Rebooting the PC industry: Tablets force a shift

Doboji

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
7,912
0
76
Yup... we'll continue to buy PCs for a while to come... but the days of buying new top of the line every couple years is over. Well except for the people who frequent this forum of course ;)
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
22,062
881
126
Yup... we'll continue to buy PCs for a while to come... but the days of buying new top of the line every couple years is over. Well except for the people who frequent this forum of course ;)

Yep. Imagine what tablets will do 5+ years from now. It gonna be amazing.
 

gsaldivar

Diamond Member
Apr 30, 2001
8,691
1
81
Tablets are quite useful for couch surfing, catching up on Youtube, and for babysitting the kids. Also a Macbook or iPad is required issue for the latte-sipping Starbucks crowd.

As trendy as it feels to be on the "cutting edge" of a computing revolution, when it comes to getting real work done, there is no trendy replacement for an old fashioned keyboard and mouse for banging out those emails and letters.

Rest assured, while the market may be evolving, the traditional desktop PC isn't going away anytime soon...
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
22,062
881
126
Tablets are quite useful for couch surfing, catching up on Youtube, and for babysitting the kids. Also a Macbook or iPad is required issue for the latte-sipping Starbucks crowd.

As trendy as it feels to be on the "cutting edge" of a computing revolution, when it comes to getting real work done, there is no trendy replacement for an old fashioned keyboard and mouse for banging out those emails and letters.

Rest assured, while the market may be evolving, the traditional desktop PC isn't going away anytime soon...

I agree that NOW tablets and such are douchey as they provide no real need or use (even tho I have an asus transformer), but in a few years they will be so powerful and useful that the traditional PC as we know it will fade. I remember my 4mhz Z-20 CPU back in 81' I said this will never be topped but here we are with i7 8cores that are a fraction of the size but 1000s of times faster. I am betting that in 5 years a tablet based PC, be it an apple ipad 50 or Asus Optimus Prime 2000, will be the dominant device and not a desktop as we know it now.
 

vshah

Lifer
Sep 20, 2003
19,003
24
81
a dockable windows 8 tablet in 4 years time will be absolutely killer.
 

DivideBYZero

Lifer
May 18, 2001
24,117
2
0
Rest assured, while the market may be evolving, the traditional desktop PC isn't going away anytime soon...

I disagree. The desktop PC is already dead, the laptop killed it years ago. Now we're seeing the next paradigm shift to touch based computing with tablets. Saying they're douchey and for posers may well be true right now, but you can easily draw parallels with attitudes at the dawn of the internet. I remember friends telling me it was geeky(rather than douchey) and of little to no use, and look how wrong that attitude was. Sure, the packaging will change, the software will improve, maybe even the accessories we use in conjunction with them will change, but tablet computing is here to stay, IMHO.
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
22,062
881
126
I disagree. The desktop PC is already dead, the laptop killed it years ago. Now we're seeing the next paradigm shift to touch based computing with tablets. Saying they're douchey and for posers may well be true right now, but you can easily draw parallels with attitudes at the dawn of the internet. I remember friends telling me it was geeky(rather than douchey) and of little to no use, and look how wrong that attitude was. Sure, the packaging will change, the software will improve, maybe even the accessories we use in conjunction with them will change, but tablet computing is here to stay, IMHO.

Exactly. I was in my young manhood when the desktop PC started. My friends and family all thought I was crazy getting into IT (before IT was even a term) and now its basically a new generation of computer that will just kickass and become a standard in a few years.
 

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
318
126
there is no trendy replacement for an old fashioned keyboard and mouse for banging out those emails and letters.

ASUS_EeePadTransformer_4.jpg
 

aceO07

Diamond Member
Nov 6, 2000
4,491
0
76
I'll be happy enough if the next Thinkpad tablets get much thinner.

Currently the only tablet I'd get for productive use would be the Asus Slate. It has Intel i5 cpu, 4GB RAM, capactive and Wacom enabled screen and Windows 7.
 

Blue Shift

Senior member
Feb 13, 2010
272
0
76
Skip this post if you dislike reading about far-fetched ideas.

Once we have the processing speed, storage capacity, and a decent everything-OS, why not unify the platforms? A single removable module (the size of a cell phone battery or smaller) could house processing, storage, and a small power source; a universal docking system would turn our smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and desktops into glorified peripherals.

When you get home and want to sit down and do some work, just plug your computer into your desk. When you're ready to leave, slot it into your mobile platform of choice.
 

poofyhairguy

Lifer
Nov 20, 2005
14,612
318
126
Skip this post if you dislike reading about far-fetched ideas.

Once we have the processing speed, storage capacity, and a decent everything-OS, why not unify the platforms? A single removable module (the size of a cell phone battery or smaller) could house processing, storage, and a small power source; a universal docking system would turn our smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and desktops into glorified peripherals.

When you get home and want to sit down and do some work, just plug your computer into your desk. When you're ready to leave, slot it into your mobile platform of choice.

Who needs a dock? Bluetooth 7.0 FTW!
 

Doboji

Diamond Member
May 18, 2001
7,912
0
76
Tablets are quite useful for couch surfing, catching up on Youtube, and for babysitting the kids. Also a Macbook or iPad is required issue for the latte-sipping Starbucks crowd.

As trendy as it feels to be on the "cutting edge" of a computing revolution, when it comes to getting real work done, there is no trendy replacement for an old fashioned keyboard and mouse for banging out those emails and letters.

Rest assured, while the market may be evolving, the traditional desktop PC isn't going away anytime soon...

I just read that article about North Korean atrocities, and spent the last 20 minutes staring at my kids... The family dying in the gas chamber section... My god.
 

Munky

Diamond Member
Feb 5, 2005
9,372
0
76
I'm surprised Steve Jobs didn't call traditional desktops/workstations a "dinosaur" with "too much plastic" and how every electronic device will eventually be replaced by the ipad. Regardless of what he says, the traditional PC isn't going away any time soon.
 

xSauronx

Lifer
Jul 14, 2000
19,582
4
81
I disagree. The desktop PC is already dead, the laptop killed it years ago.

if i didnt already have a hefty desktop rig, id be pretty tempted to get one hell of a laptop and add a usb 3 and esata drive to it for storage/vm hosting

im not sure that the economics would work for me right now, but ill probably consider it when i want to replace this thing in a couple of years.
 

Puddle Jumper

Platinum Member
Nov 4, 2009
2,835
1
0
Yep. Imagine what tablets will do 5+ years from now. It gonna be amazing.

Yeah, if we are lucky in 5 years they might be powerful and full featured enough to replace a current high end laptop.

I started to jump on the tablet bandwagon until I realized the massive list of downsides even the best ones have compared to a good Windows laptop.