Do you think the desktop is dead?

[Puppies04]

nein!

A laptop is not a desktop.

And if you put it on a docking station with a keyboard, mouse and screen attached?

 

[xanis]

I don't think it's dead, I just think that most of the money and R&D has shifted over to phone and tablet platforms. AT probably isn't the best representation of reality given the user base, but a large percentage of the general public is shifting their computing usage to their phones and tablets, and that number is growing every year. Desktops still have a place in business, though I've seen a few places (my job included) where everyone gets a laptop and puts a monitor/KB/mouse at their desk. It gives a lot more freedom to the employees without going to 2 separate devices.

 

[Drako]

Not dead yet, especially in design intensive jobs.

I have 3 1920x1200 monitors attached to my desktop at work.

 

[IronWing]

Thinking about truly new developments (other than game engines) in the last ten years that strongly favor a desktop, only Google Earth comes to mind. It gives my laptop coughing fits. Yes Google Earth can run on other platforms but it really benefits from running on a big, beefy machine.

 

[spaceman]

in consumer
quickly in my limited obv.

 

[Markbnj]

Outside of some specialist fields like design, engineering, media, etc., desktop applications are declining, no question about it. The traditional desktop as a hardware platform is also in decline. Even among my programmer colleagues the use of laptops as the primary work platform is common and increasing. I like having a couple of big screens and a cool-looking aluminum box that is easily upgradable. But I am in the minority these days. I think that the laptop is as small as real work machines get for awhile, though. Mobile is useful for all sorts of things, but there is a huge category of work that just can't be done effectively on touch devices.

 

[Kaido]

Maybe for consumers at home but at the office, desktops are still kings.

Yup. I support about 200 desktops at work. After messing with options:

1. Thin clients stink. Lag. Performance. Graphics. Only useful in for very specific purposes. The best system I've seen is Onlive's Desktop, but that's going nowhere fast. It's hilarious to see people from other companies show up with Citrix on an iPad and try to do real work. Or show up with the same setup on a laptop and try to use it on 4G inside a building. Or go through the Wi-fi to a server in a different state. Usable? Sure, I guess. When you and a hundred other people are on that Terminal server, even Outlook is slow lol. Plus quotas, limited admin rights, etc. What a pain!

2. All-in-ones stink. One part breaks, your whole computer is shot. You have to take the whole thing away to do a repair! Want to add a second monitor? Haha! Want a bigger monitor? Ooh, that's going to be expensive since you'll have to replace the entire computer!

3. Laptops stink. People forget them and show up to work with no computer. They are great for people who are responsible with them, or for VPN'ing into work (and RDP'ing into their work desktop). The ones that don't have docks are stupid to setup as desktops, with or without the crappy USB quasi-docks. I like dockable laptops for responsible people, or for primarily offsite purposes.

I think the Intel NUC 4" x 4" mini-computers have the most promise. Aside from special applications (i.e. 3D CAD), they fit 95% of user's needs - dual monitor support built-in, super-fast boot & application launch & virtual memory thanks to the SATA-III SSD, tons of RAM (max 16gb currently), your choice of dual-core CPU (Celeron, i3, i5, i7), and so on. I have some USB DVD drives, but most people either use the network or USB sticks to transfer data on. Plus low wattage, easy to work on, fast to swap out, etc.

Barring that, you have your regular, run-of-the-mill tower. Throw in an extra video card if you need more monitors or more graphics capability. Upgrade the CPU/RAM/SSD if you need more horsepower. Add more cards internally if you need expansion. That's sure nice to have. Plus desktops have less tendency to grow legs & disappear on you, and people don't have the excuse that they forgot their laptop, that their AIO died, that the thin clients stink, etc.

Sure, properly implemented, all of the above can be just fine. But I primarily have desktops because when I show up the next day, all 200 of my desktops are still there, handing out desktop performance to the users. And if they need more capabilities, I can simply throw more stuff in the tower boxes. Easy peasy.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Not dead yet, especially in design intensive jobs.

I have 3 1920x1200 monitors attached to my desktop at work.

I have 3 monitors connected to my laptop docking station at work.

 

[Number1]

When laptop and tablets are able to do what I can do with my desktop today at a reasonable price, Ill consider switching.
Till then, my desktop is way too versatile to even think of replacing it with a tablet/laptop.
Have a look at my sig, tons of storage, 24" monitor AND 60" TV. Wired, lightning fast internet, upgradeable anytime I have a little bit of cash handy and if it does break down, I don't have to replace everything.

My next upgrade will be a 240G SSD, I put one in my laptop last month and what a friking difference, the most effective upgrade to a computer I have ever done.

SO for me, a desktop will be in this house for years to come.

I also have a Nexus7 tablet and I love it but it's not for serious or productive use. As others have said, just a wonderful toy.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Small business can afford desktops for work stations where needed.

Larger corporations are starting to look into desktop virtualization. Citrix and VMWare both offer solutions for desktop virtualization. Basically what you get is a thin-client from a company like Wyse or a receiver app that runs on legacy hardware. With dedicated thin client hardware from Wyse, you get a PC that runs on far less power with no moving parts and your whole desktop experience is on redudant hardware on a server or in the cloud.

What I can see is the desktop market continuing to shrink over the next 10 years, but it will never go away.

 

[Drako]

I have 3 monitors connected to my laptop docking station at work.

Oh yeah? Well I'm running Modelsim, Synopsys, and Allegro tools all at the same time

 

[Rakehellion]

So gaming aside and serious computer work such as coding, video work etc..

You just answered your own question.

For consumers, a tablet is enough. For producers, you need a real computer.

 

[1sikbITCH]

I don't see how it can be gone if its still needed for actual work. Touchscreens and tablets are terrible for productivity. They are toys. Even laptops are pretty terrible without a bigger screen and mouse.

Yeah take away breathing and what good are lungs? We don't need em!

 

[Kaido]

Small business can afford desktops for work stations where needed.

Larger corporations are starting to look into desktop virtualization. Citrix and VMWare both offer solutions for desktop virtualization. Basically what you get is a thin-client from a company like Wyse or a receiver app that runs on legacy hardware. With dedicated thin client hardware from Wyse, you get a PC that runs on far less power with no moving parts and your whole desktop experience is on redudant hardware on a server or in the cloud.

What I can see is the desktop market continuing to shrink over the next 10 years, but it will never go away.

It's a really good idea, I just don't like any of the implementations I've seen yet. The best I've seen is the Teradici hardware-accelerated stuff & Online Desktop. I think it would be cool if Wyse sold a thin client-on-a-stick. For less than $50, you can get a dual-core Android stick with quad-core graphics on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY%C2%AE-C.../dp/B009PJ3AZ4

Wireless keyboard & mouse, HDMI monitor, Wifi = el-cheapo thin client.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

maybe once steam starts losing money

 

[Svnla]

If you consider laptops with docking stations, that's the trend in the office.

I don't know about your office but we did consider laptops with docking stations but we ended up with desktops because:



1. Cost - You can get much more bang for your buck if you get a desktop than laptop from any well know vendors.

2. Upgradability - much easier and cheapers if we want to upgrade parts on desktops.

3. Repair - same as #2.

4. Misc - rate of breakdown, missing accessories, being stolen/lost and so on. Desktops were better than laptops for us. We did have some laptops for folks to travel or out in the field but I would have to say 95%+ were desktops.

 

[mizzou]

there hasn't been a substantive change since windows 95 honestly

computer advances have almost always been spearheaded by computer games and the software required to develop computer games.

there is no reason to have a mass produced quad core PC with etc. etc. for basic office programs.

shit, alot of places still using DOS based finance programs

The photo/video editing crowd is an extremely small niche market. Even then, they have specific video cards for that purpose that generally are not made for gaming.

EDIT: sorry I thought this thread was "desktop app" unless it just got ninja edited

 

[Number1]

there hasn't been a substantive change since windows 95 honestly

computer advances have almost always been spearheaded by computer games and the software required to develop computer games.

there is no reason to have a mass produced quad core PC with etc. etc. for basic office programs.

shit, alot of places still using DOS based finance programs

The photo/video editing crowd is an extremely small niche market. Even then, they have specific video cards for that purpose that generally are not made for gaming.

EDIT: sorry I thought this thread was "desktop app" unless it just got ninja edited

What are you talking about?
There is NO comparisons between win95 and win7 or win8. The new operating systems are far better. Couple that with an SSD and it will blow you away in terms of performance.

 

[eng2d2]

not completely

 

[dighn]

the professional user base is large enough to sustain the market. for casual users and even many professional users, yeah.

 

[Carson Dyle]

So gaming aside and serious computer work such as coding, video work etc..do you think the traditional desktop is forever gone?

Among consumers, yes. The desktop has been slowly dying for the past decade. The main use of desktops is and will continue to be in office environments for employees that have no need to carry a laptop or tablet home with them.

 

[rh71]

if you're not a power user type then you're fine with a tablet, although they suck for browsing regardless. The thought of having to type in username/passwords on a touchscreen keyboard infuriates me.

A lot of it for me is still having a keyboard (swype helps though). The other part is having it respond fast because neither our smartphones nor the ipad are as fast switching apps or loading stuff. Once you are used to one thing, you can't settle for less. The only time I love the portables is when I'm in bed streaming Netflix or from my pc downstairs.

 

[ThinClient]

I was listening to a podcast and Paul Thurrott made an interesting point about traditional computer use. He claimed that there really hasnt been a significant new desktop app in years an the top 10 applications are nothing more than basic stuff like anti virus etc.

So gaming aside and serious computer work such as coding, video work etc..do you think the traditional desktop od forever gone? A whole new generation is coming up on touchscreens and no keyboards or mice, what does atot say?

It sounds like you listen to someone who doesn't have a freaking clue what they're talking about.

 

[rudder]

Devices like the surface pro are basically desktops. Make a docking station where I can have 3 monitors and I would be happy. Lots of computing power for most people.

But for me though in both work and home use (photo, video work,gaming) I need the power I just can't get from a tablet. It will be a long time before engineers can squeeze a high powered video card into something the size of a surface.

 

[BoberFett]

For basic consumption, the typical user can get by with a tablet or thin client such as a Chromebook.

But for any kind of creation, the desktop/laptop still rules. Virtual keyboards suck.

I still believe we'll see a shift someday where the phone is your computer you take everywhere with sufficient power for the typical light app, you can dock it at any standardized KVM dock, and the interface will change from a touch to a kb/mouse interface as necessary. Only gaming or CPU intensive tasks will require a full workstation.