The end of the desktop?

Reuters http://xrl.us/bebvq6

The age of the desktop PC appears to be over as its more
portable cousin, the laptop, surges ahead with consumers
clamoring for light-weight computers in funky designs for
use at home, in cafes and on the train to work.

Not a single desktop model was on Amazon.com's top 10
selling PC and hardware list http://xrl.us/Top25Comp

It was yet another sign that the former dominance of
desktop PCs is fading as wireless advances and lower prices
make laptops the preferred option for millions of PC users
around the world.

"On both price and performance, laptops are so competitive
now it's surprising they weren't able to catch up with
desktops even earlier," said iSuppli analyst Peter Lin...

"css" <> wrote in message
news: d.net...
> Reuters http://xrl.us/bebvq6
>
> The age of the desktop PC appears to be over as its more
> portable cousin, the laptop, surges ahead with consumers
> clamoring for light-weight computers in funky designs for
> use at home, in cafes and on the train to work.
>
> Not a single desktop model was on Amazon.com's top 10
> selling PC and hardware list http://xrl.us/Top25Comp
>
> It was yet another sign that the former dominance of
> desktop PCs is fading as wireless advances and lower prices
> make laptops the preferred option for millions of PC users
> around the world.
>
> "On both price and performance, laptops are so competitive
> now it's surprising they weren't able to catch up with
> desktops even earlier," said iSuppli analyst Peter Lin...
>


Yep. My guess is that in 5-10 years there'll be no "PC's (desktops or
laptops)" for me to repair anymore and it will be time for yet another
career change......

.....unless I learn to repair iPods, PDA's, mobile phones and Garmins. g

S.Lewis wrote:
> ....unless I learn to repair iPods, PDA's, mobile phones and Garmins. g
>

Writing is on the wall for all of those. Broadband wireless devices will
replace all and talk to the cloud.

--
Adrian C

"Adrian C" <> wrote in message
news:...
> S.Lewis wrote:
>> ....unless I learn to repair iPods, PDA's, mobile phones and Garmins. g
>
> Writing is on the wall for all of those. Broadband wireless devices will
> replace all and talk to the cloud.
>
> --
> Adrian C


Sure. But what will be the primary device(s) used by the end-user?

We're already down to 9" netbooks. g

Per S.Lewis:
>Sure. But what will be the primary device(s) used by the end-user?
>
>We're already down to 9" netbooks. g

I just bought one of those couple weeks ago.

Does up to 19 x 12 on an attached monitor.

No moving parts except for a little CPU fan that comes on
occasionally.

3 USB ports for "real" mouse/keyboard/whatever....

5-6 honest hours of battery life.


Once they get the horsepower up some with the same battery life I
can see it as one's only PC.
--
PeteCresswell

S.Lewis wrote:
> "Adrian C" <> wrote in message
> news:...
>> S.Lewis wrote:
>>> ....unless I learn to repair iPods, PDA's, mobile phones and Garmins. g
>> Writing is on the wall for all of those. Broadband wireless devices will
>> replace all and talk to the cloud.
>>
>> --
>> Adrian C
>
>
> Sure. But what will be the primary device(s) used by the end-user?
>
> We're already down to 9" netbooks. g
>
>

SOME people are down to 9" notebooks. I can't squint well enough to
read what is on a 9" screen. Some people will claim that my age makes
me inflexible and unwilling to change. Not true. The eyes have it.

I think there would be a bonanza for any name brand company (HPaq,
Lenovo or Dell) with 12" (that's TWELVE INCHES, Michael Dell!) laptop
powered by the Atom 330 chip. Think of a laptop the size of a Dell C400
or an IBM/Lenovo X-series, and with really low power consumption, but it
runs right quick... Ben Myers

"Ben Myers" <> wrote in message
news:gk6ahk$lm7$...
> S.Lewis wrote:
>> "Adrian C" <> wrote in message
>> news:...
>>> S.Lewis wrote:
>>>> ....unless I learn to repair iPods, PDA's, mobile phones and Garmins.
>>>> g
>>> Writing is on the wall for all of those. Broadband wireless devices will
>>> replace all and talk to the cloud.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Adrian C
>>
>>
>> Sure. But what will be the primary device(s) used by the end-user?
>>
>> We're already down to 9" netbooks. g
>
> SOME people are down to 9" notebooks. I can't squint well enough to read
> what is on a 9" screen. Some people will claim that my age makes me
> inflexible and unwilling to change. Not true. The eyes have it.
>
> I think there would be a bonanza for any name brand company (HPaq, Lenovo
> or Dell) with 12" (that's TWELVE INCHES, Michael Dell!) laptop powered by
> the Atom 330 chip. Think of a laptop the size of a Dell C400 or an
> IBM/Lenovo X-series, and with really low power consumption, but it runs
> right quick... Ben Myers



The smaller keyboards just don't work for me. The C400 was a little
cramped, but workable. Can't imagine using a 10" or 9" netbook.

S.Lewis wrote:
> "Ben Myers" <> wrote in message
> news:gk6ahk$lm7$...
>> S.Lewis wrote:
>>> "Adrian C" <> wrote in message
>>> news:...
>>>> S.Lewis wrote:
>>>>> ....unless I learn to repair iPods, PDA's, mobile phones and Garmins.
>>>>> g
>>>> Writing is on the wall for all of those. Broadband wireless devices will
>>>> replace all and talk to the cloud.
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Adrian C
>>>
>>> Sure. But what will be the primary device(s) used by the end-user?
>>>
>>> We're already down to 9" netbooks. g
>> SOME people are down to 9" notebooks. I can't squint well enough to read
>> what is on a 9" screen. Some people will claim that my age makes me
>> inflexible and unwilling to change. Not true. The eyes have it.
>>
>> I think there would be a bonanza for any name brand company (HPaq, Lenovo
>> or Dell) with 12" (that's TWELVE INCHES, Michael Dell!) laptop powered by
>> the Atom 330 chip. Think of a laptop the size of a Dell C400 or an
>> IBM/Lenovo X-series, and with really low power consumption, but it runs
>> right quick... Ben Myers
>
>
>
> The smaller keyboards just don't work for me. The C400 was a little
> cramped, but workable. Can't imagine using a 10" or 9" netbook.
>
>
Yep. Eensy teeny tiny keyboards are a pain in the ass for anyone with
larger fingers (i.e. post puberty) or who can touch type on a full sized
IBM Model M clicky keyboard. I have a little trouble typing on my 12"
Thinkpad X30... Ben Myers

"css" <> wrote in message
news: d.net...
> Reuters http://xrl.us/bebvq6
>
> The age of the desktop PC appears to be over as its more
> portable cousin, the laptop, surges ahead with consumers
> clamoring for light-weight computers in funky designs for
> use at home, in cafes and on the train to work.
>
> Not a single desktop model was on Amazon.com's top 10
> selling PC and hardware list http://xrl.us/Top25Comp
>
> It was yet another sign that the former dominance of
> desktop PCs is fading as wireless advances and lower prices
> make laptops the preferred option for millions of PC users
> around the world.

There's a difference between not being dominant and not
being at all. If you had titled this, "The End of Desktop Dominance"
then I'd agree with you. There will always be a market for desktop
sized systems where expandability is important. My desktop has
three hard drives, two DVD burners, a Blu-Ray burner, a floppy drive,
a tape drive, slots for SD cards and devices, twelve USB ports (of
which nine are filled) a serial port with a device attached, a
parallel port with a device attached and a PS/2 mouse and
keyboard port with a bar code reader, keyboard and mouse
attached. When a laptop can do all that, I'll switch but until then,
I need my desktop!

Tom Lake

In news:,
(PeteCresswell) typed on Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:38:29 -0500:
> Per S.Lewis:
>> Sure. But what will be the primary device(s) used by the end-user?
>>
>> We're already down to 9" netbooks. g
>
> I just bought one of those couple weeks ago.
>
> Does up to 19 x 12 on an attached monitor.
>
> No moving parts except for a little CPU fan that comes on
> occasionally.
>
> 3 USB ports for "real" mouse/keyboard/whatever....
>
> 5-6 honest hours of battery life.
>
> Once they get the horsepower up some with the same battery life I
> can see it as one's only PC.

How much horsepower do you need? As a 900MHz Celeron (underclocked to
633MHz) is plenty fast enough for me. It keeps up with DVD movies and
that is all the power I ask for. Anything more would be a waste.

--
Bill
2 Gateway MX6124 - Windows XP SP2
3 Asus EEE PC 701G4 ~ 2GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
2 Asus EEE PC 702G8 ~ 1GB RAM ~ 16GB-SDHC
Windows XP SP2 ~ Xandros Linux - Puppy - Ubuntu