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Tim Cook declares the end of the PC

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coercitiv said:
Your kids, unlike some people on this thread, will likely know the difference between a form factor and a software ecosystem. PC is not a form factor.
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True. Which is why I put PC in quotes. I really expect that within 10 years we will just be using our "phones" (they are not really phones now, they are PC's that have a phone function) for 99% of computing. Microsoft already has a feature for docking your phone to a larger screen correct? I'm sure in the future the form factor may be even smaller than our current phones...who knows. Still, you are correct, no matter the form, it will still be a PC.
 
I think it's evident with GPUs and CPUs moving off the shelves for more than the price of an ipad and some macbooks, just one component of the puzzle needed to be assembled for a full PC, that there will always be a desktop market. Servers are also headless high powered desktops and we will always need more of those as well.

There will always be a demand for wanting near to, or the most powerful hardware available and that requires a larger form factor to account for the power consumption that comes with the best hardware. Virtual reality once it gets to its good enough nirvana state of high resolution, high PPI, low latency and high framerate is going to need all the power you can throw at it and people are going to want it. Good luck running that on the ipad 10.

Not surprising hearing this from Apple though as their desktops are underpowered overpriced garbage. They don't have much respect for the desktop if they can't cram it into some sort of ridiculous looking wastebin form factor I guess 😀
 
Seven said:
Ok, but the iPad Pro doesn't offer a full desktop experience, unlike the Surface Pro line.
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For me "a full desktop experience" means the ability to customize my PC as much as possible. Dumbing down customization to a single USB 3.0 port is what you have these days, lmao. These toys were never meant to replace the actual Desktop PCs. I am sure Tim spoke of a different audience. For those, yeah... Desktop PC is dead.
 
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I recently asked my ~60 year old father which form factor he'd prefer as he was thinking about upgrading from a Core 2 system. It had to be a desktop, for 2 reasons: Longevity and so he could swap around old hard drives.

Even the simple ability to plug in and boot from an old HDD is part of the funtionality a desktop PC offers that a typical consumer form-factor does not. When someone has mountains of old photos and documents on HDDs lying around, this is a "killer feature". Longevity of desktops is also much better than a tablet (for example), where software updates stop coming a year or two after release. That old Core 2 duo system has been going strong because it wasn't pinned down by the Google/Android software prison. The idea of upgrading every 8 years rather than every 2 is appealing to some folks.

It's reasons like this that will keep many people using desktops, even if they don't need the performance side of things. Of course, this example doesn't apply to everyone. But at the same time my father is hardly an ethusiast either. This is why I don't think desktops are dead yet.
 
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Mondozei said:
What I am always laughing about is when I hear people trying to pidgeonhole PCs as somehow "desktop". PC just stands for personal computer. It's form factor agnostic. Desktop, laptop, yes even tablet or smartphones are all PCs in a sense.
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This.
 
Grooveriding said:
Not surprising hearing this from Apple though as their desktops are underpowered overpriced garbage. They don't have much respect for the desktop if they can't cram it into some sort of ridiculous looking wastebin form factor I guess 😀
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They're iMac desktops have the latest processors, and Intel hasn't released any significant bump in their Xeons for the Mac Pro line.
 
videogames101 said:
That old Core 2 duo system has been going strong because it wasn't pinned down by the Google/Android software prison. The idea of upgrading every 8 years rather than every 2 is appealing to some folks.

It's reasons like this that will keep many people using desktops, even if they don't need the performance side of things. Of course, this example doesn't apply to everyone. But at the same time my father is hardly an ethusiast either. This is why I don't think desktops are dead yet.
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And yet, unfortunately, Microsoft is doing their best to do away with that possibility, with forced upgrades to an OS, with forced updates, that may "morph" every few months into something else entirely, whatever is MS's whim that quarter.
 
VirtualLarry said:
And yet, unfortunately, Microsoft is doing their best to do away with that possibility, with forced upgrades to an OS, with forced updates, that may "morph" every few months into something else entirely, whatever is MS's whim that quarter.
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Apples and oranges. Let's not try to equate mobile hardware planned obsolescence with operating system updates and patches.
 
Mushkins said:
Apples and oranges. Let's not try to equate mobile hardware planned obsolescence with operating system updates and patches.
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I agree that they are not the same yet. But M$ certainly is leaving the door open for it. I was impressed by W10's modest system requirements, but that doens't mean it's going to stay that way. I imagine they want to create forced hardware upgrades just as much as Google or Apple does.

As an M$ shareholder, it would seem prudent 😎

As an end-user though...
 
WelshBloke said:
So either they are going to stop making Macbooks, iMacs and Mac Pros or he's full of shit.
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Yeah, not very good advertising if he declares the "end" of a product line the company is still trying to market and sell.

Also, how do I install a GTX 980 in the iPad Pro?
 
lopri said:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technolo...-the-PC-and-hints-at-new-medical-product.html
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Some more info from the OP's link above:

"To protect people who use any products, you have to encrypt. You can just look around and see all the data breaches that are going on. These things are becoming more frequent. They can not only result in privacy breaches but also security issues. We believe very strongly in end to end encryption and no back doors," Cook warns. “We don’t think people want us to read their messages. We don’t feel we have the right to read their emails.”

“Any backdoor is a backdoor for everyone. Everybody wants to crack down on terrorists. Everybody wants to be secure. The question is how. Opening a backdoor can have very dire consequences.”

The Apple boss doesn’t believe that it is possible or sensible for a country to go it alone; technology and systems have become too globalised. “We are all connected, whether we like it or not”.

It would also be wrong to pick on a few big players, he says. “It’s not the case that encryption is a rare thing that only two or three rich companies own and you can regulate them in some way. Encryption is widely available. It may make someone feel good for a moment but it’s not really of benefit. If you halt or weaken encryption, the people that you hurt are not the folks that want to do bad things. It’s the good people. The other people know where to go.”

Data and identity theft has a very real human cost, he argues. By jeopardising “people’s financial security, it can affect their psychology and health.” Worse, cybercriminals and cyberterrorists could hack into the IT systems that control our infrastructure and transport systems, with potentially devastating effects, “including our trains.”

He is confident that May and the government will do the right thing. “I’m optimistic. When the public gets engaged, the press gets engaged deeply, it will become clear to people what needs to occur. You can't weaken cryptography. You need to strengthen it. You need to stay ahead of the folks that want to break it.”
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So what OS does a person use if a person can't afford Apple? Linux?
 
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Borealis7 said:
until then, i got a 12.9 inch device he can use...
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Whoa there buddy. Keep that in L&R!

. . .

WelshBloke said:
So either they are going to stop making Macbooks, iMacs and Mac Pros or he's full of shit.
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The latter. Yeah it's just marketing drivel (as usual) but he's still full of it.

JimmiG said:
Also, how do I install a GTX 980 in the iPad Pro?
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Very . . . carefully.

SOMEDAY some genius will figure out how to put Thunderbolt 2 or 3 (or some equivalent) on a device like an iPad Pro so you can plug in a dGPU.

Then all you have to do is figure out how to get a keyboard + mouse on the thing and you get some decent gaming on a crappy screen, when you could do much better just using a custom-built PC . . . hey wait a minute . . .
 
Rakehellion said:
Even that's doing better on mobile.
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Mobile and PC gaming can easily coexist. They may even complement each other.

But that's irrelevant anyway - as long as PC gaming is doing well, PC is doing well. Regardless of how successful gaming is on other platforms.
 
lopri said:
WTH?! I copied/pasted the title of article within the space permitted. And the quoted portion of the article directly relates to the title of this thread.
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Actually it is the title of the article itself that is misleading. I read the article (maybe I missed something) and I cant see anywhere that Tim Cook "declared the end of the PC". That seems more like the interpretation of the author.
 
jkauff said:
If you don't need a full-blown PC, don't buy an expensive iPad. Buy a Chromebook. Way less money and has a keyboard.
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I haven't used a Chromebook yet.

Is there any way to use one anonymously? (ie, using the device without signing into Gmail)
 
Tim Cook pimps his apples. Declares PC's dead. Film at 11. I can't wait till next year when he says the same thing.
 
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