Comments on: Desktop RIP?

By: Mark Evans

Mark Evans — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 11:31:19 +0000

Kim: I don’t understand your question.

By: KIM DUBY

KIM DUBY — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 02:45:29 +0000

WHAT IS THE ORIGINAL BLOG THAT THIS ARTICLE IS WRITTEN IN?

By: mungojelly

mungojelly — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 00:32:25 +0000

What I think will be interesting to watch is whether home computers soon learn to integrate with each other well enough that people will want big boxes again– as servers in the closet that they never look at. People may think of computers differently once you can buy a computer in order to add to your home’s overall capacity, rather than just to “use” it directly.

In terms of the interface, I think we’ll see movement in every direction, including much larger interfaces such as the tabletop displays that everyone is looking forward to. As for smallness, I expect laptops to drop their keyboards entirely in favor of touch-sensitive screens. The “computer” (or the part of it you interact with, anyway) should soon be distilled to a magic rectangle.

By: WinExtra » Times are a changin’

WinExtra » Times are a changin’ — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 23:18:53 +0000

[...] As Mark Evans said in a post today [...]

By: Jason Detchevery

Jason Detchevery — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 16:27:22 +0000

Laptops are certainly on the way in (or rather have been here for a while), and it seems desktops on the way out but I think there will still be a place for desktops in the home market for (at least) things like HTPC’s (DVR’s, managing media collections) and the like where it would really be pointless to use a laptop. Also, gamers in the home and people who want to keep up with the latest technology (or even just know they’ll want to upgrade significantly from time to time) or continuously update their technology would not be served well by a laptop.

By: Zoli Erdos

Zoli Erdos — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 14:25:18 +0000

For years I only used laptops. Then as I found myself travel less and work from a comfy home office, I ended up taking a step back, ans buying a desktop again - largely for health considerations.

By: Mark Evans

Mark Evans — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:37:17 +0000

Michael:

You make some great points. My sense is the home market will be increasingly laptop while corporate buyers will stick to desktops. I mean, look at how many still loyally buy Dells (although that appears to be changing.).

By: Michael DiBernardo

Michael DiBernardo — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 12:41:33 +0000

I’ve definitely thought the same for a while now. I think (weakly) contributing factor to this might be:

(a) Students buy laptops when they’re getting ready to go to university, because it’s easier to bring them to class, move them into the new residence, etc.

(b) Students become accustomed to having a mobile machine all the time.

(c) When they graduate and perhaps settle down a bit, they’re so used to having the freedom of taking their computer everywhere with them that they never buy a desktop again.

I’d be curious to see how business consumption of desktop PCs compares to home consumption of desktop PCs over the past n years.