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What do you think of a future iphone becoming your desktop?

S

Shockwave78

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 10, 2010
1,083
61
Sort of like the Atrix 4g but better implemented. I don't have any doubt that this will be the way of the future, probably within the next 5-7 years mobile phones will started overtaking home pc's.

Just have a a/v out from the phone with keyboard and mouse somehow implemented and there is your new desktop PC.

I don't think its a matter of if but when...
 
I already do this with my iPhone:

- LED monitor w/ VGA inputs
- Apples iPhone VGA cable
- Displayout jailbreak app to mirror device on big screen w/ VGA cable
- Bluetooth keyboard

Desktop like experience :)
 
we have a long long way to go before that happens, but I do think it will happen someday. iOS really has to develop into something spectacular for this to happen. Maybe iOS X.
 
Unless the iPhone can house a quadcore i7 with a ATi Radeon 6xxx series card, 8GB RAM, and a few TB of storage ... then we'll talk.

I don't think this will ever happen. Even though mobile technology does move forward, so does desktop technology.
 
Desktops will always be more powerful... but you can't tell me that a phone couldn't soon put out the power in modern netbooks in order to be usable for this function. Nobody is asking to photoshop on their phone, but a netbook replacement would be great.

Like the OP said, the atrix but done MUCH better.
 
My iPad gets more use than my macbook these days. I guess I'm already there.
 
I have a real problem with watching movies on a 2 x 3 inch screen. Quite a kick down from a 55 inch screen with full giant stereo, or even from watching on a 21.5 inch screen. Can't see doing grachic work on a screen that small either.
 
zarathu said:
I have a real problem with watching movies on a 2 x 3 inch screen. Quite a kick down from a 55 inch screen with full giant stereo, or even from watching on a 21.5 inch screen. Can't see doing grachic work on a screen that small either.
Click to expand...

what? Do you understand what we are talking about here?

Plugging your iphone into a monitor or most likely a cradle that is a hub that connects your iphone to your monitor and then has usb ports for other peripherals.

Obviously we are probably a good 15yrs a way from being able to hardcore gaming graphics from the phone, but everything else is there right. The CPU power is there, the memory could be there obviously, the only thing missing would be a 64gb or 128gb internal storage on the phone, everything else could be on an external hard drive.
 
For people who use really old computers/netbooks I think this could be a decent solution, especially for teenagers/elderly people who don't need much more than a way to browse the internet/skype /etc.

I doubt Apple would go for it though. Why sell you a phone that does everything when they could sell you a phone and an expensive laptop?
 
Shockwave78 said:
what? Do you understand what we are talking about here?

Plugging your iphone into a monitor or most likely a cradle that is a hub that connects your iphone to your monitor and then has usb ports for other peripherals.

Obviously we are probably a good 15yrs a way from being able to hardcore gaming graphics from the phone, but everything else is there right. The CPU power is there, the memory could be there obviously, the only thing missing would be a 64gb or 128gb internal storage on the phone, everything else could be on an external hard drive.
Click to expand...

Hey....Dude. Replacing a desktop with an upgraded iPhone is what we are talking about. Star Trek is here soon, but will you actually want it? Too much to do first: get rid of the DVD first and replace with static ram chips at the 1 tg level that are cheap. Connect it to a large screen uit with a keyboard etc. Yeah it could happen.
 
zarathu said:
boss.king said:
F..... especially for teenagers/elderly people who don't need much more than a way to browse the internet/skype /etc.
Click to expand...
As an elderly person using macs since 1989, I find that offensive.
Click to expand...

Since you failed to read the key word's I bolded them for you. Obviously if you need more, you wouldn't be applicable. I assume you are not every old person in the world. From my experience the elderly generally do not require much beyond what an iPhone could offer, and those who do could easily buy a proper laptop/desktop as they saw fit.
 
wordoflife said:
Unless the iPhone can house a quadcore i7 with a ATi Radeon 6xxx series card, 8GB RAM, and a few TB of storage ... then we'll talk.

I don't think this will ever happen. Even though mobile technology does move forward, so does desktop technology.
Click to expand...

Agreed, I don't see this happening either.
 
Apple OC said:
we are light years away from this happening
Click to expand...

Not really. We are light years from Apple doing it, but companies like Microsoft (Windows 8) and Motorola (Atrix) are already getting there. That's not to say it will work for everybody, but I think it could low-end computers and laptops in a few years.
 
sigh this is brought up every other week

if all you do is consume media/browse the Internet then I can see your point (you're probably a kid/middle aged/someone who doesn't use their computer for work, etc)

It's naive of you to think that people like myself would ever settle for such a piss poor "desktop experience" using an iPhone/ios when real desktops offer options that are 100x better.

-multiple hard drives
-multiple monitors
-gigabyte Internet connection
-Multiple core processors
-Multiple gigabytes of Ram
-GPU processors that have a polygon filtrate 100x-1000x faster
-1000x more software
-etc etc

No thank you I love my desktop. For the lucky few who own a desktop and a laptop it's the best of both worlds.
 
boss.king said:
Since you failed to read the key word's I bolded them for you. Obviously if you need more, you wouldn't be applicable. I assume you are not every old person in the world. From my experience the elderly generally do not require much beyond what an iPhone could offer, and those who do could easily buy a proper laptop/desktop as they saw fit.
Click to expand...

You have a pretty biased point of view toward your elders, don't you?
 
After watching Transcendent Man, I think our phones will probably become our actual computers.
 
zarathu said:
You have a pretty biased point of view toward your elders, don't you?
Click to expand...

I don't see how it's my fault that most of the old people I know express these as their only needs. I've made no bias here, you have.

zarathu said:
A light year is a measure of time.... for light.
Click to expand...

It's the distance that light travels in 1 year (9,460,730,472,580.8 km). People mistakenly use it for a unit of time since it has 'year' in it.


EDIT: Just out of curiosity, how old are you?
 
Last edited:
zarathu said:
A light year is a measure of time.... for light.
Click to expand...

Nope, it's actually a measure of distance.

As to the discussion, I don't believe I can see this happening for me in the near future. But one day, yes, I believe phones and computers will be one thanks to docking stations.
 
I think in a way, iPhones are already most peoples desktop.

It replaces what the average joe does with a PC:
- Check and manage Email
- Browse the web
- Listen to music
- Talk to friends on FB, Myspace, MSN
- Casual Note taking and other utility needs

That wouldnt include those like me, those who need powerful tools, and screen estate to do those things efficiently and with ease.

I think the iPhone is an amazing piece of technology, and it has the ability to replace my desktop completely already, at certain times.
I remember having to update a clients website. I couldnt do that because I was away.. I only had my iPhone on me.

Actually I lied. I pre-set up everything so that I can manage my PC with my iPhone, and I pleased my client using a handful of different tools on the iPhone, which after I was done, I was blown away that in todays world, one is able to do what I did on a device the size of a wallet. Simply awe inspiring.
 
I don't see it happening, even if in 5 or 10 years phones are matching the power of despots today who's going to want to use that as their main computer instead of something newer. If they were going to do this they could have already, phones are at least as powerful as desktops from 10 years ago, but do you really want to go back to that?
 
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