What is going on with desktop PCs these days?

[pooptastic]

Are they being phased out? Intel seems to have tossed their newer processor tech on some low back burner. AMD has been MIA until Ryzen, which still isn't released yet. There's a thousand posts here about how you don't need to upgrade your last-gen PC.

I have tablets, a cellphone, PS4, Pi, chromebook. I also primarily have my gaming PC setup, which is aging well, but I'm still not seeing a real reason to upgrade it.

Are desktop pc's being abandoned at this point? Is it due to the mobile and IoT (internet of things) invasion, or it is because Moore's law is supposedly broken. (according to Intel's marketing anyway)

 

[Elixer]

I wouldn't say they are being abandoned, but, I will say that demand for them is slowing down.
The reason is simple, people can buy other devices that do what they want to do, no need to be tied down to a desktop.

 

[preslove]

"Good enough" computing has dampened demand, which has dampened supply. The same thing is happening to smartphones, but faster than it did with computers.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I'ts been slowing down for many years. Other than myself, there isn't a single person in my family who even owns a desktop PC any longer. All phones, tablets and laptops.

I built my current PC in July 2012. It has an SSD and 16 GB ram. I might get a larger SSD some day, but other than that, I don't anticipate building another computer for at least another 3 or 4 years.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I built my current PC in July 2012. It has an SSD and 16 GB ram. I might get a larger SSD some day, but other than that, I don't anticipate building another computer for at least another 3 or 4 years.

I posted some threads a few years back in the CPU forum, talking about building a new rig for a relative, with a Celeron and an SSD and ample RAM, being a "10-year rig". I was ridiculed by most people. Well, it's not so ridiculous now, is it, folks.

 

[pooptastic]

All good replies. I guess there's less need for a "general use" computer these days over specialized devices.

Makes sense, but it's sort of like replacing a car you love, with impersonal random devices that do what your car used to do.

 

[LevelSea]

I don't currently have a desktop at home. I don't game anymore, and I'm on a PC all day at work, so I don't have any interest in sitting in front of one at home too. The only thing I want at this point is a NAS.

 

[Crono]

Replacement frequency has slowed down for the mainstream, but that's what happens when a technology matures. Moore's Law wasn't going to continue forever; die shrinks don't come cheap, and physics is a bitch. There are still plenty of developments and interesting things going on, especially for enthusiasts. VR in particular is going to push the need for higher end GPUs and CPUs. Right now the early units have focused on getting tracking and minimum performance (90 FPS+ to avoid motion sickness), but the graphics and details should be pushed forward in the future, needing higher end hardware than just the minimum spec cards like the R9 390/RX480 or GTX 970.

Even if there is some big leap or move to the next generation of computing in the near future, these things are cyclical. Right now smartphones have nearly saturated every market on the planet, so mobile will slow down soon (or already is - tablets have pretty much peaked), too.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I guess there's less need for a "general use" computer these days over specialized devices.

Makes sense, but it's sort of like replacing a car you love, with impersonal random devices that do what your car used to do.

I'm not really sure I see it that way. There's very little that the typical user cannot do with one of today's laptops that they could do with a desktop PC.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Sadly, the industry is trying to push everyone towards the cloud, and using only phones/tablets and MAYBE some type of client PC that is really just an oversized tablet.

Hopefully there will be enough people that bock at this so that sites like Newegg and NCIX can continue to exist and continue to sell stuff like motherboards, cpus, etc.

There is less of a need to get a new computer these days, since they are powerful enough, so sales have gone down. But the industry reads this as "nobody needs computers anymore".

 

[Rifter]

What really needs to happen is we need more companies driving the tech. Intel has sat on there ass and done nothing for 5 years due to lack of competition, hopefully zen changes that. We really need a half dozen CPU and GPU companies to really keep everyone moving forward with the tech.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I've done a lot of side upgrades to my original build which was back in 2009.

Went from 4GB RAM to 8GB RAM
Replaced PSU cause first one died.
Added an SSD drive.
Went from AMD 5870 (sold at height of bitcoin) to Nvidia GTX 770 (which was crap and crashed my computer all day long) to R9 290 to GTX1070 (free cause I had so much Dell credit).
Replaced case cause the first one was a Raven RV02 and was the size of a tank.

5 upgrades in 8 years. Not bad. I have the itch to replace my CPU/Mobo but I'd have to buy DDR4 and a new CPU cooler makes it way more than I would like to spend on something I barely game on anymore.

 

[Red Squirrel]

What I'd love to see is an open source hardware movement. With Intel putting backdoors in cpus and AMD alegedly doing the same, we can't trust anything now. At this point there is more to it than just pure performance. I would take a performance penalty for better security.

 

[Carson Dyle]

What really needs to happen is we need more companies driving the tech. Intel has sat on there ass and done nothing for 5 years due to lack of competition, hopefully zen changes that. We really need a half dozen CPU and GPU companies to really keep everyone moving forward with the tech.

Why? There's little market for it. It's not a matter of competition, unless you're examining the effect of having no competition on pricing. I'm amazed Intel still does as much as it does in the desktop arena any more, to be honest. There can't be that many PC gamers in the world these days. Luckily for them, there's still a business market, and there's still some market for higher end systems for video processing and things like engineering work.

 

[jman19]

Sadly, the industry is trying to push everyone towards the cloud, and using only phones/tablets and MAYBE some type of client PC that is really just an oversized tablet.

Hopefully there will be enough people that bock at this so that sites like Newegg and NCIX can continue to exist and continue to sell stuff like motherboards, cpus, etc.

There is less of a need to get a new computer these days, since they are powerful enough, so sales have gone down. But the industry reads this as "nobody needs computers anymore".

I don't see that as inherently a "sad" thing.

 

[desura]

I've been using ivy bridge for the past few years. The only thing I've upgraded is my video card, and it runs the latest games great.

Actually teh only use for faster processors is faster video encoding. That is it.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't see that as inherently a "sad" thing.

You don't see an issue with losing total control over your computing experience and having all your stuff on someone else's computer? Or having to use crappy interfaces to do any kind of content creation? Nothing beats a standard computer with proper keyboard and mouse, and locally (within your own house) stored data. They will have to pry that from my cold dead hands. I will completely switch hobbies if it ever comes to a point where having a personal computer is no longer a thing.

This whole cloud thing only facilitates government spying and removes your basic control of data. No freaking way I want to submit to that.

 

[paperfist]

I'm not really sure I see it that way. There's very little that the typical user cannot do with one of today's laptops that they could do with a desktop PC.

Maybe but a desktop with 3 monitors, a nice comfortable mouse and keyboard is still my preferred choice.

Sure you can browse the internet with your phone, but it kills your posture and it sucks looking at a tiny little screen.

 

[snoopy7548]

Nobody, aside from enthusiasts, wants desktops anymore. They're the rear-projection or CRT TVs of these times. They're big, heavy, take up a lot of space, and for the average user don't give any real benefit over a laptop, tablet, or phone.

Everybody wants quick snippets of news, pictures, or updates on their friends, so a disposable phone or tablet is all that's necessary. Who wants to buy a big desktop PC and use up an entire desk with a large monitor, mouse, and keyboard when you can just pick up your phone and get what you want?

I'll admit, my desktop is rarely used. Gaming is my only real reason for having a desktop and I don't do much of that anymore. Still running my i5-2500k, though! The video card needs an upgrade, but that's it.

 

[MrSquished]

Nobody, aside from enthusiasts, wants desktops anymore. They're the rear-projection or CRT TVs of these times. They're big, heavy, take up a lot of space, and for the average user don't give any real benefit over a laptop, tablet, or phone.

Everybody wants quick snippets of news, pictures, or updates on their friends, so a disposable phone or tablet is all that's necessary. Who wants to buy a big desktop PC and use up an entire desk with a large monitor, mouse, and keyboard when you can just pick up your phone and get what you want?

I'll admit, my desktop is rarely used. Gaming is my only real reason for having a desktop and I don't do much of that anymore. Still running my i5-2500k, though! The video card needs an upgrade, but that's it.

While I use my desktop exensively, I don't have to. The bigger monitor is a requirement but really all I need is a docking station for my pretty high end laptop. I do edit photos in Adobe LIghtroom so a powerful machine is a good thing. But on my desktop Lightroom kept slowing down - a fresh install of Windows helped - for like 3 months then back to unusable. The laptop runs Lightroom just fine. It's an i7 with 16gb of ram.

I built a high end machine thinking I'd play BF1. Bought the game and have yet to fire it up. Meanwhile I have this dead sexy desktop build just sitting there looking pretty, being used to browse the web.

At the end of the day for most people a decent laptop plus docking station is all they need. Pretty much a web browsing unit. That's what 90% of people do. Unless you game newer games, or do so serious 3d modeling and video editing, a laptop is just fine for everyone. I don't think tablets are the answer, as you state though. They can get pretty inadequate for basic things like input, very quickly.

I don't see much hope for the desktop community.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Serious question, if desktops really go away, how will people do stuff like code or edit video or other similar tasks? I can't imagine trying to do that on a small touch interface or some crappy excuse of an add on keyboard. not to mention, probably on only one screen vs 3+.

 

[MrSquished]

Serious question, if desktops really go away, how will people do stuff like code or edit video or other similar tasks? I can't imagine trying to do that on a small touch interface or some crappy excuse of an add on keyboard. not to mention, probably on only one screen vs 3+.

There probably will be desktops for a while for power users but you can use a laptop with a docking station and get a full sized keyboard to go with that. As far as multiple monitor setups, expect laptops to do those sooner than later.

 

[Crono]

Serious question, if desktops really go away, how will people do stuff like code or edit video or other similar tasks? I can't imagine trying to do that on a small touch interface or some crappy excuse of an add on keyboard. not to mention, probably on only one screen vs 3+.

They aren't going away. Professionals, gamers, amateur photographers, etc are going to use desktops - or in some cases, powerful laptops - until tech like Microsoft's Continuum run well and mobile SoCs are powerful enough without throttling. Then a lot of people will just use their phones wirelessly with displays (which I already do on occasion using both Chromecast and a Microsoft Wireless Display Adapter) and a keyboard and mouse.

What's going to stick around even longer in terms of powerful hardware are servers.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Desktop systems aren't going away. But maybe we'll wake up one day and there won't be 25 desktop processors available from Intel at every price point from $40 to $1000 to choose from. I have no idea why we have them now.

With further integration and increasing RAM density, eventually there will be no difference between a laptop and a desktop system except for expansion ports. With the possible exception of system needing/using very high end video processing. Even there, though, eventually it ends up on the chip and your phone (or watch) is every bit as powerful as your desktop PC.

 

[Red Squirrel]

My fear is that even servers will go away, at least ones that are obtainable. I could see the companies having contracts with the cloud companies where they build servers for them but you won't be able to just go buy one as a consumer, and they'll be so proprietary they won't work with Linux anyway.

Hopefully none of that never actually happens though. But with only power users wanting desktops and home servers, it's perhaps not worth it for companies to continue making the parts. On the flip side, that could potentially spark an open source hardware movement as if there's anyone that does not want consumer hardware to go away it would be the open source community.