Desktop computers becoming a "thing of the past"

I think people in this thread are being closed minded, to be blunt. In the grand-scheme of things, everyone will (eventually) move away from fixed position Workstations, to portable devices.

It won't be in our lifetimes, but when technology such as seen in films like Minority report, iRobot, or even Iron Man 2 (no, not the suit, the tech used in Starks' lab. - 3D displays etc) come around, everyone will be happy to leave the workstation in the corner gathering dust.
 
Sp00n said:
I would have thought 4850's in crossfire was fairly acceptable when coupled with an i7.
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I admit I didn't know you could fit two 4850s in a laptop :p. In any case, that's fairly cutting edge for a laptop and vastly more expensive than a desktop equivalent. When it wants upgrading in three years because you want to play Crysis 3, what do you do? Buy a new laptop for 2 grand.

Dj_Jestar said:
I think people in this thread are being closed minded, to be blunt. In the grand-scheme of things, everyone will (eventually) move away from fixed position Workstations, to portable devices.

It won't be in our lifetimes, but when technology such as seen in films like Minority report, iRobot, or even Iron Man 2 (no, not the suit, the tech used in Starks' lab. - 3D displays etc) come around, everyone will be happy to leave the workstation in the corner gathering dust.
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People are closed-minded because they're not considering what will happen after they're dead?! Lol.

I think everyone realises that things will move on, but as at now, desktops live on and will continue to be relevant for a very long time. I'm not sure what's closed-minded about that stance.
 
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Computers only last 3 years, didn't you know? :p

Tefal said:
wouldn't that be so heavy, hot and have such short battery life that you may as well use a desktop? :p
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Yea, I think you are probably right.

I'm not arguing, just bringing across the other side... of the argument =\ haha
 
Haven't had time to read the whole thread but as I sell computers every weekend I can tell you that from my perspective the desktop is no longer popular with the general home user.

For most people a laptop gives enough performance without costing much more than a desktop, and families love the new All in One desktops (especially with touchscreen).

The only people buying traditional desktops these days tend to be high performance users (gamers / video editing etc), nobody else seems interested when a laptop / AIO makes it so much simpler.

Personally I stopped using my desktop when I gave up PC gaming, as I can use a laptop on the sofa while watching TV. :o
 
Robbie G said:
I admit I didn't know you could fit two 4850s in a laptop :p. In any case, that's fairly cutting edge for a laptop and vastly more expensive than a desktop equivalent. When it wants upgrading in three years because you want to play Crysis 3, what do you do? Buy a new laptop for 2 grand.



People are closed-minded because they're not considering what will happen after they're dead?! Lol.

I think everyone realises that things will move on, but as at now, desktops live on and will continue to be relevant for a very long time. I'm not sure what's closed-minded about that stance.
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Quite a lot, because we aren't suddenly going to wake one day and have this technology. We're going to use predecessors to it, such as iPhones, iPads etc. Voice controlled software is coming along, too. As is Gesture controlled software. Just look at the Wii and MS/Sony alternatives soon to hit our shelves.

It is also incredibly closed minded for anyone to think "I'll be dead, so I don't care." Many of the inventions we take for granted today were founded on the ideas of people long dead. Those funny box things on wheels we use for transportation, those giant metallic birds we sit inside of when we go abroad... all the brain childs of people who died before any of it came to fruition.
 
Laptop screens are still tiny. Multitasking of any sort becomes much harder.

Dj_Jestar said:
Quite a lot, because we aren't suddenly going to wake one day and have this technology. We're going to use predecessors to it, such as iPhones, iPads etc. Voice controlled software is coming along, too. As is Gesture controlled software. Just look at the Wii and MS/Sony alternatives soon to hit our shelves.

It is also incredibly closed minded for anyone to think "I'll be dead, so I don't care." Many of the inventions we take for granted today were founded on the ideas of people long dead. Those funny box things on wheels we use for transportation, those giant metallic birds we sit inside of when we go abroad... all the brain childs of people who died before any of it came to fruition.
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If you think it's closed-minded to only care about things that affect desktops and laptops while you're alive, then so be it. I'd love for there to be a cost-effective upgradeable laptop available to me with which to replace my desktop, but there isn't, despite your attempts to suggest that features such as VCS are somehow going to solve all the problems of the laptop.

Cost seems to be one of those things that the i-fanboys seem to like ignoring for some reason. Perhaps because they get bent over for the products ;). Maybe you should refer to it as value conscious rather than closed-minded.
 
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Robbie G said:
Laptop screens are still tiny. Multitasking of any sort becomes much harder.
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Multitasking is a myth anyway, but I digress. :)

Glasses that have the "screen" on them are in their infantile age at the moment. But to have a screen cover your entire vision? Can't get any bigger.

How about devices that project their image onto whatever surface it is you are looking at? There is already prototypes for this, too. They also intelligently interact with the surface(s) to calibrate and provide interfaces and interactive features. The simplest demo of this a shopping device that projects information that you want to know onto the product you have in front of you. More information than could ever fit onto the packet/label:

http://www.ted.com/talks/pattie_maes_demos_the_sixth_sense.html
 
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Dj_Jestar said:
Multitasking is a myth anyway, but I digress. :)

Glasses that have the "screen" on them are in their infantile age at the moment. But to have a screen cover your entire vision? Can't get any bigger.
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I've got two 24" screens, one has TV / movies or CS5 on, the other games, browsing etc. Can I do this on a laptop? If so, sign me up, as long as I can also upgrade the GPU for £250 when the laptop will no longer play the latest games at a decent res.

I love all that tech and the thought that what was once sci-fi fantasy could become a reality. Of course I'd love to have that tech. But in terms of laptops vs. desktops now, I'm not sure how that helps.

Also, not sure I understand: 'Multitasking is a myth anyway'.
 
I haven't had a desktop for two years now and don't miss it at all. I have more room in my flat and more money at my disposal as I don't buy pc components any more.
My laptop usage has dwindled as well since mobile devices kicked off. Most of my browsing is done on my phone now.
 
Nevar I do everything on my desktop my lappy is just used for work and travel as for gaming on other systems I really don't see the point you buy the console one month and then the next month your PC can be upgraded to ten times the amount of gaming machine than the console is. For lazy I just wanna put the game in and play gamers it might be the way forward but to me it seems like a complete waste of money.
 
Capn' $qu!ff said:
Nevar I do everything on my desktop my lappy is just used for work and travel as for gaming on other systems I really don't see the point you buy the console one month and then the next month your PC can be upgraded to ten times the amount of gaming machine than the console is. For lazy I just wanna put the game in and play gamers it might be the way forward but to me it seems like a complete waste of money.
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I consider my PS3 a blu-ray platform and a PVR (PlayTV). The gaming capabilities are just a bonus to me!
 
Dj_Jestar said:
Robbie_G: I've update my post, which addresses some of your points. You also really, really need to stop thinking that posting aggressively is the way forward in a discussion. :)

Edit: re: Multitasking is a myth: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=e...0&aqi=g2&aql=&oq=multitasking+is+a+m&gs_rfai=
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You're one of those precious members that gets the hump when someone doesn't use umpteen nice friendly smilies whilst arguing. That's fine, but please try and stick to the discussion rather than digressing into whinging about posting styles.

Further to your Google link about multitasking being a myth, I think multitasking may be too ambitious a phrase for what I'm referring to. For example, I like sticking an episode of Family Guy on in the background on one large screen, while I browse / email on the other large screen.
 
Robbie G said:
You're one of those precious members that gets the hump when someone doesn't use umpteen nice friendly smilies whilst arguing. That's fine, but please try and stick to the discussion rather than digressing into whinging about posting styles.

Further to your Google link about multitasking being a myth, I think multitasking may be too ambitious a phrase for what I'm referring to. For example, I like sticking an episode of Family Guy on in the background on one large screen, while I browse / email on the other large screen.
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No, I'm one of those members that knows a discussion is not an argument. You are quite the opposite. You think every discussion is a chance for you to "get one over" the other party, which is not the point of this (nor many other) discussions at all.

Agreed with the latter of your post though, when you posted "Multitasking" I was assuming you to mean many tasks at once rather than using one of the monitors as a TV or something.
 
Sp00n said:
Computers only last 3 years, didn't you know? :p



Yea, I think you are probably right.

I'm not arguing, just bringing across the other side... of the argument =\ haha
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i think in that case you'd be better of with some sort of SFF or shuttle type pc.
 
So are people using 'remote desktop' on their Ipads yet?

If it were cheaper, the ipad would make a fantastic thin client. As the tech improves, hopefully we'll get to the stage where we have $199 tablets that are fairly decent quality and can be used in this way as a thin client.
 
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Dj_Jestar said:
No, I'm one of those members that knows a discussion is not an argument. You are quite the opposite. You think every discussion is a chance for you to "get one over" the other party, which is not the point of this (nor many other) discussions at all.

Agreed with the latter of your post though, when you posted "Multitasking" I was assuming you to mean many tasks at once rather than using one of the monitors as a TV or something.
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To be fair, his posts seem fine and are not aggressive at all.

I'm more of the "have a desktop for editing vids/games AND have a laptop for general browsing etc. If the laptop isn't going to be used for anything more than looking on the internet, watching youtube etc then i won't need to spend more than £200-300 on one anyway. I don't think desktops will be long and forgotten any time soon so it's not really much more than a slightly over-exaggerated article.
 
It's true to come extent. I recently replaced my work desktop with a laptop (together with external monitor/keyboard/mouse, obviously), and that has been the trend throughout the department.

Likewise when a friend asked me to spec up a laptop and desktop to replace his old win98 machine, I just directed him to a decent laptop (i3, 4GB etc) with external peripherals.

Now personally I've never owned a laptop because I'm a gamer, but for general usage, a laptop with peripherals makes sense, you get the best of both worlds. Nowadays you can get a decent laptop for £500 which will be fine for the majority of non-enthusiast users.
 
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