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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."
I'm not about to surrender to 'cloud' just yet.
Your not the only one.
You are entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.
I agree that many of us prefer to re-use as many components as possible, I don't think it is as realistic as you might believe. The problem with this is that technology develops at such a rate as to obsolete everything in a desktop enough to make replacing everything in it practical.
How many of us still have motherboards with ISA connections? Sure, that's a little old. IDE? AGP? Those are both only a couple of years old. I don't think re-using an AGP or IDE card is realistic. How much digital stuff do you have that you want or need to keep? Can your old 80GB drive store it all? Do you still use SD-RAM? Moore's law?
just remember this ;)
Heh. Pics, including the pinball table next to it: Home arcade gallery.
Cheers,
Ian
What makes the Desktop model work is:
- ordering the parts
- interchangeability of the parts
- price of parts
- choice of parts
- longevity of parts
- upgrades are easier
- a learning tool
- pride
- fun
It used to be that when you bought a "boxy machine that sat on or under your desk" you (and usually a friend that knew way more than you) would sit down for months figuring out what parts you were going to put in. When the parts finally came, it was like a second christmas. You (and usually a friend that knew way more than you) would sit down and put all the bits into the proper places and pray you would got only one beep when it would post. Then you would set about installing all the software from floppies most of which was pulled off a BBS somewhere. When it came time to upgrade, your friend or someone your friend knew, would know someone that was in the market for a new computer or an upgrade. A deal was made, you'd get some cash or do a swap, and the whole process would start over again (Incidentally, most people that made it to this point eventually started learning something about software programming).
The *whole* process of researching/learning/building/selling a desktop is where the legacy of the Desktop comes from. You can't do all these things with a proprietary piece of locked up iCrap that needs center-pin metric torx bits to open and violates some warranty for even thinking about it. The parts in portables have very little interchangeability. Geeks love investigating where the magic smoke comes from, but portables just aren't that accessible. The knowledge factor has devolved as well; used to be everyone knew what kind of cpu, ram and video card was in their "boxy machine that sat on or under your desk", but these days the only knowledge anyone really cares to retain is what colors are available.
The Geek is what has taken flight, not the Desktop.
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"You're," not "your."
i've been using laptops more and more up until this past year.
now i'm finding myself moving back to a desktop.
i can upgrade the hardware on the desktop. the laptops, you get what you get.
Portable devices barely even come close to the performance of a desktop computer. Ram is very limited in portable computers, so is hard disk, and processing speed... and battery life, and screen size.
What does "very limited" mean? You can put 4GB into even a netbook with a single module since the composite SODIMMs came out. SSDs, the new hotness, are typically 2.5" so will go into a desktop or notebook with equal aplomb. Desktops don't even have batteries. Small screen size? You can hook up an external display. The disadvantage of notebooks is cost, not capability, for the average user who doesn't need a dual-multicore. At one time I needed a powerful and portable system, I had a Core Duo with Quadro in a HP, it was a lemon, they (very eventually) gave me a replacement with a Core 2 Duo and a faster Quadro. It was more than fast enough for gaming and database reporting.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
It's also got 4TB of disk space, 6 powered USB ports (4 in back of which 3 are in use, 2 in front of which I use one), memory card reader, DVD burner, and a cable-TV video card so I can also use it as a DVR.
You do realize that laptops can have all those things, right?
Wake me up when you finish copying a few hundred gigabytes to a USB 2.0 hard drive. Also, once you plug 8 devices into that USB bus, it gets even worse. eSATA (which I have on my laptop) is a lifesaver, but you usually have only one port, while on a desktop, even two eSATA ports is a lot.
Seriously, if you want anything at all other than a basic computer (e.g., really fast processors, multiple processors, RAID, multiple video cards, serious amounts of RAM, etc.), a laptop won't cut it. Even if you can get those things on a laptop, they are a lot more expensive. If you use a laptop as a very rarely moved powerful desktop replacement, you're spending a lot more money than you need to...a good desktop and a cheap laptop will cost less and give you the same utility. Also, with current Intel and AMD desktop chips, overclocking is so easy and safe that the price/performance becomes even more in favor of the desktop.