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Notebook Sales Outpace Desktop Sales
mikesd81 writes "Eweek reports that notebook sales have surpassed desktop sales for the first time in history. 'In the third quarter of 2008, notebook PC shipments rose almost 40 percent compared with the same period of 2007 to reach 38.6 million units. Conversely, desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3 percent for the same period to 38.5 million units. "Momentum has been building in the notebook market for some time, so it's not a complete surprise that shipments have surpassed those of desktops," said iSuppli principal analyst for computer platforms Matthew Wilkins. "However, this marks a major event in the PC market because it marks the start of the age of the notebook." ... The FBI's National Crime Information Center reported that the number of reported laptop thefts increased almost 48 percent over the last two years, to nearly 109,000 from 73,700.'"
Now just to get some more standards. . .and user-replaceable parts.
The sad part is that many of these people would be better off with desktops. Desktops have a much lower total cost of ownership. (Even for home users.)
If we define notebooks as small laptops with processors in the Atom class, then Microsoft has a very big problem with there with Vista and even with XP I would say. It is not only the fact that Vista is too slow in that hardware. It is also that it gets slower with use. The registry gets full of garbage, and all kinds of crapware stick to windows systems. Given time this would bring to its knees any computer in that hardware class.
And for those that say that next year Moore's law will fix it, I don't think this would be fixed in a year or two. Maybe three, maybe more. This is a very long time in this industry.
I am curious about what this will mean for Linux on the desktop as there is also the cost issue. We have a clearly inferior (in that hardware) operating system that costs money against a free and Free operating system.
When his defense asked, "Which computer has Jon Johansen trespassed upon?" the answer was: "His own."
That's a matter of what piece of hardware a retailer is trying to push. There's no legitimate reason why out of two equally as modern machines, the smaller one would be faster or cheaper. Now why would a retailer (especially an electronics vendor like Frye's) push something that has a very limited upgrade cycle? Profit, my friend.
Notebooks have wretched ergonomics. People are asking for pain if they are going to spend all their computing time typing on a small, straight keyboard, clumsily pointing and clicking with a TouchPad or a TrackPoint, and looking downward at a small screen.
To make a notebook ergonomically humane, the user must also purchase a docking station and connect a GoldTouch keyboard (for example), a monitor, and a humane pointing device. And a multi-port USB hub. He or she has to spend more than what would have been spent to build an mATX-based system (or buy new for $300 at current prices)... that would have been expandable, performed much better, and encouraged healthy posture and habits.
But yes, I know that we don't really care about people's health.
Rich And Stupid is not so bad as Working For Rich And Stupid.
If you have no interest in building computers, then you're right, there is nothing to gain by building your own computer. That's been true for a long time.
When I price out new hardware for a new system, I know before I even begin that I could have an OEM laptop (or desktop) for less. But that's not the point. The point is that I enjoy building my own computer, knowing exactly what went into it and how it was configured, using hardware that I selected personally, being able to work on it like the guy next door and his car -- and that can only be achieved one way.
In fact, I plan to purchase a netbook in the near future which of course I won't be building myself. But my main computer will always be a desktop large enough to comfortably work in. I realize that someday, as computers (and the stuff that goes inside them) get smaller and smaller, building a computer form scratch probably won't even be possible anymore. You can't exactly work on an ipod-sized device. But until then, I'm going to keep on building, because it's fun.
Your experience has been the complete opposite of mine. After my laptop died I looked into the market and did the math, which lead me to the conclusion that a 15'' laptop being sold for 900 euros would ended up with the same specs of a 190 euro desktop. I could add to that the 160 euros for a brand new 19'' monitor and voilÃ: the desktop would end up costing nearly half as the equivalent laptop. The choice was obvious.
But that's not all. My previous laptop, which costed me 1200 euros, died due to a burned out graphics card, a recurring problem that occurred twice and was repaired while the warranty lasted. After that the laptop was as good as garbage (thanks, acer). If that happened to my desktop then, even if I needed to purchase it all over, I would end up with a loss of less than 200 euros. Well, 200 euros is a heck of a lot less than 1200 euros.
And let's not talk about upgrades. Desktops nail that advantage firmly, both in cost and in flexibility. You simply can't pop in a ATI HD4870 on a 450 euro laptop but you can easily add a couple of those to a desktop.
Slashdot, fix your code or at least hire someone who is competent at it to do it for you.
Exactly. Apple charge a minimum of $600 for their pieces of junk.
Seriously, is there anyone here who really believes Macs are something more than generic PC hardware which is allowed to play use their DRM'd OS? It may come in a shiny white case, but that really is just about it.
Do you really think self-built desktops account for more than 1% of the market? i.e. enough to be of statistical significance? The big corporate buyers all get them from OEMs, and most home buyers do as well.
I am TheRaven on Soylent News
Everyone and everything is fair game for a harmless laugh. When you label certain things (aka homosexuality) as being off limits to some light humor you piss people off and make life a little less worth living. Seriously, what harm comes from poking some fun at the fact that gay guys like Macs? SERIOUSLY!
Are redneck trailerpark jokes off limits too? Is REDNECKPHOBIA something that must be stamped out with nazi-like zeal as well? Somehow I think you wouldn't take the same stand for other groups.
Get over yourself. Next thing you'll be telling me that holocaust jokes are a no-no.
Oh, shit...
"Liechtenstein is the world's largest producer of sausage casings, potassium storage units, and false teeth."
Dude! I think you are greatly exaggerating the geek stereotype here. Specs like that are for some very intensive stuff, like a rendering machine or something. The fact that you conveniently forgot to tell us what you are doing with this machine makes me believe that *you* are the supposed geek that just like to brag about their computer penis size^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hspecs.
I'm a long time gentoo user and even I don't see the need to upgrade to a quad core, despite having to compile stuff all the time. It could go faster, but right now I think it's fast enough and so not worth the money to upgrade the mobo+RAM+CPU. I even do a bit of video compression and run some virtual machines. You know what? I'm still on a *single* core cpu! OMG I'm so un-l33t or whatever...
And 9TB of drive space? What are you storing anyway? I have quite few video and music and I'm still below 2TB, backups included.
I think you just made those up just to prove a point, dude. Laptops are just fine, save for the small screen and even then you can always hook your laptop to another one when at home.
And please stop using the term gay in a derogative way, it's just so very immature.
A lot of the OpenBSD devs uses laptops, and it's not to browse myspace or web2.0 sites. You should attend one of the hackathons someday. Unless of course you don't know how to code your way out of a paper bad. ;-)
Real geeks use 1920x1200 displays to make 20 xterm screens visible simultaneously.
The cake is a pie