Laptop Market Dying Out, Say Analysts at Gartner

[zekrahminator]

The market for laptops is quite uncertain at the moment. With Apple having made/making a transition over to Intel, ASUS launching more EeePCs and an anticipated flood of cheap computers, the market could go anywhere from its current state. Analysts over at Gartner have a pessimistic view of the future. They think that the very thing that got people into laptops in the first place could doom the industry. A desire for capable, portable information powerhouses could, by 2012, push businesses and people away from laptops, and towards smaller devices such as PDAs and so-called smart phones.

Source: Nordic Hardware

[Triprift]

theyll always be a market for lappys be it bussiness ppl or chaps like me who want power but dont want to lug around case monitor keyboard ect to mates place or lans.

[FreedomEclipse]

whoever said this needs a slap. the laptop market is not dying out - Ive already got a laptop but i am planning to buy another specifically for gaming & also i have a desktop pc.

the laptop business is booming but not as much as they'd like to because powerful laptops are still expensive

[Kreij]

Well, when you can hook a PDA up to a projector and do a PowerPoint presentation, I can see laptops getting less desirable for business also.

Just a thought.

[beyond_amusia]

I think price versus performance may be having an impact on laptop sales, but I don't think laptop sales would ever stop unless they invent a replacement for the computer.

[AddSub]

They need to make some decent AND affordable lightweight laptops. EeePC is not affordable and can’t be found anywhere at the $199 ASUS promised before launch. I went to my local Microcenter the other day and every single laptop weighed like a ton of bricks. All of them were humongous and their specs were not too impressive while the prices were ridiculously high. I mean, in my opinion at least, the only reason to get a laptop is because of ability to keep mobile and compute at the same time, this is made difficult by the fact that most laptops are oversized, heavy, and thick enough to be used as armor plating on tanks, not to mention the cost.

[beyond_amusia]

Originally Posted by AddSub

They need to make some decent AND affordable lightweight laptops. EeePC is not affordable and can’t be found anywhere at the $199 ASUS promised before launch. I went to my local Microcenter the other day and every single laptop weighed like a ton of bricks. All of them were humongous and their specs were not too impressive while the prices were ridiculously high. I mean, in my option at least, the only reason to get a laptop is because of ability to keep mobile and compute at the same time, this is made difficult by the fact that most laptops are oversized, heavy, and thick enough to be used as armor plating on tanks, not to mention the cost.

Amen. You can buy a $300 desktop with the (near) same specs of a $500+ laptop.

[ChillyMyst]

laptop market is booming according to some reports i saw recently.....i dont see that changing.

i do agree we need more cheap yet decent laptops, i just hope some companys come up with lappys usign VIA's new cpu that due out soon, its speced to be as fast as current amd and intel cpu's in the low and mid range market but use like 20watts PEEK power draw, also they run UBER COOL, no over heating lappys!!!!

personaly i have owned lappys and desktops, lappys are for work and surfing, a gaming lappy is just to pricy for the perf you get and they are to heavy to be regularly carryed around, they are more desktop replacments(dtr's) then laptops.

well heres to hoping we see more via based tablets and laptops in the future, we need a 3rd chip choice

[WarEagleAU]

My wife just bought her an HP Media Laptop from CompUSA yesterday. Seeing as they got the 20% off and everything, got an 800+ laptop for a little over 600. Lots of folks were in there snatching up the more overly priced ones too especially with the discount.

Somehow, more and more folks are wanting laptops, so I dont necessarily thing they are gonna start declining.

On a side note, she also got me a Soundblaster X-Fi Fatal1ty edition sound card for under $100 dollars. <3

[tigger]

Dont forget gartner look into the future and not just now,in the future we'll have devices as big as a phone and more powerful than a good desktop,so i can kind of understand it.