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Laptops Outsell Desktops in Retail Stores
TechnoPope writes "According to this article on MSNBC.Com, laptop computers accounted for 54 percent of of 500 Million in retail computer sales last year. Also mentioned was that LCD's outsold CRT's in retail as well. "
People want mobility with out sacrificing performace. Todays laptops seem to do that nicely, especially Apple's power books. I never liked palm pilots but laptops are quite nice on the average. I just wish heat wasn't such an issue. I used to have an Acer laptop 5-6 year ago and it left burns on my lap after an hour or so of use.
I wonder how many PC users build their own - as in what percentage of desktop's are homebuilt, since these don't figure into the "retail PC sales" numbers.
/. story.
In our little geek world, I'm sure the percentage of homebuilts is very high. But in the "real world," I wonder where that percentage falls to. I wonder if homebuilts account for enough to push laptop sales back under 50%, thus negating this
How are you going to keep them down on the farm once they've seen Karl Hungus?
I never thought notebooks were that usefull until I got one myself. Its almost as powerfull as my desktop,but portable and more comfortable to use. Which makes me wonder if a stupider labtop that simply connects to a more powerful desktop would be even more usefull. I guess they still need to workout the bandwidth and display issues.
Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
I am sure that there are more *new* desktops in use than there are laptops. You have to take into the account the amount of people that build their own desktops as compared to those who build laptops (not too many people that I know of build their own laptops). I would say give it a few more years and then I can see laptops truly outselling desktops.
"The two most abundant elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity." -Harlan Ellison
What, are you kidding me? If you read the article instead of trying to hit first post, it says people are buying laptops for the portability -- imagine that! I thought we all wanted smaller & easier to use.
Not discussed in the article, CRTs and desktops use much more energy. Laptops can be used when the power is out - what a concept, not just a UPS where you can gracefully shut down when the power goes out.
The desktop is king only where unit cost is important. Oh, and gaming.
I cannot imagine computing without them. I carry mine around almost everywhere I can. Sitting back in a cafe typing out code before a friend shows up or playing a game. I use mine everywhere.
It is also nice to be able to sit the thing in my lap and sit in the same room as my wife and hold down a conversation instead of being relegating to one room while I aimlessly surf.
Any others? Who loves having a laptop?
ACK
(Assuming you're using Windows)
Turn on Large Fonts.
I hear this all the time with my laptop users at work.
You can't get any work done in 800x600 anyway. Hell, for much other than Word, 1024x768 stinks too!
>> Just run the damn lcd in its native resolution
>> and increase the default font sizes!!!!!!!
> How does this help when doing word processing?
> Do you really want 1/2" tall text out of your
> printer?
Ahem. When he said "increase the default font sizes", he meant increase the default SCREEN FONT SIZES in your operating system. In Windows:
1) Right-click on the desktop
2) Click on "Properties"
3) Click on the "Settings" tab
4) Click "Advanced"
5) Under the General tab, there is a "Font Size" setting. You can select "Small Fonts" (96 dots per inch), "Large Fonts" (120 dpi), or "Other" (whatever you want).
You'll notice that when you select "Other", Windows shows an example of how 10 point Arial text will be displayed on your screen with the modified settings. By dragging the ruler, you can increase or decrease the displayed size of 10-pt Arial text.
That's right, you can change the onscreen size of your text (measured in dots per inch) without affecting the printed size of your text (measured in points). I hope that clears everything up. Next time, don't jump to rash conclusions.
BTW, I can see the benefits of LCDs, but I don't see how LCD fanboys can proclaim "CRT is inferior". Sure, LCD is superior if you don't mind being locked into one resolution, motion blur, etc. For business and word processing use, I'm sure LCD is just fine. For gaming, graphic design, movie playback, I would go with a CRT.
Before anyone jumps to grand conclusions about what this means vis a vis desktops vs laptops:
I don't see anyone noting how laptops are inherently hard to upgrade. If your laptop is sluggish, you basically have two options: 1) add more RAM, and if that fails, 2) buy a new laptop. Whereas, with desktop PCs, you have several more options, like upgrading the CPU or buying a new graphics card. This means that the average desktop will have a longer upgradeable life than the average laptop.
A related factor is that the average desktop for under $1000 is way more powerful than the average $2000 laptop. So a desktop bought today is much less likely to be made obsolete by horsepower requirements within a given time frame than a laptop also bought today, if only because it has more horsepower right out of the box, even if that desktop costs a lot less.
And because of the inherent cost differential, people who can afford to buy laptops can afford to upgrade them faster.
Also, many people who buy laptops buy it for the chic factor, so they're going to upgrade (i.e. buy a new laptop) sooner than those people who buy the decidedly unchic desktop.
Laptops are undeniably at least partly about image, and people consume them every bit as conspicuously (and in the very same places !) as people consumed Filofaxes, cell phones, and PDAs before. And I've noticed many smirks or at least raised eyebrows when someone trundles in a 3-year old, heavy-as-hell-with-passive-matrix-screen laptop into a meeting. And many if not most of the laptop-advocates here are familiar with the satisfaction of hauling in the newest, coolest laptop, hearing the oohs-and-ahhs and having the neatest toy in the board room for the next month or so.