Desktops Obsolete? Will it happen?

[darran 0]

I went out looking at the various systems earlier on, and I have realised the over-abundance of notebooks being sold in contrast to desktops. With notebooks improving with each batch, and them being considerably lighter, do you think that they will eventually replace desktops? And now there are even notebooks which are considered desktop replacements. I saw a Vaio notebook, it was about 17 inches wide and looks exactly like a notebook. But of course it was very high-end and could be compared to a normal desktop. The price though was really scary; S$6000+, and you can get an average notebook for less than S$2000. I really think that Desktops will become obsolete in time to come, with notebooks replacing them. What do you think?

[rvalkass 5]

Desktops will always be around, as they are cheaper for the same specification. For example, my notebook cost me around ?650, but a desktop PC with the same hardware would have cost ?500, but I need the portability. Tower PCs are also more useful as there is a lot more room for expansion. Due to the physical size of a notebook, it's difficult to add a load of HDDs, whereas with a desktop you can add drives to your heart's content.

[hancioglu 0]

In some situations you need immobile computers. You want to have a computer there not to be stolen easily. So you use desktop there.When you need mobile pc, so buy a laptop. They are different in this point. Fixed or mobile.

[darran 0]

That is where notebook act as desktop replacements. They are giant compared to the normal notebook, and I do not believe that is something which is going to be moving about, but rather placed stationary in 1 particular place.

This is the notebook I saw earlier which I believe can be used as a desktop replacement

http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

What do you think of it? It is definitely too big to be carried around.

[Galahad 0]

Whether or not it's too big to carry around, it's still a notebook... And you can't stick 2 HDD's, and 2 optical drives in it, now can you?Desktop PC's will always stay around, simply because they are easily extendable, whereas, a notebook has what it has, and has little room left to improve... So, no, I don't think desktops will become obsolete... At least, not with me

[Sharn 0]

Desktops will NEVER be obsolete. As said above, they have room for ONE hardrive, ONE CD drive. That's ALL. And then you get into servers. What do you think servers are? Servers are computers, and who in their right mind would run a laptop as a server?@?! It would be absurd. What happens if you want a top end everything computer. You know, 4GB RAM, 3.6Ghz processor, 1TB HD, with an extra 250GB drive to go with, two lightscribe DVD-CD burners, a floppy drive (Just in case. ), serial ports, top-end graphics and sound cards, oh and the 5 USB ports. I DARE you to fit that in a laptop. It's just never going to happen. Even with how fast they're advancing, they aren't ever going to outdo a desktop. Laptops may be getting better every day, but desktops have the potential to do nearly everything, whereas laptops have to run off batterys, have to squeeze everything into a very small place, and still be lightweight. And because everything's so close, HUGE amounts of heat are built up, and you can't even get air through to cool it off.You can tell I'm not a big fan of laptops. =DAnyway, that's my opinion on the whole deal.

Edited August 31, 2006 by Sharn (see edit history)

[cangor 0]

I think personal computers will continue to move more towards notebooks, but for anyone who actually cares about their specs and has any sort of pride in their computer, desktops will always be the choice...

[michaelper22 0]

As mentioned above, desktops will be around for quite a while. They have power and expandability unmatched by notebooks. And maybe some people don't want to have a relatively small machine for other reasons - take some Media Center PCs, specifically those in a set-top style case, whic fit nicely in the living room - in that case the desktop PC is king. And remember that laptops have either limited power or limited battery life - the use of desktop processors in notebooks (which has been done) will chug battery life rapidly. Even todays powerful notbook chips don't outperform even some medium-end desktop chips.

[darran 0]

I guess you are right, many people are using old desktops as servers they put in their homes for storage nowadays. So whether it is an old outdated PC or something very highend and new, they always have a use for it. About the number of USB ports, Laptops are hitting 4 now and you can alway use a Hub to stick another 4 more in, and that would make 7 ports.

[iXeta 0]

Desktops will never go obsolete.Major assemblers of desktops (like Dell, Gateway, Alienware, HP, ect) maystop making them, but there will allways be companies making the hardwareso you can build your own desktop. That I am sure of.As of laptops becoming the standard, yes this has a chance to happen.Im sure all of you MUST have heard of somthing called External Hardware right?Yeah, you can add onto a laptop to be a server as much as you can a desktop reallybut it costs a LOT more, and it will take a long time before that happens.Hardware is becoming smaller and smaller, yet still more powerful.I can bet you that in the next 20 years, what are a standard business server to usnow, will be your standard laptop then.For instance take the hard drive, in the past 50 years, the the space it would havetaken to store 1KB, now would hold 50MB.(Facts are in the latest issue of PC Mag)The CPUs have increased to a ratio of 240,000 times better (size by speed) in the past.... darn I forget the years now, I think it was 20... I'm probably wrong though.But overall, im pretty sure its a safe bet to say that Desktops will be around forever.

[darran 0]

I noticed the thread by many have going into customly built desktops, as long as you know what parts you need and their compatibility with each other so that there are no hardware clashes, really helps to save a lot of money since these hardware (motherboards, RAM, Graphics Card ... etc) are available in almost anywhere. I think you might have a typing error, computers 50 years ago might have 1 kb of hard disk space and now they have 1 mb of space? I do not know where I have seen him, now hard disks are getting spaces up to 1 tb, so I do not know whether you are refering to the same thing as me or not.

[iXeta 0]

No, I said what would have held 1KB 50 years ago, would hold 50MB now.Over the past 50 years, the size per inch or centimeter, ect, has increased by50,000,000..... oh wait.. thats 5GB... or somthing like that.(was a while back I read the magazine).And yes, I bet terra byte hard drives will be bit within the next 10 years

[kawasu 0]

although not any time soon, tpcs may well be replaced my latops. or perhaps pcs will become so compact they they literally turn into laptops haha... i could imagine both these scenariios in any case. things gets faster and smaller, thats just how things work. i hope laptops will be as versitile as pcs in teh furture, maybe they'll make hardware (cd-roms, video cards, sound cards) all specific to laptops so we can interchange and upgrade as we do normall pcs. thats teh only reason why pcs are still being favored over laptops, laptops just get old too quickly since u cant upgrade them.

[iXeta 0]

Well, you COULD do that right now, its just everyone is afraid to touch thier laptop (even some of the pros)because they havent had previous experience, and its not like anyone is teaching people to workon thier laptops now are they?Laptops design are different, and the sizes and such are an issue, BUT, you still CAN make a laptop, youjust need to know your stuff...

[Arao 0]

Laptops, for me, are the way to go. For what I do with mine, portability rocks...I'm one of those people that those ergonomics experts scoff at. Right now, I'm laying on my side, and putting all my weight on my elbow while typing this. (So horrible, I know.)On the other hand, I know several people that don't like laptops. They say things like "I don't like it floating around. It needs to be set in one place," and the like. There are, at least right now, enough people for selling desktops to still be worth it. And then there are the people who don't use their computer all that much, but still need it every now and then. A desktop is perfect for that. It takes a whole lot more to break it, it's cheaper for them, and doesn't take alot of technological know-how to use it. Let's face it, laptops are harder to use at times...ever looked at the back of a tower? The ports are COLOR-CODED. I think...blue is monitor, and purple is keyboard, green is mouse...and so on.People who use their computer for...well...word-processing and office and the like, would be fine with a laptop...Office (here's hoping I don't step in it) isn't really resource hogging, and doesn't put a LOT of strain on the computer. With the exception of Powerpoint, it drains your battery like there's no tomorrow. Like said above, laptops overheat more easily. People who need more performance-intensive use should get a tower. Again, as said above, they're more powerful, more well ventilated, and more modular.So...yeah...Desktops≠ObsoleteBoth have their uses, and always will