where is computing going?

[NathanE]

Tablets will capture huge amounts of market share starting this time next year. OcUK admins will need to split up the "Mobile Phones and Tablets" forum for sure. Because it will no longer make any sense to pair tablets and mobile phones into the same forum. At the moment it's fine because the tablets available today are all "first-gen" iOS or Android devices where the similarities with smart phones are almost endless (and let's assume the Windows XP Tablets from years gone by were "zero-gen" )

Unless Apple has already spotted the threat (from Microsoft) and has a skunkworks team already working on a next-gen tablet that runs OSX, then they're screwed.

 

[klidge]

There are still an awful lot of people and firms that cannot access high speed internet. The "cloud" is a total waste of time for them so they will need even faster, larger and more accessible local storage as files get bigger and bigger.

 

[Deleted member 77746]

There are still an awful lot of people and firms that cannot access high speed internet. The "cloud" is a total waste of time for them so they will need even faster, larger and more accessible local storage as files get bigger and bigger.

When you put Web GUI's on top of the cloud you get a really nice solution. This is a way it's going on top of tablets / laptops. It's just brilliant.

 

[gropingmantis]

I do not think desktops will disappear. There will still be crazy people who do folding or want to game on 20 screens to warrant that kind of size. Also businesses may go SFF but some wont go to laptops. At work everyone gets two big monitors but an SFF desktop to run them you could not really replace that with a laptop unless you connected your laptop to the screens (waste of money) or you had a laptop with a massive screen and connected that to an external screen (do they do laptops with 24" screens?).

Sure in people's homes they may move to laptops and tablets but what about gamers? They are still going to what to be running games that push the envelope of technology.

To summarise: Desktops will still be viable a long way into the future. Old people and parents (read as "General Public, the kind that dont post on this forum") will move to tablets/laptops.

 

[RomanNose]

I have a tablet, I can see how it could replace a pc for daily usage.
Saying that, I prefer using a keyboard on a screen with a high resolution. I also don't think any of the mobile Operating systems are powerful enough though. I am quite a power user, I use niche applications and run quite a lot of services locally.
The cloud to me is a fad, local storage is so cheap and I can run it across at gigabit speeds and I actually know where it is. The cloud is not a bad Idea as it is quite scalable but it has arrived too early. Upload speeds are nowhere near high enough in this country and security is probably the biggest issue with it.

 

[NathanE]

Productivity as in?

Two micro USB ports. Allowing connection of a keyboard/mouse, printer, etc. And a micro DisplayPort port.

Alternatively, a docking station pin-out that includes pins for the above mentioned ports.

Win8 tablets will have things such as these.

 

[King Damager]

I think it's good though been able to dock a tablet. It's a real shame Apple never come up with that as a solution like the Asus Transformer.

You can wirelessly bluetooth a keyboard in, and then I think they have like a apple charging point out to tv or VGA or something I think. So that basically would work the same. But don't think you can stick a mouse on one yet, but doubt it'll be long before someone manages to create Bluetooth software and app that allows you too....

You can't do any sort of productivity on a tablet whatsoever.

I have an iPad2 before you say I need to try one. It's great to browse content on.

Really.... I use mine for lectures, writing PowerPoint presentations etc... Hell I even sat in a seminar the other day and took out my iPad and wrote half of an essay I had due in soon during the seminar, whilst recording the audio from the seminar. I picked up on the useful stuff and also managed to get a load of essay done.....

Edit: I would say thought, that a lot of the time when doing essays I do find that I perfer the benefits of a massive screen...

kd

 

[kierenharrold]

Tablets and portables with the ability to be able to be docked to a bigger screen with mouse and keyboard support.

Desktops and laptops will be around for a long time. The best way to see where the market is currently at, is not to look at what enthusiasts have. you need to look at what the 'grandad' generation has, that shows when technology has gone mainstream.

A lot of the 'grandad' generation, are still buying £399 dells from the purple shirts.

 

[RabbitHutch]

You can't do any sort of productivity on a tablet whatsoever.

I have an iPad2 before you say I need to try one. It's great to browse content on.

It's not that you can't be productive on a tablet, it's just that very little software has been designed which allows you to do so. When the software is appropriate then they are vastly more productive than certain traditional methods;

- Numerous airlines use ipads for flight rosters/passenger seating arrangements/food requests/flight information etc etc in their cabins, operated by cabin crew. Big airlines I mean - BA are implementing this now.

- Pilots use them as electronic flight bags ultimately, and their use has been approved by the relevant authorities.

- Most high-end car salesrooms use pads for customer orders/car modifications etc. 40 US Mercedes dealerships use them.

- Most news organisations have them distributed etc.

- Certain race car drivers use them for data visualisation etc

 

[NathanE]

It's not that you can't be productive on a tablet, it's just that very little software has been designed which allows you to do so. When the software is appropriate then they are vastly more productive than certain traditional methods;

...

Agreed on all points. The reason adoption has been slow in corporate environments is because the cost of developing relatively complex software for iOS or Android is several magnitudes higher than what it costs to develop for Windows today. The SDKs, libraries, IDEs simply aren't there for those platforms, or are severely lacking. This constraint on the market will be removed when Win8 arrives next year.

 

[Strife212]

Productivity as in?

Anything in the world other than basic typing?

Photo editing
Programming
Making a website
Typesetting
Video editing
3d modelling
CAD

Really.... I use mine for lectures, writing PowerPoint presentations etc... Hell I even sat in a seminar the other day and took out my iPad and wrote half of an essay I had due in soon during the seminar, whilst recording the audio from the seminar. I picked up on the useful stuff and also managed to get a load of essay done.....

Not what I'd consider productivity, it's just note taking, could do that with a pen and paper and a £5 dictaphone

 

[shadow_boxer]

Cloud computing, mobile devices and tablets.

In terms of gaming, console/all in one media home hub types. PC gaming will eventually die out IMO.

 

[Energize]

Tablets like the ipad will not replace desktops and laptops because with their small displays and lack of integrated input devices ie keyboard they have little to no capability to do any actual work on. I think that we will see more of the older style dual tablet and laptop designs with pen input, we are already seeing some major manufacturers going back to these. Not forgetting performance, larger form factors will always be more powerful than tablets so for tasks like rendering and video encoding, desktops are always going to be the number one choice.

 

[Strife212]

It's not that you can't be productive on a tablet, it's just that very little software has been designed which allows you to do so. When the software is appropriate then they are vastly more productive than certain traditional methods;

- Numerous airlines use ipads for flight rosters/passenger seating arrangements/food requests/flight information etc etc in their cabins, operated by cabin crew. Big airlines I mean - BA are implementing this now.

- Pilots use them as electronic flight bags ultimately, and their use has been approved by the relevant authorities.

- Most high-end car salesrooms use pads for customer orders/car modifications etc. 40 US Mercedes dealerships use them.

- Most news organisations have them distributed etc.

- Certain race car drivers use them for data visualisation etc

All that stuff is great but when I said productivity I should have been more clear really, content creation is nearly impossible on a tablet.

 

[PermaBanned]

PC gaming will eventually die out IMO.

Definitely not this, if the recent indie 'revolution' has taught us anything it's that PC gaming is here to stay. Especially if the rumours about Microsoft integrating their next gen console with Windows 8 are true.

 

[NathanE]

All that stuff is great but when I said productivity I should have been more clear really, content creation is nearly impossible on a tablet.

Imagine where things are going though...

You dock the tablet onto your desk. Your 30" Dell LCD monitor turns itself on. Your keyboard and mouse come to life.

You load Photoshop. You use your drawing stylus on the screen of the tablet.

That's just one example. Plenty of other content creation applications will benefit too.

Microsoft has already got a team working on a very slick Metro version of Word/Excel/PowerPoint etc for Windows 8 tablets.

 

[kierenharrold]

You can be productive on a tablet, yes there is certain things that you will find hard to do now. But this isn't a limitation of the form factor, it's just there is no push from the consumers to add these features. This will change, more software will be developed allowing a tablet to easily do all the functions of a desktop computer. I think Windows 8 tablets will start to push the tablet as a replacement to the laptop.

But people will still have desktops to do the more intensive tasks.

 

[Ceryndrion]

A little over a decade ago, people predicted, with the increase in the capabilities of laptops, that very soon, desktop pc's would be a thing of the past.. hasn't happened yet.

When wireless devices were introduced, people predicted that nobody would want wired keyboards and mice any longer.. hasn't stopped us buying them.


Don't for a moment think that the desktop pc's days are numbered, at least, not just yet.

 

[Chris1712]

I think Windows 8 tablets will start to push the tablet as a replacement to the laptop.

This. I can't wait for decent Win8 tablets to appear, I really want an Asus Transformer 2 but the fact is it can't replace my netbook for productivity etc. Win8 should solve this, just hope Intel manage to get some good battery life out of their architecture because I can't see that many companies redoing stuff for ARM for a while yet.

 

[King Damager]

Anything in the world other than basic typing?

Photo editing
Programming
Making a website
Typesetting
Video editing
3d modelling
CAD



Not what I'd consider productivity, it's just note taking, could do that with a pen and paper and a £5 dictaphone

A large perecentage of home users, admittedly not all, and a reasonable sized percentage of business users will never need to do things like this. Admittedly a niche exists by where people do need the extra power, but more people than not can do most of their daily tasks via a laptop/tablet. And tablets more and more are having the ability to replace latptops...

Tablets like the ipad will not replace desktops and laptops because with their small displays and lack of integrated input devices ie keyboard they have little to no capability to do any actual work on.

Wrong. A number of tablets now have the ability for you to connect keyboards and game pads up to them... Although the point about screens is correct. Although again I think many are starting to adapt so they can have output to screens.

kd