

The desktop is not dead dammit - 11031a
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2390630,00.asp?kc=PCRSS03079TX1K0000585

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bengl3rt
Another thing he failed to mention: expandability. I got so sick of all these
different external hard drives, each with their own power brick and USB
terminator (micro? mini? heck knows). Bought a Mac Pro and put them all on the
internal drive bays - now everything lives in a single box and runs off a
single power supply. I also put a blu-ray burner in the 2nd optical bay -
another external box saved.

The same is true of other outboard hardware - for example, I use a UAD-2 card
for music production. Sure they have a FireWire version for laptop/iMac
owners, but in place of another box with another power brick taking up another
(often scarce) port, I got a tiny little PCI card that goes _in_ the box and
is never seen or heard from again.

I understand not everyone needs tons of storage, or dedicated audio/video
hardware, but if you do, desktop can't be beat.

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kayoone
I dont think i will ever convert to Laptops for fulltime work. They are fine
for on the go and inbetween, but for serious work i want my desktop. Why?

1) Much more ergonomical. I get neck pain when working on my Macbook for
hours, looking down at the screen

2) I need two external screens. A Laptop Screen + an external Screen is again
not ergonomical, pains my eyes to look from a decent 24" into the Macbook
Display with its insane pixel density. I like same pixel density on both
screens, and same size

3) Noise. For what i am doing the Macbook constantly screams at me through its
fans (i7 quad version). My Desktop is silent when doing the same tasks

4) Glossy Screens, i totally hate them and today its almost impossible to get
around them.

5) Laptop only is a compromise. A 15" is pretty huge and heavy. A decent
Desktop for serious work + Macbook Air for on the go would be perfect.

6) Sync tools are so good nowadays (yay dropbox) that its pretty easy to have
everything in sync across multiple machines.

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CrazedGeek
Have you looked at any of the ThinkPads? It's pretty easy to get one with a
matte screen (in fact, I'm typing on one right now!), and from my experience
they're fairly quiet. Not the most beautiful machines, though.

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canistr
15" and 17" MBPs have matte screen options. Or you could spend no more than
$10 and buy the screen protector (it's more like $2 if you buy it online
though).

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jseliger
These are more or less the same reasons I pointed out in a post from three
years ago about desktops versus laptops:
[http://jseliger.com/2008/12/26/computer-post-desktop-or-
lapt...](http://jseliger.com/2008/12/26/computer-post-desktop-or-
laptopnotebook/) , and, as people observed then, some of them can be overcome:
external peripherals for ergonomics, larger screens, and extra storage.

The real question is whether you a) can or want to afford a laptop, which
still tend to be relatively more expensive than desktops and b) whether you're
actually mobile enough to bother. In my case, I have a great chair, a sweet
desk, two large monitors, and a room of my own; this means I tend to do my
best work there.

(Note: I also left this comment on pcmag.com).

~~~
kijinbear
> some of them can be overcome: external peripherals for ergonomics, larger
> screens, and extra storage.

Once you've attached an external monitor, external keyboard and mouse, and an
external hard drive to a laptop, you're using the laptop exactly as you would
a desktop tower: something you only need to touch if you want to insert a
piece of removable media.

In that case, you might as well fork out a few more dollars and put a real
desktop tower in that space. Sync everything and enjoy the extra speed.

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wmat
I really hope it isn't.

As someone who enjoys tinkering with hardware, having access to the internals
of a computer that desktops afford is just plain fun. I've never experienced
the same with laptops, which typically require jumping through flaming hoops
just to get the case open.

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revscat
I don't think such things will go away. HAM radio and radio operators are
still plentiful, even though they are technically unnecessary for 99.9% of the
population.

I wouldn't worry about it too much. Even if Dell were to shutter their doors
tomorrow, there would still be plenty of hobbyists and those willing to supply
them.

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oflannabhra
This reads more as an argument against netbooks than an argument for
workstations. I don't think anyone really needs convincing that netbooks are
dying, but it's not desktops that are killing them.

While I agree that the workstation is not dead, the reasons listed are neither
compelling nor convincing. #1 Ergonomics, #6 Keyboard and #2 Screen Space all
make sense, but I am typing this right now on a Macbook Pro connected to a 27"
monitor with a bluetooth keyboard at my desk. Suggesting that these things
aren't available to a laptop is a false dichotomy.

#3 Storage is similarly unconvincing. All my photos I host on SmugMug and
music on Google Music. This not only removes storage requirements from my
laptop, it also provides access from other devices.

#5 Dents and Dings is just ridiculous.

Laptops not only have almost all these things available to them, they also
have the added advantage of portability.

If one were to make an argument against laptops, I would say the biggest
drawback would be the security risk posed by portability, as others have
mentioned. Secondary to that would be #5 Processing Power provided by heavy
duty workstations for things such as video processing. For other applications,
laptop processors are more than capable.

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uladzislau
Now consider what the average users buy: for every 20 laptops sold at the big
retail store where my friend works, only 1 desktop is sold. It's pretty
obvious that people prefer portable all-in-one computers. They also hate
cables (me too). Intel WiDi (wireless display connection) is what everyone is
talking about these days. I don't see any future for desktops among general
public only professional niche groups which need a lot of cheap computational
power. Again gaming makes much more sense on tablets and gaming consoles, IMO.

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PhrosTT
Ultimately the economics of a desktop just work better.

You can build an i5-2500k, 8gb ram, 1 tb hdd, gaming caliber video card
machine for $600.

Rather than buying a $2500 macbook pro, you can get a gaming desktop with a
30" display, and a macbook air/ultraportable and really come out way on top.

Of course there's the question of juggling 2 environments if you have complex
needs, but most people would be fine with a simple dropbox setup or something.

~~~
kijinbear
Your last point is really interesting.

I use a desktop at home and a small laptop on the go, and everything I need is
always on both computers. Files, bookmarks, browsing history, you name it. I
can just log into either computer and keep working. The advent of cloud-based
synchronization tools makes it very easy for people to juggle 2 or more
computers. So instead of fighting over the "Desktop of laptop?" question, one
can get both and not suffer any inconvenience.

After all, what would the average North American middle-class family do if
they needed a vehicle that was both large enough for the kids' hockey games
and fuel-efficient enough for the dad's long commute? They wouldn't settle for
one mid-sized car; they'd buy a minivan _and_ a Prius.

The proportion of people who are "always on the go" is rather small.

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phamilton
1) Ok. I'll agree to that.

2) HDTVs suck as displays when you are doing anything other than presenting
content.

3) External Hard Drives take up about as much space as internal hard drives,
but you have the option of where you would like to put them. How is a desktop
with 2 big drives more convenient than a laptop with an SSD and an external
drive?

4) Apple's laptop lineup is purely sandy bridge now, and those processors
scream.

5) My Desktop is thrashed. Tons of dings and dents from my chair bumping into
it on the floor. Also, whenever I need to get to the cabling at the back, I
pull the tower forward, and then push it back when I'm done. Sometimes it
catches on my desk and I get a huge scrape across the side.

6) My Macbook Air has the exact same keyboard as my iMac. Both work great. I
don't do data entry so the numpad isn't necessary.

Overall.. this article is a shot from the hip attempt to attract attention
("dammit"). It lacks substance though.

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cbs
>It lacks substance though.

It has much more substance than your response, which consists mostly "oh yeah?
well for my use case...". Kinda a dumb way to respond to an article that
argues "hey, these have got their fair share of uses cases that they'll be
sticking around".

I use an hdtv as my primary monitor all the time, I know plenty of people who
do the same. It all depends on the particular display if it will look decent
or not.

External drives are kind of a pain in the ass. Except for the drive I move
between devices all the time, its just more to get in the way.

Ah, so one line of laptops has good hardware. That does not mean the pc moving
ahead, portables eventually catching up cycle is dead, or that software's
ballooning requirements are ever going to stop ballooning.

You treat your tower like shit and are surprised it's beat to hell?

Yes, the itty bitty mac keyboards are neat on a desktop, but they're
infuriatingly slow for a lot of things you apparently don't need to do. I have
numbers to calculate and programs to write, consequently I have an apple
bluetooth keyboard-shaped dent in my wall.

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dkokelley
The arguments regarding desktop computing environment (display, ergonomic
keyboard, mouse) are irrelevant. Any one of those things that is a necessary
expense for a desktop could just as easily be used to transform your laptop's
computing experience to a more traditional 'desktop' one.

The arguments regarding cost and horsepower are more compelling, and even
though the gap is closing, I doubt that a laptop will ever outperform a
desktop of comparable costs. It's just cheaper to manufacture components that
are bigger and less heat-sensitive.

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doctoboggan
50% of these (1,2,6) can just as easily be applied to laptops as desktops.

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JDulin
This is a good argument saying the desktop is still alive, but it is a bad
argument saying that it isn't dying.

Most of the points that the author illustrates the importance of desktops with
will matter less and less in the next 5 years as storage and CPU power become
cheaper. But most importantly, as hardware innovations make tablets convenient
to use for typing (1) and easy to use with large displays (2), the desktop
will become a niche power-user market.

(1) <http://wingstand.com/> (2) [http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/breakthrough-
device-of-ces-201...](http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/breakthrough-device-of-
ces-2011-motorola-atrix-phone-pc/43406)

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Cbeck527
My new Macbook Air is fantastic for on-the-go work, but I don't think I'll
ever give up my desktop. I've used my Air exclusively over my two week
vacation (and I've gotten lots of work done on this little guy), but I still
find myself missing my 24" monitor, full keyboard, and mouse.

My ideal setup, which I've only recently implemented, is a powerful desktop
workstation with a thin-but-fast mobile laptop. My custom desktop build and
the Air fit this perfectly.

This fall, I'm studying abroad in London and I'm only taking my Air with me...
very interested to see if I get frustrated with its limitations or not.

~~~
thomasgerbe
You can close your Air, hook it up to a 24" monitor, keyboard, and mouse, and
use it like a desktop. Best of both worlds.

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cobrophy
What he misses is that you can generally have the desktop experience by
hooking up a nice big second monitor, comfortable keyboard & mouse and an
external hard drive. That usually means having a dedicated space in your
office/home but with a laptop you're not tied to that space.

I'm actually surprised he didn't mention gaming as a big driver for desktops
as an area which need the big fans or graphics cards that you don't get in
laptops (though gaming laptops have come a long way in the last 5 years)

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JL2010
The only time that I've ever _really_ needed a laptop was at college. I was
constantly on the go, always in a collaborative environment with others,
working on projects or assignments, etc. But when I got home and needed to
really hunker down and get something done, then in went the VGA cable and USB
peripherals.

My Thinkpad doesn't get a whole lot of use these days, I've gone with a
desktop to suit my needs and I keep the laptop around for those odd times
where I travel.

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jasonjei
The screen real estate argument as well as the separate keyboard/trackpad
argument never made sense to me for a MacBook Air. Can't you hook it up to a
Cinema Display (which has hookups for USB, Thunderbolt, etc)? I also use a
wireless keyboard/trackpad with my air, so I still have desktop ergonomics.
But I can understand the argument for extendability.

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ori_b
The desktop will be around for a long time. It's just not a toy anymore --
nobody buys it because it's shiny these days.

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notatoad
"A family of four will certainly have more than 20GB to 60GB of photos and
home videos"

a family of four will also probably have more than one computer. you can pick
up a 2TB NAS for about $150, that should be plenty of room for all their home
movies and photos and it is accessible from all their computers.

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huckfinnaafb
The sudden explosion in other form factors has people thinking they'll somehow
replace the desktop. Unless my office starts making everyone work on a tablet,
this is not the case.

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jerf
You won't be sitting there hunched over a tablet. But you might hook your
tablet to a monitor, attach a keyboard and mouse to it, and run "conventional"
software.

Monitors, keyboards, and mice aren't going anywhere. But it won't be very many
years before a desktop machine becomes a niche item for those who even today
can't get enough power (3D artists, etc), while the rest of use are using one
variety or another of portable core device with multiple IO options. (Though
it isn't tomorrow, either. This stuff actually exists now, but it's bleeding,
bleeding edge, as in the "cut yourself" type of bleeding edge. But still, that
will fix itself.)

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mkr-hn
External GPUs. The on-board capacity is a non-issue if you can give your work
laptop (or tablet) a gaming/rendering GPU when you need it.

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pavel_lishin
> The desktop is not dead dammit

Did anyone claim it was?

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bittermang
Yes. Though really this "prediction" comes along at least once a month, every
month, since the mid 90s when the desktop PC rose to prominence. Prior to that
the "prediction" was that the desktop PC either wouldn't exist, or would never
take off.

The only thing that makes the claim different this time is it's IBM saying it,
not some journalist hack. See here:

[http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/081011-ibm-
pc.html?pag...](http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/081011-ibm-
pc.html?page=1)

~~~
keithpeter
Thanks very much for this link. My reading of the article is that
communications and social interaction will be the main use for computing
devices, and that market will grow significantly. It might be that the desktop
PC is still sold in large quantities for those that need it.

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Sadranyc
I disagree about the keyboard. My thinkpad's laptop is much more confortable
for me than full sized keyboards.

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Legion
Lenovo makes desktop versions of the Thinkpad keyboard, sounds like you might
like one of those: [http://www.amazon.com/ThinkPad-USB-Keyboard-with-
TrackPoint/...](http://www.amazon.com/ThinkPad-USB-Keyboard-with-
TrackPoint/dp/B002ONCC6G/ref=dp_cp_ob_e_title_0)

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pratikpatel
And, of course, high-end gaming. You can build a PC that runs the latest
titles for a fraction of the price of a gaming laptop. Its pretty easy to
learn at reddit.com/r/buildapc

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known
~7 billion people, ~2 billion PCs and ~5 billion Cell phones.

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funkah
Of course not. It just isn't the only game in town anymore.

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drivingmenuts
Probably wrote that on his grampa box.

