Desktop computers becoming a "thing of the past"
- Thread starter Lysander
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Hmmm, a lot of talk about laptops hee.
Personally, I'm of the notion that the future will be tablet based devices. Much to peoples dismay, I'll take the iPad as my example.
It can do 90%maybe even more of what your every person want to do on a computer but without having to go to a corner in the room for a desktop, or balance a multi kg laptop on their laps. The fact that 'booting' is rarely necessary is another plus.
I do kinda like Steve Jobs' thoughts on this where he likened computers as we know them to trucks, around the time the modern day vehicle was in it's imfancy people used trucks, nowadays, you can get by with what we know as smal cars. The trucks will still be there, but only owned by every x person who still wants to game, edit video, run virtual machines. And even then laptops do those relatively well enough as it is.
I don't see this happening even in the distant future. Is it not around 45% or something of people in the UK don't even have a 2MB broadband connection. While I know bandwidth isn't a major headache for thin clients die to the work being carried out on the server, but I think it would be a long time before any third party is entrusted with your personal data that you technically have no psychical control over.
Personally, I'm of the notion that the future will be tablet based devices. Much to peoples dismay, I'll take the iPad as my example.
It can do 90%maybe even more of what your every person want to do on a computer but without having to go to a corner in the room for a desktop, or balance a multi kg laptop on their laps. The fact that 'booting' is rarely necessary is another plus.
I do kinda like Steve Jobs' thoughts on this where he likened computers as we know them to trucks, around the time the modern day vehicle was in it's imfancy people used trucks, nowadays, you can get by with what we know as smal cars. The trucks will still be there, but only owned by every x person who still wants to game, edit video, run virtual machines. And even then laptops do those relatively well enough as it is.
I don't see this happening even in the distant future. Is it not around 45% or something of people in the UK don't even have a 2MB broadband connection. While I know bandwidth isn't a major headache for thin clients die to the work being carried out on the server, but I think it would be a long time before any third party is entrusted with your personal data that you technically have no psychical control over.
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Soldato
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Do you even know what a thin client is ?
Soldato
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I replaced my desktop for a laptop, only real reason being I moved and a laptop suited my needs more than a desktop.
I don't think I will ever go back to a desktop, I don't game on PC anymore and the laptop handles C:SS for my fix there. So my current laptop will happily browse the net and play HD content for a good few years to come.
I don't think I will ever go back to a desktop, I don't game on PC anymore and the laptop handles C:SS for my fix there. So my current laptop will happily browse the net and play HD content for a good few years to come.
It's not about home users though, that's a market that has already gone to laptop from desktop, and I'd say you're almost right about tablets, but I don't think it will be tablets alone, tablets with integration to your net-tv etc I can definitely see happening.
Thin clients will take over the office market, which is where the majority of desktop clients go.
Oh in terms of the business market yeah, thin clients make a much much better solution. Combined with virtualisation on the servers themselves and you've got a singnifantly reduced footprint not only in terms of TCO but in damage to the environment. If you care about such things.
you have no concept of how a thin client works, do you?
Soldato
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OP quoted an article from a laptop site arguing desktops are dead.... hhhhmmm lol
OP is 3 years old, are desktops dead now?
OP is 3 years old, are desktops dead now?
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There are a couple of reasons why I could never do without a desktop. One is that I'm a "photographer" so I need the calibrated screen real estate that a proper monitor provides, I also need the extra space and backup drives as well as the RAM and high powered CPU. Now a lot of that could be solved "easily" but then my second reason comes in, cost...
Laptops are inherently more expensive than Desktops so I'd end upspending far more on the laptop to get an equivilent machine to do my processing and storing, whilst still needing half the stuff I would have with a desktop (couple of external drives, keyboard and mouse, monitor) alongside a docking station. The docking station would mean I'd have to go for a business level machine as well so even more cost... I do have my own laptop as well and use that when I am away from home or when I'm watching TV etc. however as good as it is it will never replace my desktop.
Keeping with cost, someone said earlier about replacing their parents desktop with a laptop. I wouldn't do that either. You can get away with spending £200-300 replacing a desktop with a newer model that will last another 10ish years. That amount will only get you a nasty laptop which would have fallen apart after a couple. Cheap laptops are false promises IMO, poor build quality, slow and badly thought out so will not last you long enough. £1000 will get you a nice laptop, you could halve that in the desktop world, especially if keeping/staggering peripherals and still get a better machine.
However I think terminals are the future. Cloude based computing is the future, some are using it a lot already and most are using it at least a bit. I use it to keep my documents and important data synced between my two devices, along with having it reachable by just signing into a website. An extension into thin style clients is definately the way I would be interested in it going. The abilty to just pick up any tablet, laptop or just sit in front of any desktop and sign into your "computer" and work away in whatever fashion you want. Swapping and changing without any need to think about syncing.
Laptops are inherently more expensive than Desktops so I'd end upspending far more on the laptop to get an equivilent machine to do my processing and storing, whilst still needing half the stuff I would have with a desktop (couple of external drives, keyboard and mouse, monitor) alongside a docking station. The docking station would mean I'd have to go for a business level machine as well so even more cost... I do have my own laptop as well and use that when I am away from home or when I'm watching TV etc. however as good as it is it will never replace my desktop.
Keeping with cost, someone said earlier about replacing their parents desktop with a laptop. I wouldn't do that either. You can get away with spending £200-300 replacing a desktop with a newer model that will last another 10ish years. That amount will only get you a nasty laptop which would have fallen apart after a couple. Cheap laptops are false promises IMO, poor build quality, slow and badly thought out so will not last you long enough. £1000 will get you a nice laptop, you could halve that in the desktop world, especially if keeping/staggering peripherals and still get a better machine.
However I think terminals are the future. Cloude based computing is the future, some are using it a lot already and most are using it at least a bit. I use it to keep my documents and important data synced between my two devices, along with having it reachable by just signing into a website. An extension into thin style clients is definately the way I would be interested in it going. The abilty to just pick up any tablet, laptop or just sit in front of any desktop and sign into your "computer" and work away in whatever fashion you want. Swapping and changing without any need to think about syncing.
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In big business... give the user whatever shape device they want and do any intensive processing in the data centre where it belongs. RDP/Citrix etc etc. For mobile workers laptops make sense.
For home use - laptops for most, gaming desktops for geeks.
Simples.
For home use - laptops for most, gaming desktops for geeks.
Simples.
I have both a Laptop and a Desktop.. the mobile element is nice to have should I go out somewhere and I need the internet or something.. but I tend to use my Desktop whilst at home as it's hooked upto my 42" TV and is a lot more powerfull.
It could go one of three ways:
1. Laptops take over, desktops become a minority. Current trends would suggest this. Only people to use desktops would be developers and and possibly designers, gaming would also move to consoles/lower power systems because of bigger user base and lower design costs.
2. Terminals and the cloud dominate, everything is online/ hosted on a hidden network.
3. Tablets become the norm, laptops a minority, about the same useage as desktops.
Personally, I'm going to go with number 3. Tablets can have about the same battery than laptops, albeit poorer performance. But for the majority of users who just want to use office applications and web surfing, this is plenty. Tablets are also more mobile than laptops, and generally look more aesthetically pleasing.
Desktops will still be used in development and coding, where the horsepower can be put to use. I'm currently in a summer placement in a university physics department, we have lots of workstations and just the one laptop, which is rarely used, the same can be said for the maths department.
Laptops just aren't mobile enough, you have to plug them in for prolonged useage and they are a pain to carry around.
I converted from my laptop and bought a big ol' PC just last week. If I feel I need some extra mobility, I'll get a netbook, but my iphone can handle most of that anyway
1. Laptops take over, desktops become a minority. Current trends would suggest this. Only people to use desktops would be developers and and possibly designers, gaming would also move to consoles/lower power systems because of bigger user base and lower design costs.
2. Terminals and the cloud dominate, everything is online/ hosted on a hidden network.
3. Tablets become the norm, laptops a minority, about the same useage as desktops.
Personally, I'm going to go with number 3. Tablets can have about the same battery than laptops, albeit poorer performance. But for the majority of users who just want to use office applications and web surfing, this is plenty. Tablets are also more mobile than laptops, and generally look more aesthetically pleasing.
Desktops will still be used in development and coding, where the horsepower can be put to use. I'm currently in a summer placement in a university physics department, we have lots of workstations and just the one laptop, which is rarely used, the same can be said for the maths department.
Laptops just aren't mobile enough, you have to plug them in for prolonged useage and they are a pain to carry around.
I converted from my laptop and bought a big ol' PC just last week. If I feel I need some extra mobility, I'll get a netbook, but my iphone can handle most of that anyway
I would like to see the sales figures of Notebooks/Laptops/Netbooks compared to Desktops.
If you go on most major companies they promote laptops much more than their desktops. I doubt I'd ever go back to buying a desktop, my laptop does everything I need it to. Obviously people who require large amount of processing power or have a special requirement are always going to use desktops.
If you go on most major companies they promote laptops much more than their desktops. I doubt I'd ever go back to buying a desktop, my laptop does everything I need it to. Obviously people who require large amount of processing power or have a special requirement are always going to use desktops.
Unless laptops start using screens that are good enough for photographers to use then I very much doubt the desktop will ever be a thing of the past. Laptops have their advantages but they're not enough to warrant the removal of desktop PCs altogether imo.
Laptops are very expensive as they are and to buy one with a decent screen for photography would cost even more. Then when it comes to upgrading, its a waste to have an out of date computer permanently attached to a high quality screen.
Or I guess they could design the laptop with a removable screen and make it universal, so that you can go out and buy a better screen. Or buy a laptop without the screen, making them less expensive to buy and upgrade.
Laptops are very expensive as they are and to buy one with a decent screen for photography would cost even more. Then when it comes to upgrading, its a waste to have an out of date computer permanently attached to a high quality screen.
Or I guess they could design the laptop with a removable screen and make it universal, so that you can go out and buy a better screen. Or buy a laptop without the screen, making them less expensive to buy and upgrade.
There's thin clients throughout my university and I was surprised at how speedy they are. Since they run off a central server and are essentially just a screen they don't need that much bandwidth. We even have a second set of servers for more intensive 64bit apps and this runs really well and much better than on the stand alone apps with the benefit you can close the connection but the instance will still run letting you free up a computer while calculations run, then log back on later to see the results.
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I went from a desktop to a laptop simply because of power resources. A desktop now pulls more power simply because certain hardware needs more power.
If you own your own home and pay bills laptops are definatly one power saving feature of a home over desktops and with 9 hour + batteries coming into laptops they are superb devices!!
I will never go back to a desktop ever.
If you own your own home and pay bills laptops are definatly one power saving feature of a home over desktops and with 9 hour + batteries coming into laptops they are superb devices!!
I will never go back to a desktop ever.
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Most desktops are pretty good on power aren't they?
My cpu clocks down when its not under load and the same with my GFX card. Is there really that much difference? Bearing in mind a laptop of a similar spec to a desktop costs hundreds more to buy.
I'd rather have the ability to upgrade part of my desktop than replace it entirely with a new model a few years down the line. Fine if you don't play games, but the power savings versus ease of component upgrade make it a false economy for gamers.
Most laptops in the home will be replaced with tablet/touch devices soon anyway. So it'll be a desktop v tablet.
Most laptops in the home will be replaced with tablet/touch devices soon anyway. So it'll be a desktop v tablet.