At least thats what I'm seeing - And not just in the consumor market, photographers and the like are moving to laptops as well...
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Desktop computers are getting rarer and rarer nowadays
- Thread starter mrsir2009
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I think that's an accurate assessment. My company as a rule upgrades someone's computer with a laptop.
I see any people going the laptop path for the mobility it provides.
Personally, I like the expandability, power and flexibility a desktop provides.
I see any people going the laptop path for the mobility it provides.
Personally, I like the expandability, power and flexibility a desktop provides.
Your company likes that too, as they work towards 24/7 employees.
Many, many people over 50 have no desire to own a laptop. And numbers in this area will only increase.
I love having my laptop, but most of the time I end up using it as a desktop anyhow, so I could definitely do a desktop only setup or desktop/netbook. It would also be nice to have the extra power for when I do like to play games, although I do most of that on my Xbox.
Many, many people over 50 have no desire to own a laptop. And numbers in this area will only increase.
Many of us who are headed that way have already made the transition.
Many of those who don't want a laptop can actually do everything they need on an iPad and I see many of them at the Apple Store on weekends and the rest don't really want or need a computer at all.
B
I use my desktop as a server for my files and a powerhouse for other stuff. I still use mine, albeit not as much anymore.
The iPad has changed things, though...
I tried the whole "your entire digital life" on a MacBook and I actually don't like it.
When I'm out, I prefer just to read the paper, rather than work on a website.
I have an old Mini, but not enough drive space for my "digital life".
I'm eventually going to end up with a Mini for use at home for website, photo-editing, etc., and use an iPad for on-the-go...
I tried the whole "your entire digital life" on a MacBook and I actually don't like it.
When I'm out, I prefer just to read the paper, rather than work on a website.
I have an old Mini, but not enough drive space for my "digital life".
I'm eventually going to end up with a Mini for use at home for website, photo-editing, etc., and use an iPad for on-the-go...
After about a year of being desktop-less, (the iMac doesn't really count), I built one precisely just to host a Blu-Ray drive and help me feed legacy media (including floppies) into my Home Server. The main reason for the desktop for me is being able to stick big drives and other hardware in the box.
B
I'm still in college and I much prefer desktops to laptops, for a number of reasons:
* They allow for multiple, high quality screens
* You can overclock your GPU and fry it without frying the rest of the motherboard
* You can overclock the CPU and replace it with ease if you fry it (lol)
* You can use any combination of hard drives of any size (woot!)
* No need for stupid dongles or adaptors
* It's self contained, no need for stupid external devices (WOOT!)
* They tend to run quieter at full load (not a little noisy leaf blower)
* They don't burn my wrists at full load
* I can leave a webserver running on it when I'm away or whatever
If I had a job, I'd prefer a desktop over a laptop just for the simple reason I prefer not to mix business with pleasure. Even if I had a business laptop, I'd no doubt have my own personal gear waiting.
* They allow for multiple, high quality screens
* You can overclock your GPU and fry it without frying the rest of the motherboard
* You can overclock the CPU and replace it with ease if you fry it (lol)
* You can use any combination of hard drives of any size (woot!)
* No need for stupid dongles or adaptors
* It's self contained, no need for stupid external devices (WOOT!)
* They tend to run quieter at full load (not a little noisy leaf blower)
* They don't burn my wrists at full load
* I can leave a webserver running on it when I'm away or whatever
If I had a job, I'd prefer a desktop over a laptop just for the simple reason I prefer not to mix business with pleasure. Even if I had a business laptop, I'd no doubt have my own personal gear waiting.
I used to be a laptop guy - 99% of the time I'd use the laptop as a desktop, but for the other 1% of the time, I'm glad to have the mobility. A laptop was the best of both worlds for me.
That is, until the iPad replaced everything I wanted a laptop for. Now I have an iMac and an iPad.
That is, until the iPad replaced everything I wanted a laptop for. Now I have an iMac and an iPad.
The last five years or so has really seen laptops hit the 'faster enough' category to qualify for many as desktop replacements. Things like eSATA, and now Thunderbolt, have also given laptops I/O speeds that used to only be available on desktops. For non-power users there are few reasons to get a desktop over a laptop these days.
Lethal
Lethal
I hardly use my desktop, as I find I'd rather game with lower FPS while in bed, or at a friends' house, than at my desk. Having said that, how does one go about getting rid of a desktop, especially when you have over a terabyte of data on it? Lots and lots of external drives for all eternity? Are there ways of hooking up an external HDD (with security) to a wireless network?
If you play games you will have a desktop, laptops while they have made some great progress still cannot compare to the power that a desktop gives you when it comes to gaming.
The gaming laptops look impressive, but at the end of the day the high end desktop will still look and perform better. With games getting more and more complex and video cards and hardware stretching themselves to keep up I really can't see laptops taking over when it comes to a high end gaming PC.
It'll be particularly interesting to see what develops around ThunderBolt. Will it be like USB and BlueTooth that were around for ever before they actually took off and became useful, or will adoption actually go quickly? HDMI seemed to gain rather quick industry adoption.
A lot of what used to require a laptop can be done better with an iPad or other tablet as ravenii says, so it'll be very interesting to see how that evolves too. Will iPad 3 with iOS 5 further limit the need for a laptop/notepad.
B
Apple must be treading a fine line here.
They are a for-profit company, after all, and it would be in their best interest to NOT give the customer one device that will do everything.
I dunno, but I think we'll see more tablet + keyboard dock devices from now on. I like the iPad, and it' very convenient for things like email and web that many people will do often. But typing on it w/o a keyboard is tedious.
I know, but they are masters of the upsell. I got my iMac when I went in for a Mini, and the step from a high-end iPad to a low end 11" MBA isn't huge if that's what floats your boat.
B
The iMac gave me more real estate, both in screen size (failing eyes, somewhat) and in desk space.
A no-brainer in my view.
I might add an iPad down the road, but still learning about open WiFi spots about town.
I have to agree here, i see more laptops on our work bench then PC's. Most of the laptops are home users while the towers we get our from businesses.
Me too. It's easy to upgrade individual components.
And desktops are easier to keep cool. Lots of nice cooling options from air to water all the way to liquid nitrogen. Check out extremesystems for some exotic cooling and overclocking.
At the network operation center where I work, we buy tons of new dell desktops a year. But those are for servers to run the networks and to use as control stations (hardly any network has an actual switcher anymore, just a computer). As far as the suits go, everyone of them has a laptop that they dock in their office. No more desktops for humans anymore.