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Laptops Outsell Desktops
wintermute1974 writes "According to a new report by Current Analysis, laptops have overtaken sales of desktops for the first time in computing, ever. Figures are for the U.S. market, but presumably this is part of a world-wide trend." From the article: "Notebook prices fell 17 percent during the past year while desktop prices dipped only 4 percent. Some of the features common in most notebooks are longer-lasting batteries, CD burners and wireless capability."
They overtook desktops in revenue in 2003.
My tower has a handle on it. And it weighs in at an incredibly portable 42 pounds.
Some of the features common in most notebooks are longer-lasting batteries, CD burners and wireless capability.
Yeah. They left out the inability to easily upgrade components. In the last 10 years i have owned +/- 6 computers. One was a laptop that I purchased new. The others were all custom rigs that got upgraded expansion cards, peripherals, memory, etc. when needed. Thus they didn't show up as desktop sales. I am willing to bet that as building machines from components has gotten easier, lots more people have been doing it to get more bang for the buck.
Thing is, with a laptop, upgrading the monitor is impossible and upgrading pretty much anything else is a royal pain and/or too expensive. Thus, laptop users can't take advantage of individual components on the same scale as desktop owners.
my current laptop is a toshiba satelite a75 series. circa end of 2004 batery life: 2 hours on "long life" mode. my very first laptop was a toshiba t-1000 circa 1980-something(late 80's) battery life: hours and hours... how is that a longer life?
The question that interests me is: are laptops becoming any more durable? One of my main reasons that I bought an eMac instead of an iBook is that the eMac is probably Apple's most durable computer. And I know that laptops tend to be much more prone to failure.
It wasn't so long ago that if you bought a laptop, you could pretty much count on some kind of major failure within three years. I'm wondering if any good research has been done to show whether laptops are closing the gap with desktops in terms of reliability. If they are, I'm pretty sure my next computer will be a laptop.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
I would guess that a significant amount of this is due to the increasing number of colleges (and even some highschools) that require students to have laptops.
your thin skin doesn't make me a troll
no, pdas are too small to be of any use, ive had plenty of them to know.
you are forgetting, sir, that only with a laptop can you ensure your entire porn surfing collection and device are with you at all times. especially handy if you have a snoopy female type around.
** "It's not my job to stand between the people talking to me, and the ones listening to me." -- Pego the Jerk
So that your computer goes with you but when you need the space and larger screen etc you have it. With wireless you don't even have to mess around with hooking up a crap load of cables. Wireless mice and Keyboards already exist and it wouldn't take that much to create a wireless display system.
I really wonder if wireless interface systems could get ubiquitous enough that you could more or less forgoe the full key board and mouse on the laptop entirely and just make a mobile processing memory unit say the size of a cell phone. Wirelesss interface stations would be all over the place and you could browse the systems in range and log onto yours.
One idea I like about that is being able to test drive systems at a store before you buy it. Wonder if that new monitor has fast enough refresh ? Enough resolution ? Just attach it to the system on your hip and run a favorit movie/game etc... How about the sound quality of those speakers ? How about wondering if that new system will do what you want ? Access files on your current system while demoing a new unit with similar periphials you have at home. Have an automatic interface with your cars computer... no more dealer visits for codes or wondering what tripped the 'check engine' light.
I don't ask you to be me. I only ask you not expect me to be you.
At least it didn't end with a stupid question, like "Is this the end of desktops as we know it?"
But this is not just a "desktop replacement" trend. Sure, you can emulate nearly every function on a laptop that you could get in a desktop, but that was true back when too. Sure, the price has gone down, but what's really changed?
I don't think the wireless explosion is getting nearly enough credit here. Now your truly portable PC can take advantage of the most influential and pervasive phenomenon of the 21st century anywhere and everywhere. Coffee shops. Parks. The back yard. The laptops utility has been magnified 100 fold just by the wireless networking trend alone. It's so much more than a portable document holder now. You now have access to real time information anywhere, an unparalleled knowledge base at your fingertips on the go, keep in contact with people friends, family and partners instantly, etc etc etc. Wireless LAN? Standard equipment on nearly every machine now.
I have no doubt the price drop has helped, but the utility and popularity of the laptop has absolutely exploded because of the wireless revolution that is still evolving at this very moment.
You need a FREE iPod Nano
You should never date a woman who objects to your porn collection. Hell, my wife's collection is almost as big as my own. Many an evening of incredible sex has started out with her sitting on my lap surfing porn together.
Why is it that the proponents of "one nation under God" are so eager to get rid of "liberty and justice for all"?
Apple has always been an innovator, but it has never lead the pack because it simply hasn't had those many laptop/notebook models. The advances in laptop technology have been pushed by the demand in PC laptops from Compaq, Dell, HP and more importantly, IBM. IBM has been probably the more innovating integrator of the lot. Apple is a distant catch-up, regardless of their good industrial design capabilities. The ability to have a hard drive the size of a pack of matches, wireless networking or power-saving processors does not come to us courtesy of your "friends at Apple", it comes from the Toshibas, VIAs and Intels of the world being pushed by PC makers with insane consumer-level demand. You honestly don't think Apple makes their own Firewire controllers, eh?
Thanks for the laugh though.
Web2.0: I love when people Flickr my cuil and digg my boingboing until my google is reddit and I start to yahoo
In Australia you can tax deduct 100% of the cost of a laptop in the first year. you can onlydeduct 33% of a desktop in the first year.
As such there is a huge incentive to buy laptops rather than desktops.
lounge around on the blue couch
since u r not using it.. could you ship it to me? i will pay for delivery and use it to run linux which does not require a high end pc thanks in advance
_ In Egypt Networks: Network Solutions with a Twist
Check out these
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http://www.notesys.com/Copies/CNET%207Sep00%20IBM
Dell and IBM were duking it out for for honors of first Windows laptop with wireless a year after Apple had already offered it.
I'm not sure whether Apple make their own firewire controllers but they DID invent the technology:
http://news.com.com/2100-1040-271986.html?legacy=
Finally it is clear to people who have been around for a while that Apple created the template from which almost all laptops are cut today. Check out this article that names the Powerbook 100 as the top gadget of all time.
http://www.mobilemagazine.com/archives/2005/03/th
Admittedly blind fanboyism is not very informative but neither is denying credit where it is due.
I used to work with laptop developers, so know their problems.
Laptops are not any less endurable than desktops, it is just they get thrown around a lot more. A workstation SCSI disk is very fragile, but you dont throw it the backs of cars, kick it under the seat of the airplane in front etc, etc. Furthermore, vendors dont like unrelaible laptops; the annualized failure rate (AFR) makes the difference between profit and loss on warrantied systems.
What has happened is that the trend towards consumer-centric laptops has eliminated much of the exchangable-IDE drive design of the past. These all-in-ones are robust as they are mechanically simpler. The other big trend is that with two main ODMs in taiwan doing much of the work, a greater level of expertise has built up into doing quality designs.
Now, for an annedote of amusement:
When the first thin-and-flat laptops came out, the AFR went up. This was tracked down to people dropping their laptops while trying to lift them out of bags/briefcases one handed, and losing their grip. The older laptops were so fat and heavy they could be lifted two handed, but the new ones were thin and light enough to be one handed -only nobody had thought of this when it was designed
If you look at today's laptops, they normally have grippy texture on the top and bottom, or some features on the batteries to provide a better handgrip. This is to eliminate the problem.
That's an amusing story but it shows the problem: a robust laptop is not an intel chipset in a box. It is a system designed with ergonomics in mind too.