I told you!

[Uranium-235]

http://technorati.com/technology/art...-winding-down/

over a year ago I posted about how mobile devices are replacing desktops, while many of you made some good arguments about business computing, I expect this trend will continue, as companies realize tablets can do what desktop PC's can do (well, they're starting to anyways). As app development opens up more and allows more software to be moved to tablets, which can be cheaper to buy, sometimes (though not fix). I think we will begin to see prices for tablets drop, and companies focus on hardware for them, and less on desktop hardware, although perhaps the same on laptop hardware

I know you can't do hardcore gaming on laptops cheaply, but if component OEM's (asus, msi, gigabyte) start to loose contracts with PC OEM's (Dell, HP-although many of them already had as those companies have started manufacturing thier own parts), will the price of desktop hardware go up?

You can't kill the PC gaming industry, that is certain, but things sure are changing

[ratdude747]

Re: I told you!

I don't care how much people tout tablets and smartphones, I'll still take a personal workstation and business laptop.

Why? Touchscreens. They suck. With a stylus they're OK (especially the old PDA-like resistive screens), but finger + capacitive screen in my usage is slow and inaccurate. I really hate touchscreen typing... The writing box of a palm pilot for graffiti typing gestures was good... modern "on-screen" gestures less so (too easy to accidentally click mid-gesture). With the former I was at my peak as fast if not faster than a keyboard; the latter I'm either slow or inaccurate at.

[stevo1210]

Re: I told you!

I don't care how much people tout tablets and smartphones, I'll still take a personal workstation and business laptop.

Why? Touchscreens. They suck. With a stylus they're OK (especially the old PDA-like resistive screens), but finger + capacitive screen in my usage is slow and inaccurate. I really hate touchscreen typing... The writing box of a palm pilot for graffiti typing gestures was good... modern "on-screen" gestures less so (too easy to accidentally click mid-gesture). With the former I was at my peak as fast if not faster than a keyboard; the latter I'm either slow or inaccurate at.

I am quite opposite. I hate the stylus stuff, love the capacitive touch screens. My Acer Z5710 has a capacitive touch screen and I havent got an issue with it... except yes, like you said, it does get annoying having to lift hands off the table... prefer a keyboard to type and a mouse to move around windows.

[Uranium-235]

Re: I told you!

yes of course WE do, I would prefer desktops/laptops too. But trends are pointing that PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE ELSE is going in a different direction. As tablets get better and cheaper, I think we too will go in that direction too one day

[Sparkey55]

Re: I told you!

The only tablet I will ever use is an Aspirin.

[Pentium4]

Re: I told you!

Tablets are cool and all....but to me, nothing beats hitting physical keys. I just like the feeling of them more and I can't stand having a small screen so I will take my "bulky" laptop over a tablet any day

[Uranium-235]

Re: I told you!

again that is us geeks. take a look through 'normal' average joe eyes and things might look different

[dood]

Re: I told you!

Saying that use of Windows is winding down based on sales of Windows 8? I think that's pretty ridiculous.

Our salesmen may be requesting iPads, but for the other 75% of the users I support, there is absolutely no need for a tablet. We have a few folks in the office that have laptops, but a majority have desktops. In fact, we're in the middle of replacing over 100 Windows XP desktops with new Windows 7 desktops right now. We almost went with terminals, but didn't have the time to get a new XenApp environment up to support them.

All businesses are different in their technology needs, but for the business I support, the only thing that's going to replace our desktop needs are terminals, not tablets.

Edit - Another point on our salespeople clamoring for tablets... It's not necessarily that they even know what they'd do with them. Just that they saw some other salespeople from another company at some salespeople event use one, and they just HAVE to have one.

[cheapie]

Re: I told you!

Tablets are cool and all....but to me, nothing beats hitting physical keys.

I actually have a brand new "Das Keyboard" coming in today. (Yes, that's one of those $130 keyboards that make a lot of noise)

[Pentium4]

Re: I told you!

again that is us geeks. take a look through 'normal' average joe eyes and things might look different

I know, the average person loves them. I was just giving my opinion, I hardly like touch screen on my phone haha

Saying that use of Windows is winding down based on sales of Windows 8? I think that's pretty ridiculous.

Our salesmen may be requesting iPads, but for the other 75% of the users I support, there is absolutely no need for a tablet. We have a few folks in the office that have laptops, but a majority have desktops. In fact, we're in the middle of replacing over 100 Windows XP desktops with new Windows 7 desktops right now. We almost went with terminals, but didn't have the time to get a new XenApp environment up to support them.

All businesses are different in their technology needs, but for the business I support, the only thing that's going to replace our desktop needs are terminals, not tablets.

Edit - Another point on our salespeople clamoring for tablets... It's not necessarily that they even know what they'd do with them. Just that they saw some other salespeople from another company at some salespeople event use one, and they just HAVE to have one.

Yeah, people just "need" one cause so and so has one too!

I actually have a brand new "Das Keyboard" coming in today. (Yes, that's one of those $130 keyboards that make a lot of noise)

Nice!

[cheapie]

Re: I told you!

I just got it in today, and so far it's as good as they say, I'd say. It sounds just like the keyboards I'm used to from my childhood.

[mockingbird]

Re: I told you!

A large distributor that I have been using for many years was just swallowed up by another distributor a few days ago...

I'd always been wondering how long they'd last, because the place is usually deserted when I go there to pick up stock.

If there is any indication of the dwindling status of the PC market then this is it... Big companies consolidating to compensate for the lack of demand is very indicative.

You can deny it all you want, tablets ARE replacing PCs (Well, laptops at least). They have a few advantages:

1) Tablets are easy to clean, one swipe with a wet towel of each side, and it's like new. Laptops get dirt stuck in all the cracks and crevices, the place where the palm is rested wears out after a few months. Dust gets stuck between the heatpipe grill and the fan, often creating an insulating 'pillow'
2) Laptops require big clunky adapters
3) Laptops have a much lower battery life than a tablet
4) Laptops are built with ultra low-quality non-durable plastics. Every time you open one up to service it, you lose a screw standoff or a retention clip
4) A tablet is pretty much sufficient for *most* people... It can do everything a laptop can, unless you need to sit down and do any series office work like Word or Excel
5) Where an actual computer is required, most universities have special facilities for students. Libraries also have special word-processing stations
6) The average consumer is one that wouldn't be able to even begin to appreciate the potential of modern technology. Most people are brainwashed with the Statist model to rely on only the State or the Corporation to harvest computing power for the needs of the masses. The average person only understands the concept of powerful processing in an environment where it is serving many people, like a "cloud" computer. The concept of massive processing capability for the average individual has an illegal stigma, much like gun ownership (Where in reality, the individual is empowered with both a gun and a powerful computer).

The need for a computer may never diminish completely, but the home market will diminish significantly. HP and Dell desktop PCs often use substandard parts and are designed to fail after two years, whereas an iPad will last for at least a decade.

In the end, Apple and the tablet makers have been aple to capitalize on the weak short-sighted desktop computer industry. For years they have been selling relatively expensive products with "planned-obsolescence" in mind, often alienating customers and stigmatizing the microcomputer platform. Apple Stores have "Genius Bars' that are very generous with warranties and product servicing. Most laptops come with a very short warranty.

It's not just HP and Dell, but also the OEM market... When computers with higher power requirements arrived in around 2000, the Taiwanese producers were unable to scale. The recent phenomena of "All-Japanese" PSUs or Gigabyte's "Ultra Durable" series is a testament to this. Instead of ensuring a supply of long-term customers, companies like Thermaltake and Enermax insisted on selling glossy and high-priced, but ultimately low quality PSUs to the masses. The motherboard manufacturers are equal in blame.

This is what happens when you export not just the production of product to the Mandarin and Cantonese, but also the business model and marketing. Asian products tend to be all "rice" and no meat.

[mattbrad2]

Re: I told you!

Depends on which sector you're talking about I suppose. I've been in this business for the better part of 20 years and have heard this argument every few years. Business's for example will always have a need for a desktop system. Kids and tweeners are the driving force behind tablets and smartphones. They certainly have their uses but there isn't a day that goes by I don't hear a story from a customer who either returned their tablet because it didn't do what they were led to believe or they needed to now "supplement" their mobile device with a laptop or desktop. Fact is there are more laptops in circulation today than there was yesterday and tomorrow they'll be even more. It may not be growing at the pace the market is used to but compare a Best Buy or Microcenter today to what a computer store looked like 10 years ago. The options are staggering. We've over-saturated the market so much that reports like these were inevitable.

[Uranium-235]

Re: I told you!

4) A tablet is pretty much sufficient for *most* people... It can do everything a laptop can, unless you need to sit down and do any series office work like Word or Excel

bluetooth mice + keyboard = word and excel (at least if its a good sized screen)

I've never taken a tablet apart before. My ONE time taking something apart even close is an ipod touch, and that went HORRIBLY. The adhesive they use inside tore a ribbon cable. I hear tablets are better when it comes to that kind of thing.

face it, in many sci-fi shows they show portable, integrated touch screens, and that is going to come true. My doctors office is using them. They have a hi-rez lcd panel on its side, the doctor can just punch a few buttons on his pad (wasn't apple) and he can view an xray on the screen infront of him, even zoom in and out to higher resolutions. And this was a year ago. The ladies behind the desk still had desktops though :P

[cheapie]

Re: I told you!

So...what about the people that want very high-performance machines for gaming? How are you going to fit a 4 GHz 8-core CPU, 4+ video cards, 64 GB RAM, etc. in a tablet?

[Topcat]

Re: I told you!

The PC aint dead yet....but I've always agreed that their days are numbered in the consumer market. The PC will live on in the corporate world and IT world for quite some years to come.....but as time passes, you'll suddenly see walmart no longer stocking computers as we know them.

For me personally, I will always have a PC..... I'm not a smartphone junkie, and tablets are cute trinkets for the yuppies and trendy jokers.... As i've said, I get no thrill out of watching movies or browsing the web on a 4" screen....I'll take my 27" 16:10 display and my trusty keyboard & mouse. The gaming market is what really drove the PC market in its hayday...but the consoles have all but eliminated this niche.....and you don't need a top end system to email, web browse, and do spreadsheets on....so the PC hardware market has pretty much tanked.

As for win8, if any of you have used it, you know why its not doing well in the market....it is horrendous!! Win7 will be the last known OS from MS that was worth a poo. XP will always be known as their best OS.

[goontron]

Re: I told you!

The PC aint dead yet....but I've always agreed that their days are numbered in the consumer market. The PC will live on in the corporate world and IT world for quite some years to come.....but as time passes, you'll suddenly see walmart no longer stocking computers as we know them.

For me personally, I will always have a PC..... I'm not a smartphone junkie, and tablets are cute trinkets for the yuppies and trendy jokers.... As i've said, I get no thrill out of watching movies or browsing the web on a 4" screen....I'll take my 27" 16:10 display and my trusty keyboard & mouse. The gaming market is what really drove the PC market in its hayday...but the consoles have all but eliminated this niche.....and you don't need a top end system to email, web browse, and do spreadsheets on....so the PC hardware market has pretty much tanked.

As for win8, if any of you have used it, you know why its not doing well in the market....it is horrendous!! Win7 will be the last known OS from MS that was worth a poo. XP will always be known as their best OS.

agree 120% real computers ONLY! of course with abit of hacking you can run Debian or SUSE on an android tablet but that don't make it a real computer, it just makes it crap with diamonds on it and as for the win7 tablets even as few and far between they are its just donkey crap with cheap plastic sparkles on it! oh and dont get me going on win8 its just donkey crap with barbed wire in it even if it is on a desktop! /rant

[lti]

Re: I told you!

If the next version of Windows gets rid of the tablet/smartphone UI, it will probably be okay, but I don't think it will be as good as XP or 7.

I will at least need a normal desktop or laptop until I finish college. After that, I will probably still have a normal computer, whether I need it or not. I will at least have something with a full keyboard and mouse that is capable of running Microsoft Office.

The closest thing to a smartphone or tablet I have access to is an old Palm Z22. My mom still has one, and I replaced the touchscreen digitizer a few months ago. I think it needs a new battery.

[kaboom]

Re: I told you!

...and tablets are cute trinkets for the yuppies and trendy jokers.... As i've said, I get no thrill out of watching movies or browsing the web on a 4" screen....

Ya! Let 'em overpay for a stupid, underperforming, "trendy" device, only to trash it in a few months for the "latest" one. As if tablets are anything revolutionary...

I'll take my 27" 16:10 display and my trusty keyboard & mouse. The gaming market is what really drove the PC market in its hayday...but the consoles have all but eliminated this niche

With that in mind, consider:

As for win8, if any of you have used it, you know why its not doing well in the market....it is horrendous!! Win7 will be the last known OS from MS that was worth a poo. XP will always be known as their best OS.

Which sums up why people hang onto their Nindendos, PlayStations, PS2s, etc. I, for one, want to "escape" PC bullshit when I play games... Who needs HD when Steam tries to dictate what you can, and mostly can't do. Oh, and the "WIIU" may be HD, but it doesn't count!

[goontron]

Re: I told you!

If the next version of Windows gets rid of the tablet/smartphone UI, it will probably be okay, but I don't think it will be as good as XP or 7.

i don't know about you but vista drove me to Linux mainly because i had fast FAST hardware but vista didn't work because of some legacy hardware that i put on it.