. Last year, sales of laptops eclipsed sales of desktops for the first time, and it's been projected that by 2015 desktops will constitute just 18% of the consumer PC market."
Does it have a monitor and full-size keyboard? (Score:5, Insightful)
Oh, I'd like a mouse as well.
-B
Re:Does it have a monitor and full-size keyboard? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's by theodp. Mindless speculation and unjustified hype. Just ignore it.
Re:Does it have a monitor and full-size keyboard? (Score:4, Interesting)
That way you can just think (stuff between < > are your own personal thought macros/patterns that you've trained your auxbrain to recognize):
<start><recall><object's pattern><do it><recall><another object's pattern><do it><end> followed by normal thought stream that's ignored by the computer.
Of course if you only want to recall one object quickly you'd use:
<start><recall><object's pattern><do it and end>
The object could be a picture, audio, video, file, etc or even the computer's representation of a stream/group of thought patterns (based on what it reads from the sensor).
As a result we might still have desktop computers since they would still be way more powerful, but notebooks, laptops and PDAs could vanish
Of course the **AA would want DRM built in, so certain things might have limited recall
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Most decent laptops have a full-sized keyboard.
Shit mine's got the 10-key pad.
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I wish there were someway I could bring more power if I need to. I can settle for a sub 13" screen at 1920x1200, and moderate performance, but a small server farm in the backpack would be interesting.
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There have been several models of laptop that have an optional expansion module that clips on underneath and adds extra ports, DVD drive and other extras. It wouldn't be impossible to put other things in such a thing as well; a second battery, more CPU cores, memory, larger and/or faster hard drives, a second graphics card that could run in SLI mode... Going a step further you could make it modular too, so you could only install t
Re:Does it have a monitor and full-size keyboard? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, but:
a) "Decent" laptops are way too heavy to carry around. Once you've tried a netbook there's no going back.
b) You still have to plug them in if you're going to do a full day's work.
c) You can't adjust distance between screen/keys or raise/lower the screen or tweak the ergonomics in any way.
d) Nasty laptop keys vs. Model M ... you decide.
The article may turn out to be correct for home users but it makes no sense at all in the corporate world.
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a) "Decent" laptops are way too heavy to carry around. Once you've tried a netbook there's no going back.
I never understood this argument. My laptop is 7.5 pounds and it's got a 17" widescreen and a full keyboard + number pad. I've brought it to work with me most every day for the past 3 years and have never suffered a hernia or exhaustion or even noticed it. And it's in a bag that adds several more pounds when I'm transporting it. At home, I move it around constantly (a couple times a day, easy) and it's n
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ill take a netbook, myself. I had a 14" thinkpad....damn decent laptop at the time, smallish, not too heavy. I used it at work for a while. Love the thing, but for an every day carry when I dont *need* that much, it got annoying. I got a netbook (an earlyish 10" model)
Id like either a netbook with an ion chipset and dual core atom, OR (preferably) an 11" notebook with a CULV processor. 3 -4 hours is usually plenty to get my by on battery life, the netbook is just slow enough to get annoying sometimes, but I
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I never understood this argument. My laptop is 7.5 pounds and it's got a 17" widescreen and a full keyboard + number pad. I've brought it to work with me most every day for the past 3 years and have never suffered a hernia or exhaustion or even noticed it. And it's in a bag that adds several more pounds when I'm transporting it.
For those of us who aren't just carrying it to and from work, but are out all day, 7.5 lbs + a few more for a bag gets heavy quite quickly. I don't have an office, so when I'm not working from home, I might be out of the house for 12 hours, shifting between walking, public transport, a library, outside, coffee shop, classroom, conference hall, etc. The difference between having a 5.5 lb notebook and a 2.5 lb netbook is very noticeable when you have to carry it around all day long, not just to work where you
Re:Does it have a monitor and full-size keyboard? (Score:5, Funny)
My laptop is 7.5 pounds and it's got a 17" widescreen and a full keyboard + number pad. I've brought it to work with me most every day for the past 3 years and have never suffered a hernia or exhaustion or even noticed it.
Shaquille O'Neal and 4 others like this.
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If only they would choose to lose the keypad but instead add the navigation block in the proper position... I'd buy one immediately.
Numpad = useless
Navigation block = priceless while programming*
* combinations like shift+home/end, shift+pageup/down, and various ctrl/alt/shift combination with cursor keys must be easy to use.
Re:Does it have a monitor and full-size keyboard? (Score:4, Insightful)
...and a foldable 24" screen and full-size keyboard?
Re:Does it have a monitor and full-size keyboard? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's also got 4TB of disk space, 6 powered USB ports (4 in back of which 3 are in use, 2 in front of which I use one), memory card reader, DVD burner, and a cable-TV video card so I can also use it as a DVR. I copy all of my CDs/DVDs to it, and when I get a blu-ray player for my home theater, I think I'll go add a 1.5TB hard drive to the last slot.
The case is an off-the-shelf case with room for 8 internal drives. I can swap out the entire motherboard, CPU, video card, network card, and any other component.
Granted
My wife has both a very nice laptop and a so-so desktop. She uses the desktop most of the time because it's more comfortable to use and she doesn't have to plug/unplug the keyboard/mouse/monitor to sit comfortably and use it when she works. She'll use the laptop sometimes if we want to look up something on the web while watching TV, but for the most part it goes unused.
In our house, the death of the desktop is far off. To get enough disk space I'd have to add some type of wired/wireless file server slowing. Until they make them with easily swapable components and they come with docking stations, I think the added cost of the needed components just isn't worth it.
'But you already have a laptop' you say. No I don't, my wife does. She bought it because she wanted one, and has mentioned on more than one occasion that she shouldn't have spent the money because SHE NEVER USES IT!
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Let's see .. I'm sitting in front of a desktop with 8GB of memory, a dual processor, two 22" monitors, a full sized ergonomic keyboard, and a Wacom pad.
You do realize laptops can have all of those things, right? That you can, in fact, plug input and output devices into them? And add memory?
In fact, the laptop I'm typing on right now actually has all those things except 8GB of memory (Because it's old and 32 bit, and I'm still running XP on it.), and the full-sized keyboard is not ergonomic because I hat
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It's also got 4TB of disk space, 6 powered USB ports (4 in back of which 3 are in use, 2 in front of which I use one), memory card reader, DVD burner, and a cable-TV video card so I can also use it as a DVR.
You do realize that laptops can have all those things, right?
Wake me up when you finish copying a few hundred gigabytes to a USB 2.0 hard drive. Also, once you plug 8 devices into that USB bus, it gets even worse. eSATA (which I have on my laptop) is a lifesaver, but you usually have only one port, while on a desktop, even two eSATA ports is a lot.
Seriously, if you want anything at all other than a basic computer (e.g., really fast processors, multiple processors, RAID, multiple video cards, serious amounts of RAM, etc.), a laptop won't cut it. Even if you can get
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You do realize laptops can have all of those things, right?
Lets see
"8GB of memory"
You can get that now (you can't get any more though) but it's only appeared as an option fairly recently and it's expensive. Meanwhile in a desktop form factor you get support for 16GB on fairly low end stuff (as long as it's recent) and 24GB on the high end desktop stuff.
"two 22" monitors"
With most laptops you can have the internal monitor and one external monitor. If you want a matched pair of monitors this poses a problem a
bleak? (Score:5, Interesting)
My desktop has a far bigger screen than any mobile device would be comfortable with carrying. Two screens some of the time. A full sized keyboard and mouse, which is infinitely more useful than anything other than perhaps touchscreen, and even then beats it in some applications. It's far more powerful per dollar spent than any mobile device from the same year could be, a trend that is still true. It runs cooler, as it can have a near unlimited amount of fans.
So, even though they can now theoretically match it, a mobile device would have a smaller screen, smaller keyboard, cost more or be less powerful. If it did have an equal sized screen, it'd be unwieldy.
The only chance of beating my desktop a mobile device would have is when it's equally priced, transportable, but can be quickly and easily "docked" in so I can use my real screens, keyboard, mouse and speakers. I'm talking about a single override cable into a dock station here, not manually plugging and unplugging each one every time.
But that is now (Score:5, Insightful)
The only chance of beating my desktop a mobile device would have is when it's equally priced, transportable, but can be quickly and easily "docked" in so I can use my real screens, keyboard, mouse and speakers.
But that is most laptops today. If you really need a larger screen, you can use an external monitor. When you go to a fixed working location, you can have mice and keyboards and whatever all set up... the one thing you don't really need, is a great big CPU box.
I personally don't even need any of that. I work entirely on a laptop, when I need more space well that's what virtual desktops are for. I find working without a mouse not hampering in the least.
Re:But that is now (Score:4, Interesting)
I think people who are comfortable with one or the other won't necessarily understand the other sides' attachment to their equipment of choice.
I can't stand working on a laptop unless I happen to be "on the move", and then only for short periods. A docking station would help to some degree, so I do understand your point there.
I can replace parts in my desktops, I prefer the full size keyboard and a useful mouse. The GPUs are superior to anything available in a laptop.
In the end, it's just a preference.
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I used a T60 thinkpad exclusively for a while...it wasnt bad, but I couldnt do much gaming on it. It was a dual-core so I could run VMs and did a little home video stuff, but that was it. Desktops clearly have their place ( I have a quad-core with 6gb of ram, 3 HDs and 2 monitors....I love it) but most people can get by on a laptop very easily. Both my parents have one and thats all they use, and its all my sister has. For email, office use, web browsing, basic multimedia....its fine.
Mine has a 23" HD displ
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If I'm using an external mouse, keyboard and monitor, why am I bothering with a laptop in the first place?
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Because it can move?
My work computer is a laptop. 80% of the time it's hooked to a KVM at my house. I plug in a secondary monitor via USB. Another 10% of the time it's hooked into one at the office. (I work from home usually.)
That other 10% of the time it's hauled into a meeting, or taken to a client site. And because it's my actual work computer, all my shit is there when I need it, instead of hoping and praying I remembered to grab everything relevant and hoping I don't forget some password I changed on
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And when I want to upgrade my processor...oh, wait, not with a laptop, at least not if you want to make a generational jump in processors (small upgrades may be possible, but going from 2 Ghz to 2.2 Ghz doesn't really seem worth the expense and trouble). When it's time to replace the DVD burner with a Blu-Ray drive...oops, no, none of that, either.
And when a component fails? Time to spend big bucks! Ever price a motherboard for a laptop?
Don't get me wrong, I'm typing this on a laptop right now in a h
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And when a component fails? Time to spend big bucks! Ever price a motherboard for a laptop?
The expected usable lifetime of most of this stuff is 3 years, and that's what's baked into the capital expense deduction accounting rules. In three years you'll have 2-4x the horsepower available for the same cost, a generational increase in battery technology, and a higher MIPS/watt that likely kept pace or exceeded the horsepower gains. Under three years, the good stuff worth buying is under warranty (or an extended one like Apple care), over three years you're going to get a far better value replacing i
...and that was Then (Score:3, Insightful)
And when I want to upgrade my processor...
Sorry man, but almost no-one does that anymore, not even with desktops. Yes there are still some but you have to admit that practice is declining. At this point you get a few more cores - maybe - and possibly an incremental boost in clock. For what? A 10% gain?
I used to be on that ferris wheel but I got off long ago when consoles started being a decent gaming alternative. I still play some things on the computer, but I'm way more into the practicality of a sys
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A 1080p resolution is pretty poor for a 24" screen, and the 17" macbook pro does 1920x1200 - slightly higher than 1080p...
Re:But that is now (Score:5, Insightful)
and anyone interested in anything more than browsing and IM'ing people pictures of their dicks
That's right, this article is crazy, laptops will never get more that 90%-95% of the marketshare! Only the vast vast vast majority of people who just want to use the internet and run Word and store pictures will buy them! The tiny minority that actually upgrades their own computer won't buy them!
Also, passengers cars will never catch on...how will people move around their pianos?
Seriously, half the people here seem to be in a weird sort of denial. Probably because they either think their computer speed is directly related to penis size, or they consider the intelligence to upgrade their computer related to it.
Sane people have realized desktop computers were going away for quite some time, as are the CPU-speed wars. Computers have, and will continue to, get lighter and quieter and more energy efficient, not faster. And, thus, laptops will continue plummeting in price.
Re:bleak? (Score:5, Interesting)
But these things have existed for years and years. The corporate world is full of 'em - docking stations abound to do precisely the job you're talking about.
I'm currently sitting here with my last-gen (ie. non-unibody) MacBook Pro plugged into an external monitor, external keyboard, external speakers and an external mouse. It's one of the more clumsy of the laptops for doing this with, as no (sanely priced) docking station exists. Even so, it took me all of five seconds to do that - one USB cable, one monitor cable, one speaker cable. The PC world is better at this - shove it in your docking station and forget it exists.
The only desktops I have in my house are specialised things - a Mac Mini for a media centre, an ancient PC sat inside an arcade machine to act as a MAME box. For straight-forward computing, I don't actually use desktops at all at home. Work is a different matter, but again I'm unusual in my computing needs at work and many many people could do fine, better even, with a laptop and a dock.
Cheers,
Ian
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Cheers,
Ian
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My desktop has a far bigger screen than any mobile device would be comfortable with carrying. Two screens some of the time. A full sized keyboard and mouse, which is infinitely more useful than anything other than perhaps touchscreen, and even then beats it in some applications. It's far more powerful per dollar spent than any mobile device from the same year could be, a trend that is still true. It runs cooler, as it can have a near unlimited amount of fans.
It all boils down to what you prefer. A mobile desktop replacement setup doesn't have to be a heavy and cumbersome 17" or 19" laptop. Mind you I'll still cede you your point about desktops having bigger screens, but two screens not being possible on a mobile setup?? I've got three of them... I bought a 13.3" macbook which I cram into the smallest laptop backpack I could find along with a USB driven touch screen monitor [mimomonitors.com], a mouse and I still have enough space in my bag to cram a bluetooth numpad in there i
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My preferred monitor + keyboard arrangement doesn't work with a laptop. Beyond that,
my desktop machine has way more stuff in it than you can cram into a laptop. I've
already done that laptop as desktop machine that hardly ever moves. I'm over that
bit of hype.
If I am going to take a machine on the move, I want it to be more expendable.
I specifically don't want my main machine at the coffee house or the TSA checkpoint.
A desktop replacement laptop makes little sense in cramped spaces like airplanes.
Docking stations (Score:2, Interesting)
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probably not, the pathways are too long. perhaps along the lines of an extra node on a local cluster, but that's pushing it.
I would guess (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I would guess (Score:4, Informative)
I'm not about to surrender to 'cloud' just yet.
Your not the only one.
ECC RAM (Score:2, Interesting)
When laptops and laptop RAM are capable of ECC operation, then I'll eagerly replace the awkward, comparatively noisy desktop with one. I have a friend who insists it's a necessity with the memory capacities we have today and another who declares ECC to be a waste of money and accordingly, time, trying to find a damned motherboard which has BIOS options for it. Thus far, I've been siding with caution.
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Re:ECC RAM (Score:5, Interesting)
I noticed I got single bit errors during big copies (about 1 bit error / 100 GB copied). I could not find the cause, and I could only conclude the data being transferred was damaged in memory before being stored again to an error correcting medium (harddisk). The busses used for the transfers also use CRC/ECC so I don't think they could cause it.
The problem was reproduceable (and different every time). Memory checks resulted in nothing.
Since then I always verify the big copies. After upgrading to ECC RAM, I haven't seen anymore verify errors.
Whether I had bad RAM, or some other problem, I don't know. I do know that the price difference between a regular system and one that can support ECC RAM is very small.
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Prophets everywhere.... (Score:2, Funny)
I just worship those people who make years and decades of conclusions based on hype factor of gadget X.
On the second look, I am 21.321% sure that, by 2015, traditional newspapers will suscessfully move to *Pad computing devices and to A4 sized mobile phones so we'll at least free ourselves from those quasi-journalistic outlets from Internet's Stone Age, when it was still tied to desktops. You know, Slate and likes. :D
Desktops' future is bright not bleak (Score:2, Insightful)
I haven't read TFA, but I disagree, laptops are only catching up with desktops, because more people want and have to be mobile.
On the other side, desktops have a full-size keyboard, a big and nice display, sitting at the desktop doesn't make you bend down and breaks your bearing (I mean doesn't cause malposture), you can play all the latest games, you can quite easily interchange desktop components and upgrade your PC up to three years after you've bought it, you can enjoy crystal sound (by using a decent a
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I have to agree with you on the upgrading bit.
As an example, when I built my current system 2 years ago, I planned on a 10 yr. operational period. This did mean an upgrade would be needed and the only one I expected was the GPU. Things like Hard Drives and burners are all normal replacement parts as I expect them to fail at some point in time seeing as they include moving parts.
Another reason I'll stick with a desktop revolves around monitors. As I get older and my vision gets worse, I find myself needing l
Apps that aren't compatible with DPI scaling (Score:4, Funny)
Yo grandma, 2002 called and wanted to let you know you can do this sweet thing called "DPI scaling"
2002 also had something else to say: A lot of applications never got tested by their developers under DPI scaling, so they break in interesting ways.
News at 11 (Score:5, Interesting)
FTA, the article's only novel point is that "the cloud" will do the heavy lifting for gamers and professionals. Yeah right.
Everything else is just the standard mainframe -> mini-computer -> desktop -> laptop -> iPad -> neural link and retinal implants meme that's been done to death more times than I care to count.
No notebook in my near future. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No notebook in my near future. (Score:5, Insightful)
Near future, perhaps not. But what if you could take your iPhone/AndroidPhone version 15 and set it on your desk next to a a pair of monitors, keyboard and fancy speakers and this FuturePhone would detect the devices and ask if you want to use them as your display/input/sound devices. When you're done, just pick up your phone and walk away without skipping a beat.
Give it 10 years, I could see this being how we work.
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Why would you have to sit it? Just keep it in your pocket and do the same thing! Everything will be wireless in the future!
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Why would you be there at all? Robots will have replaced humans in the future.
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Wrong. 2012 is the end of the Human Era according to the Mayans. The Machine Era will follow.
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There is in mine (Score:2, Insightful)
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"Upgradeable CPU."
How do you think it got put on the board in the first place? It's a socket just like any other modern CPU.
"Two internal HDs, with space for two more"
I've got dual hard drive bays in my laptop.
"Upgradeable video card"
MXM slot. Had them forever.
"Full-size keyboard with numeric keypad + trackball"
Got that too, minus the trackball, because I hate the damned things and it's just another dust ingress.
"Decent computer speakers"
I've seen some laptops with built-in subwoofers, man. Dell, specifical
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Oy vey. Ok, I will feed the troll.
I have upgraded the cpu in many machines, often I needed to replace the motherboard in order to work with the new cpu. Good luck getting another motherboard that will fit in your netbook.
2.5" apples and 3.5" oranges. I had a laptop that had a 3.5" hard drive bay, but it was a 286. I seriously doubt any laptop has space for a couple of 3.5" hard drives, let alone a couple of 5.25" drive bays.
I recently upgraded my video card. The card, with all its cooling fins, is easily a
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How many people actually need specs like this?
And despite being the cpu, video and memory being upgradeable, how many average users will actually do that rather than simply replacing the machine?
Also, i have yet to find any "computer speakers" (or built in laptop speakers for that matter) which were any good, my laptop has optical spdif output which i connect to a proper amplifier if i want to listen to music on it.
What are these people smoking? I want some. (Score:2, Interesting)
Articles like TFA are written by people who don't really know what they're talking about. Desktop and laptop computers serve different purposes - they don't really interchange well. If you need lots of power for gaming / rendering / compliling then you can't really get it from a laptop. Even when they're equipped with high powered processors, the design compromises made in shrinking a machine to laptop size take a heavy toll on performance. If you need portable "use it anywhere" computing then a laptop is y
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Common tasks are email, word processing, spreadsheets, web browsing. Any games are likely to be budget games aimed at low end systems or systems from a few years back.
Re:What are these people smoking? I want some. (Score:4, Insightful)
A laptop will be more than sufficient for the average user these days. I'm not saying the article isn't total rubbish but my seriously, some of the people here have to get a grip. We're tech geeks and our requirements from a computer aren't the same as Joe public.
You're already smoking it ... (Score:2)
If you need lots of power for gaming / rendering / compliling then you can't really get it from a laptop.
Only slashdot "nerds" do that. You'll need to take off your "nerd coloured" glasses and realise that the very large majority of the market for PCs are normal people - and they're the ones buying the laptops instead of desktops.
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You're right, it a poor analysis.
I'm sitting in the living room typing on a laptop right now. I'm noticing that my lap is getting uncomfortably warm so I'll put this thing aside and go in the other room and sit in my comfy chair at my desktop if I'm going to be writing a lot tonight.
Ah, but IMHO the reason why the analysis was poor is because the laptop/desktop overlap is very large. The differences are that desktops run demanding games better while laptops can move around... that's all nothing more. And since the smaller, simpler games are all the rage now the functional difference is minimized even further for most people.
BTW when I want to sit at a desk, I put my laptop down on the laptop stand and connect it to the USB hub -- instant desktop replace
This was inevitable (Score:2)
I agree with you 100%. If you look at internet users as percentage of population:
http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=wb-wdi&met=it_net_user_p2&idim=country:USA&dl=en&hl=en&q=internet+usage+america [google.com]
You would see that in 1995 it was 10%. In 2001, beginning of Bush2's term, it finally broke 50%. Now it's 75%. Now, back in 1995, I assume 90% of anybody who had a computer connected it to the internet. That means there was an explosion of computer users as well!
So if the internet is the ki
Desktops, yes. Not workstations. (Score:2, Interesting)
A laptop can easily replace most common "office desktop" tasks. Where a laptop doesn't yet really compete, is for the traditional "workstation" jobs, since you rarely see laptops with GPUs that routinely handle a teraflop of computing power (and gulping 300watts of power. There's a reason you don't see those in a laptop).
Desktops last and are cheap to repair (Score:5, Insightful)
It will still be many years before laptops are as durable and easy to repair as desktop computers are. Laptops are built with everything crammed close together on the inside. Even a small kinetic shock can damage a part, as can minor overheating from a ventilation problem. Repairing them yourself is quite risky unless you're a hardcore hardware geek, and expensive if you have a pro do it.
Desktops, conversely, have lots of empty space on the inside; they are easy to open up and reach into if you want to swap parts around or clean dust. (At least, the ones I've had are. I can't speak for Macs.) I've had the same desktop computer for six years. It's suffered a dead graphics card, a dead sound card, and a dust-choked fan that caused a CPU overheat. I repaired each of those problems in no more than a few hours each, and gave it a RAM upgrade too. I love my laptops too, but there's no replacement for having a machine you can safely upgrade yourself and won't break by dropping six inches. Laptops may outsell desktops but they won't drive them out of the market completely—at least, they'd better damn well not.
That's their main problems (Score:4, Insightful)
The longer desktops last (and they're lasting longer than ever these days) the fewer sales the PC industry can make. And the lower the overall price tag on a system, the less wiggle room there is for taking on a margin.
But I think the posted article has the wrong focus... Desktop vs. laptop is a non-issue because they both cater to the same "personal computing" way of doing things.
The real drama is now between PCs and managed handhelds like iPhone, iPad, Android, etc. If all these smartphones end up with bigger-brother tablets that sell well, then PC culture will shrink and the new normal will be systems like iPad that operate within walled gardens that have an anti-Web bias.
Re:That's their main problems (Score:5, Insightful)
> People are not engineers: they buy air conditioners, refrigerators and cars. Very few people can design, build and service them.
It's not about being an "engineer". It's about taking responsibility for yourself and not buying into American anti-intellectualism where it's actually trendy to be helpless and stupid.
It's so trendy to be helpless and stupid that you're discouraged from knowing enough to even recognize a well made device.
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"I repaired each of those problems in no more than a few hours each, "
Too slow.
Hell I do laptops full tear-down repair and reassembly in under 15 minutes.
Never had a quota to fill?
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Except the great majority of computers aren't bought by geeks who are equipped to repair them. They're bought by companies (who are unlikely to repair computers themselves anyway, that's what the warranty is there for, and by the time it's out of warranty it's probably not worth repairing because it'll cost more in man hours than it's worth) and by individuals who would need to pay to have someone repair them anyway - they may as well get the benefit of portability.
This is before you even consider the vast
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How many people actually repair defective machines?
They're either under warranty and get replaced by the manufacturer, or are obsolete and get replaced. Very few people will even strip a broken desktop to retrieve any parts which are still functional.
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Have you looked inside a modern mass produced desktop lately, there is not much in there, almost everything is on the motherboard?
accessible parts
desktop---vs---notebook
cpu------------cpu (maybe)
hard drive-----hard drive
optical drive--optical drive (maybe)
memory---------memory
power supply---power brick
screen---------screen (getting better)
keyboard-------keyboard (usually easy)
video card ??--video card (probably not)
In other news (Score:5, Funny)
Projections indicate that by 2015, just 18% of white collar workers will have cubicles while the others will lurch aimlessly about the building, filling TPS forms while sitting on the floor of the lobby using each others' backs for support.
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You may not be far from the truth, but not for the reasons you envisage. The great majority of offices in the UK don't have cubicles at all - they're open-plan.
proyections (Score:5, Informative)
Stupid Sentence (Score:3, Funny)
Reading that, made me stupider.
I'm planning on switching back to desktops (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
That's actually close to my experience. I used to have a fairly high-end laptop and loved being able to bring it everywhere but when it was time for my last major upgrade I went with a high-end iMac instead, and I also have a small netbook which is great for those times when I need to bring a computer somewhere and I suspect I could make do with an iPad (despite its limitations) instead of the netbook for the times when I need portability.
The desktop fills one niche and the laptop/tablet another and my expe
Posture (Score:2)
Call me laptops have decent keyboards and screens that can be raised up/away from the base into a position appropriate for viewing without wrecking your posture/eyesight.
a work life balance (Score:2)
I struggle with a work/life balance. At least having a desktop means I cant access work from a laptop or handheld while at my girlfriends birthday, which I would sneak out to do(like an alcoholic sneaks out for a swig).
I sit down at my machine and play some Left 4 Dead 2, or surf the net. I can define it as recreation.
TFA is wrong. Flight of the geek is more like it (Score:3, Informative)
What makes the Desktop model work is:
- ordering the parts
- interchangeability of the parts
- price of parts
- choice of parts
- longevity of parts
- upgrades are easier
- a learning tool
- pride
- fun
It used to be that when you bought a "boxy machine that sat on or under your desk" you (and usually a friend that knew way more than you) would sit down for months figuring out what parts you were going to put in. When the parts finally came, it was like a second christmas. You (and usually a friend that knew way more than you) would sit down and put all the bits into the proper places and pray you would got only one beep when it would post. Then you would set about installing all the software from floppies most of which was pulled off a BBS somewhere. When it came time to upgrade, your friend or someone your friend knew, would know someone that was in the market for a new computer or an upgrade. A deal was made, you'd get some cash or do a swap, and the whole process would start over again (Incidentally, most people that made it to this point eventually started learning something about software programming).
The *whole* process of researching/learning/building/selling a desktop is where the legacy of the Desktop comes from. You can't do all these things with a proprietary piece of locked up iCrap that needs center-pin metric torx bits to open and violates some warranty for even thinking about it. The parts in portables have very little interchangeability. Geeks love investigating where the magic smoke comes from, but portables just aren't that accessible. The knowledge factor has devolved as well; used to be everyone knew what kind of cpu, ram and video card was in their "boxy machine that sat on or under your desk", but these days the only knowledge anyone really cares to retain is what colors are available.
The Geek is what has taken flight, not the Desktop.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Or we just grew up.
Seriously, I used to do that crap. Spend 2 months trying to find parts that all played nicely with one another and were reasonably priced. Ordering from 3 different vendors online. Spending half a day putting it together, and hoping you didn't accidentally ESD damage something on the way. Spending another day setting up Windows or Linux the way you wanted it.
Then, 6 months later, spending half a day figuring out which part just went bad, where the reciepts were, and which parts to RMA fir
Desktops are for CPU (Score:3, Interesting)
I use desktop machines purely for CPU now-a-days; my time (except for data-wrangling) is spent on my laptop.
By the way, was I the only person who thought that "Flight of the Desktops" was going to involve, you know, actual desktops actually traveling through the air ? Suckered me in.
Sales vs units in use - desktop vs laptop lifetime (Score:2)
If you look at the data (Forrester Research) in the Slate article, you'll see that it's for SALES, not UNITS IN USE.
If you look at the data that way it makes sense. Laptops/netbooks/iPads have a much shorter lifecycle than a desktop PC. Heck, most of us techies are still using a desktop "PC" box we bought in the 1990's, just upgraded CPU/memory/hard-disk/power-supply wise every couple of years. In the Forrester Research stats I bet that counted as one PC sale.
OTOH while there do exist hard drive and memory
This is rubbish (Score:2)
Exactly what has a portable ever replaced from a desktop? Nothing I can find.
To this day, any portable that can deliver, "near" desktop power is pretty much a desktop effectively. This laptops are ridiculously expensive (so the portable factor is more from this desk to that desk; and not much for playing Crysis in the woods on a rotting tree stump while hunting deer), fans everywhere so you have to find a decent surface to place them (again, no rotting tree stump, or dusty hood of a truck at a constructio
"it's been projected" (Score:2)
"There's a star ship circling in the sky.
It ought to be ready by 1990.
They'll be building it up in the air,
ever since 1980."
The difference between Paul Kantner's Hugo nominated album (and soon to be Broadway musical) and TFA is that despite having equal veracity as predictive statements, the former was intended to be taken as a work of fiction.
I wish someone would start collecting such futurisms and create an award ceremony a la Ignobel Prize, to honor them when time punctures their balloon. They could sell
maybe not (Score:3, Informative)
i've been using laptops more and more up until this past year.
now i'm finding myself moving back to a desktop.
i can upgrade the hardware on the desktop. the laptops, you get what you get.
Re:I still prefer desktops. (Score:5, Interesting)
I also prefer desktops, but where I am from, (India), we do have power cuts quite often. Since there is no battery, it means that a UPS is a necessity. Also, here, most desktops do not sell with wireless adaptor - which means I have to buy the wireless adaptor separately.
Now, considering all those, the price difference does not match up - and most UPS can carry 20 minutes worth of power, so compared to my laptop (4-5 hours battery on average), it does not even come close.
I would guess that in India, one of the major reasons people shy away from desktops is because of these factors - many friends who moved from desktop to laptop - is because of this. Most have a desktop setup though - with multiple monitors and keyboard, and they dock their laptop to it.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
You should get this power setup for your desktop:
http://www.mopo.ca/uploaded_images/Indian_Tech_Support-740333.jpg [www.mopo.ca]
Renewable energy sources FTW!
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
***They can't even consistently power the computers they're using to fuck up our software.***
You clearly do not get your power from Central Vermont Public Service or many companies like them. Unreliable power is not limited to third world countries.
I'm a bit more sympathetic on the software point. Indians inevitably are going to create interfaces tailored to Indians. I don't want user interface code from the subcontinent. Americans and Western Europeans do those more than badly enough already. Going ou
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
I think the issue isn't some sort of inherent problem with Indian programmers, but rather the fact that it's hard to hold them accountable and it's much harder for them to see how their bad code affects them personally. E.g. they don't have to sit in the office with the rest of the team every day and be friends with the people whose lives they are making more difficult by taking shortcuts.
Also, a lot of the very good Indian programmers are working in the U.S. or Europe, so there's probably a bit of brain-dr
Re:I still prefer desktops. (Score:4, Funny)
That's some commute! Do you use the chunnel or do you fly?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Although they don't really exist any more, i've never forgiven Compaq (the worst computer manufacturer in the world) for buying up and killing off DEC (Digital Equipment Corp - at that time, the best computer manufacturer in the world).
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Because I can't drill holes in floors and walls that I don't own in order to run cables. I know others who only have Internet access via wireless connections. Neither one of these scenarios are that obscure.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
I agree that many of us prefer to re-use as many components as possible, I don't think it is as realistic as you might believe. The problem with this is that technology develops at such a rate as to obsolete everything in a desktop enough to make replacing everything in it practical.
How many of us still have motherboards with ISA connections? Sure, that's a little old. IDE? AGP? Those are both only a couple of years old. I don't think re-using an AGP or IDE card is realistic. How much digital stuff d
Re: (Score:2)
Top range GPU?
Most everything from nVidia is just a rebadged 9800GTX+ going up to the 200 series. There is no need for a top range GPU. Even the newer cards don't offer that much of a performance difference.
As I play Crysis on my mobile Radeon HD4200.
Re:Uh huh. (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
2TB of mobile storage? get a USB3 external drive! For many of us that's overkill, even for a 'desktop'.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Portable devices barely even come close to the performance of a desktop computer. Ram is very limited in portable computers, so is hard disk, and processing speed... and battery life, and screen size.
What does "very limited" mean? You can put 4GB into even a netbook with a single module since the composite SODIMMs came out. SSDs, the new hotness, are typically 2.5" so will go into a desktop or notebook with equal aplomb. Desktops don't even have batteries. Small screen size? You can hook up an external display. The disadvantage of notebooks is cost, not capability, for the average user who doesn't need a dual-multicore. At one time I needed a powerful and portable system, I had a Core Duo with Quadro in