Flight of the Desktops

theodp writes "Slate's Farhad Manjoo has seen the future of computing, and it's looking mighty bleak for desktop computers. In the last decade, portable computers have erased many of the advantages that desktops once claimed while desktops have been unable to shake their one glaring deficiency — they're chained to your desk. Last year, sales of laptops eclipsed sales of desktops for the first time, and it's been projected that by 2015 desktops will constitute just 18% of the consumer PC market."

Comments

Re:But that is now

[DavidTC]

Most laptops don't have a docking solution like the Thinkpad X series where you can plonk it down and all your peripherals are connected, you have to plug everything in and unplug it when you leave, no a major hassle but do it every day and it's a pain.

Really? Plugging stuff into and out oa laptop every day is a major hassle? Compared to plugging them into an out of a desktop each day?

Oh, wait, you were comparing how difficult is it is to do something with a laptop to something that a desktop functionally can't do. Seriously?

'Man, driving a car to get somewhere sure is a hassle. I have to pay attention and everything. That's why I like sitting on my sofa. For a price of a car, you can buy dozens of sofas!'

On top of all this, laptops simply don't have the right form factor to support good posture while working so if I'm going to be at a computer for hours a day, I'll take a desktop thank you.

Really? Because I've always found the form factor of a desktop to be much worse. I mean, you essentially have to lay on the floor, there's no interface device, and there's not even a screen! Using a desktop is a nightmare.

No, I much prefer using a computer monitor and keyboard and mouse, all plugged into whatever I'm using, laptop or desktop. That really is the best way to use computer. And, then, in a pinch, you can use a laptop by itself. I've never even seriously confused using a desktop by itself, that's just crazy, man.