Desktop computers becoming a "thing of the past"

Saying they are becoming a thing of the past implies that they will soon be outmoded and unused, which is surely not the case. People will still use desktops.
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I work at HP and we have three desktops, all the other machines on site (400+) are laptops with docking stations or tablets.

At home I only have one desktop and that's purely for gaming. Most of my other activities (surfing, music, videos etc) are done on a non-desktop machine (HTC Desire, EeePC, Wii etc).

I think the article is quite correct.
 
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Pinter75 said:
If I actually knew what that was I could answer ;-)
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mt2w6a.jpg

Not the best photo I could find, but that's where they will work all day.
 
Lysander said:
Saying they are becoming a thing of the past implies that they will soon be outmoded and unused, which is surely not the case. People will still use desktops.
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I think you're just looking at this from your own personal perspective. For a lot of the people on this forum desktops will always be the way to go as they'll want performance.

For a lot of other people they likely will become a thing of the past - I don't use one at work rather I've got a docking station monitor, keyboard and mouse on my desk for my laptop.

When I was a kid myself and all my friends had a 'family PC' - the trend nowadays seems to be for kids to be given laptops etc...
 
^ Not my idea of fun TBH. Been working from home for over a decade, now on some very exciting stuff I hope to be able to share with you guys. It is a follow on from my laser cutter thread....

Saying that I have a big laptop that I use when working away from home, and a netbook for when i don;t need much power.
 
krooton said:
How small is your room?!

Me entire desk + chair setup is less than 1m in both depth and width, so that would be 1/4 of a 2m by 2m room.
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3m x4m

you need about 60 cm depth for a chair and the depth of the desk is about 50 cm, width about 1 metre.

OK so maybe not 1/4 but it 'feels' like it takes up a whole corner of the room. 1 of 4 corners = 1/4 :)

Anyway I'm glad not to have what quite frankly is an eyesore in the corner of the living room.

(not forgetting I had a 24" CRT + 20" LCD the 24" CRT is 55cm depth ) Downsizing the screens makes no sense given whats the point of a desktop then.

have a pic of one of it's many incarnations note this is well old and i don't have the sofa, the shelves are not there the room has been decorated etc...

desk.jpg
 
whitecrook said:
3m x4m

you need about 60 cm depth for a chair and the depth of the desk is about 50 cm, width about 1 metre.

OK so maybe not 1/4 but it 'feels' like it takes up a whole corner of the room. 1 of 4 corners = 1/4 :)

Anyway I'm glad not to have what quite frankly is an eyesore in the corner of the living room.

(not forgetting I had a 24" CRT + 20" LCD the 24" CRT is 55cm depth ) Downsizing the screens makes no sense given whats the point of a desktop then.

have a pic of one of it's many incarnations note this is well old and i don't have the sofa, the shelves are not there the room has been decorated etc...

desk.jpg
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It's only an eyesore if you make it an eyesore :p

My desk looks swish in my lounge, thought I'll need to take some photos for the case/desk thread.
 
Visage said:
So in that respect a laptop could happily replace 90% of office-bound desktops.
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I disagree
Gism0_small.jpg


It's far cheaper to replace an office keyboard and mouse (the things that are often crammed with bacteria and dirt from being over used and rarely cleaned) than to replace the laptop of an office user.

I worked in a company where everyone that wasn't HR worked off a laptop as a desktop replacement with multiple screens connected up and the rate at which keyboards and things wore out was bizarre.

Laptops also cost more than your average office desktop.

Desktops will never die. PC Gaming is still a large scene and as long as enthusiast outfits sell such orientated hardware then gamers and enthusiasts will always make sure the desktop never dies.

Plus desktops are ever so pretty...mine is anyway :p
 
I like being able to do absolutely everything at one station.

If I had a laptop, iPad, HTC, iPhone, etc. instead of a desktop, I couldn't

- game
- watch TV
- edit videos
- use CS5
- do office, email etc.

all at one place, which would annoy me. As much as my wife would love me to, I will never give up my nice big TFT and excessively large office desk with 5.1 speakers :p.
 
Is a tablet the same sort of thing as n ipad? If so how are these supposed to take the place of a laptop or desktop?

You're either going to get a disfigured neck or RSI from long periods of use. If you have it flat on a desk to type safely then your neck is going to end up stuck at 90o :eek:.
 
Pinter75 said:
Laptops and tablets may be fine for those who use computers just for mail and surfing the web. Some of us on the other hand need desktops cos we do real work on them. I can't see all this fitting on my lap without a struggle.

http://www.pinter75.com/room.jpg[/IMG

And yeah I am a designer who does not use a Mac :-)[/QUOTE]

Nice Cat.
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Robbie G said:
I like being able to do absolutely everything at one station.

If I had a laptop, iPad, HTC, iPhone, etc. instead of a desktop, I couldn't

- game
- watch TV
- edit videos
- use CS5
- do office, email etc.
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Weird, I could do all of that on a laptop :/

But I agree, there is a place for both.
 
Khaaan! said:
5.1 speakers are overrated, stereo is where the awesome sound is at, don'tcha know!
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Well yeah, I use Sennheiser HD5xxs for surround gaming along with much of the rest of the PC gaming population and in stereo mode for music, but I still sometimes like using speakers for when I need to hear other things, like the maid telling me dinner's ready :p.

Sp00n said:
Weird, I could do all of that on a laptop :/

But I agree, there is a place for both.
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Could you play a game on one screen with TV and CS5 on the other using a laptop? Maybe if you plug in extra screens and your laptop has a very good spec, but then when the next game comes out it's new laptop time instead of new GPU time.

Plus laptop mice and keyboards are a bit poo...yes you can plug in your peripherals but now we're at the stage when you've got so much plugged in, you might aswell have a tower under the desk and a cheap laptop for browsing and emails. At least that way you can upgrade the PC very easily.

Obviously at the end of the day each person's circumstances and preference is different, but I personally right now could not see myself doing without a desktop.
 
Robbie G said:
Could you play a game on one screen with TV and CS5 on the other using a laptop? Maybe if you plug in extra screens and your laptop has a very good spec, but then when the next game comes out it's new laptop time instead of new GPU time.

Plus laptop mice and keyboards are a bit poo...yes you can plug in your peripherals but now we're at the stage when you've got so much plugged in, you might aswell have a tower under the desk and a cheap laptop for browsing and emails. At least that way you can upgrade the PC very easily.
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That wasn't the question though was it, the question could you do all of the above, yes you can, upgrading has nothing to do with it :p
 
Sp00n said:
That wasn't the question though was it, the question could you do all of the above, yes you can, upgrading has nothing to do with it :p
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Of course it does. It's surely an important consideration.

Or would you be happy still playing HL1 in five years, because 'Hey, I'm still gaming LOL'.
 
OK fair, the upgrade thing is applicable but in my eyes, the peripherals are not a problem as you would have to get all of the extra monitors/keyboards/mice anyway, plus with the laptop you just get a dock, push a button and your completely mobile.
 
A dock is a good solution and if it was simply a case of having a dock, keyboard, mouse and big screen upstairs, I'd probably have a laptop too. Problem being there are no fast GPUs that will fit in a laptop, so for any gaming enthusiasts, they need a tower anyway.
 
Things is, I can use the missus' laptop if I need portability, and if she is using it, I can use my HD2 for gaming (GBA emulator rocks my socks), music, videos and web.
 
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