The desktop PC format is fading away - IBM

[qubit]

THE PC IS DEAD, according to an IBM executive on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the IBM Personal Computer.

IBM Middle East and Africa CTO Mark Dean said that the announcement of the first IBM PC on August 12, 1981, "helped launch a phenomenon that changed the way we work, play and communicate".

He added, "It may be odd for me to say this, but I'm also proud IBM decided to leave the personal computer business in 2005, selling our PC division to Lenovo."

While many in the technology industry questioned IBM's decision to exit the business at the time, he added, it's now "clear that the company was in the vanguard of the post-PC era".

According to Dean, we have "moved beyond" the PC era, so much so that even his own computer is a tablet. "When I helped design the PC, I didn't think I'd live long enough to witness its decline," he said.

He added that "while PCs will continue to be much-used devices", they're "no longer at the leading edge of computing" and are going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT and incandescent light bulbs.

Do you agree? I don't think it's clear cut. What is clear, is that there's enough performance available now, that small handheld devices such as smartphones can do many tasks that a desktop PC did previously, while enabling new functionality, so desktop PC's are not as essential. Couple that with the cloud for your storage needs and the desktop PC is under threat.

If the PC does fade away, it's gonna ruin the enthusiast PC market with our high-powered CPUs and GPUs, which is us.

The Inquirer

 

[erocker]

For the average consumer/user it most likely is. All in one monitor/pcs, small form factors and other things like that are very appealing to the average user. As long as there is a market for enthusiast stuff, enthusiast stuff will be sold.

 

[qubit]

For the average consumer/user it most likely is. All in one monitor/pcs, small form factors and other things like that are very appealing to the average user. As long as there is a market for enthusiast stuff, enthusiast stuff will be sold.

Do you think this will make enthusiast-grade PCs less well supported and more nichy and expensive though?

I stress that I'm not challenging you on this. I just don't know, but the trend doesn't seem good.

 

[CDdude55]

Do you think this will make enthusiast-grade PCs less well supported and more nichy and expensive though?

I stress that I'm not challenging you on this. I just don't know, but the trend doesn't seem good.

The ''Post PC Era'' generally doesn't refer to the death of the desktop but instead the rise of the tablet market and decline of desktop users.

As mentioned, the average consumer who wants to check their email and watch youtube videos will more likely see that transition to using tablet form factors. People don't watch to spend hundreds of dollars on a big black box that sits in the corner anymore, they want something lightweight that they can carry around the house with them while doing the same things they would do on a standard size machine.

I think PC's at home will decline, but PC's will still exist in the work place(especially work places that need a lot of processing power) and for gamers/enthusiasts.

Also, the enthusiast market is already a niche market, we already are not the focus for PC manufactures. They go where the people go, so if it's tablets they want then that's what they'll get. It shouldn't effect us the gamers/enthusiasts though, as there is still money to be made.

 

[erocker]

Do you think this will make enthusiast-grade PCs less well supported and more nichy and expensive though?

I stress that I'm not challenging you on this. I just don't know, but the trend doesn't seem good.

No.. well it would take a lot for this to happen. The industry is still governed by standards such as ATX, PCI-E, etc. So, I don't see things becoming more nichy.

 

[twilyth]

When the suits say something is dead, I think it is generally code for something not nearly as dramatic. In this case, I'd say that they mean dead as a growth market, except I think this has been obvious for a while.

We tend to think of things from our own perspective and generalize from there. But our standards and expectations are considerably past those of at least 3 or 4 billion other people on the planet. Something that may eventually change, but probably not by a lot and not for a long while.

Beyond that, the only way you get to miniaturize something is by starting with a version that is other than miniaturized. So you could say that further developments in mobile platforms partly depend on there being a market for the components that ultimately are refined for mobile. There might be some cases where it goes the other way like maybe OLED's or something, but it's hard to imagine that the process would be completely turned on its ear.

This part might be personal bias, but until touch screens don't actually need to be touched, I don't think there is any substitute for a nice monitor (or 2 or 3), keyboard and mouse. I guess you can always plug into a docking station, and if I really can't tell the difference in performance between a tablet and a pc, maybe I would do just that.

 

[hat]

Possibly, we don't really need desktops anymore. We have laptops, tablets, smartphones and such. I'll keep my clunky desktop computer though... I like having the cheaper, easier to cool, easier to maintain and higher performance desktops for gaming and such.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

All hogwash. The reason why PC's have dominated this long is because of the relatively cheap cost of servicing. The trend of tablet sales will sputter and fall flat as they start failing and they realize they either have to pay a fortune to get it fixed or pay a fortune to replace it. This aspect (as well as higher cost and poorer bang for the buck) has been holding laptops back for decades.

Just give it a few more years before the market realizes how much they sacrifice for mobility.


I do see form factors getting smaller than ATX (like ITX) getting more popular. The easily-serviciable computer isn't going away any time soon for economic reasons.

 

[jpierce55]

For the average consumer/user it most likely is. All in one monitor/pcs, small form factors and other things like that are very appealing to the average user. As long as there is a market for enthusiast stuff, enthusiast stuff will be sold.

I have to fully agree with erocker. The enthusiast market is not going anyplace, in fact it seems to be growing.

OOOH, I just got another star!

 

[MilkyWay]

Dedicated expansions will always exist, i do however think that the face of computing is changing but desktops will be around forever in some form. We already have all in one pcs and they are not popular apart from maybe iMacs.

I can see televisions and similar products having SoC crammed into them and as they develop maybe that will be enough for a casual user but like i said many people want to be able to change and tweak a system.

 

[qubit]

I have to fully agree with erocker. The enthusiast market is not going anyplace, in fact it seems to be growing.

OOOH, I just got another star!

Growing, hopefully.

And grats on your 1000th post. Only another 4000 to go and you get your custom title. I'm nearly there...

 

[purecain]

100% dissagree... music producers, writers, gamers and video/photo editors say differant...

want to do any of these things and your going to need a desktop... as powerful as laptops and tablet pc's become, their desktop equivelant will always be cheaper... more powerful and reliable...

 

[qubit]

their desktop equivelant will always be cheaper... more powerful and reliable...

Cheaper and more powerful yes, but more reliable? No, simpler devices will tend to be more reliable.

 

[MilkyWay]

More all in one systems means less individual companies to develop hardware, take for example i can buy a Corsair PSU but dell just use cheap jobbies in their systems. A system where i cant change the hardware means more chance of the company using cheaper hardware.

 

[BumbleBee]

if I didn't need a high end desktop for work I probably wouldn't own one. I am tired of being shackled to a desk that takes up 40% of my bedroom.

 

[MilkyWay]

I love a good desk, i like sitting in front of a monitor having my things spread out like using a separate keyboard and mouse.

Lots of people dont like desks but yeah i prefer it.

 

[BumbleBee]

I have a sectional art desk that looks like this

it makes me feel so old because I see people all the time staring at tablets and laptops like zombies.

 

[Jstn7477]

Just because compact cars with 4 cylinder engines have become more popular with rising fuel costs, cars and trucks with V8 engines haven't gone completely extinct or become a "niche." Granted, a majority of the American cars 40 years ago were huge boats and that aspect has gone away, but the V8 engine still lives on in pony cars, luxury cars, etc.

The Chevrolet 350ci V8 engine was used on production vehicles for nearly 50 years, and still lives on as a crate motor today. I have no reason to believe that desktops (The V8s of the computer industry) will become completely extinct due to the 6 cylinders (iMacs), the 4 cylinders (slim desktops) or the mopeds (smartphones and tablets).

Hope my attempted car analogies aren't fail.

 

[BumbleBee]

the next person that compares computers to cars i'm going to tie to a chair and make them watch Street Fighter The Movie for 18 hours straight lol

 

[Ev1LrYu]

All hogwash. The reason why PC's have dominated this long is because of the relatively cheap cost of servicing. The trend of tablet sales will sputter and fall flat as they start failing and they realize they either have to pay a fortune to get it fixed or pay a fortune to replace it. This aspect (as well as higher cost and poorer bang for the buck) has been holding laptops back for decades.

Just give it a few more years before the market realizes how much they sacrifice for mobility.

QFT. As components get more integrated (as in the case of tablets, netbooks, smartphones and to a lesser degree laptops), the risk of a single component failing and rendering the whole shebang useless grows. I do realize that caps can be replaced etc, but it is far easier for the average user to replace a gpu, then say solder on a new cap to a tablet board.

Kinda reminds me of this (though replace Mac with a tablet)

 

[twilyth]

the next person that compares computers to cars i'm going to tie to a chair and make them watch Street Fighter The Movie for 18 hours straight lol

I'm guessing this would be what one might call "bad."

 

[BumbleBee]

my bedroom is so small you have to leave it to change your mind.

 

[kciaccio]

Personally I hate laptops. Hate working on them when they break, which is quite often. Hate the heat the generate on the bottom of the laptop. Power cords always breaking. I love my multi-display desktop.

I have a Galaxy Tab also. It's ok, more like a bigger version of my iphone. Cannot work nearly as fast or as efficiently as my desktop multi-monitor set up.

 

[micropage7]

i guess desktop would last long coz they has different segment than other, lets see notebook that portable, netbook for light usage, tablet and others

 

[LordJummy]

This is the way I see it;

If it reaches a point where we no longer need to build "desktop PC's" and we can have a 1 inch box that has power proportionally equivalent or greater to what we're building now, then so be it!

As long as it has the power we want, and can do everything we want, powerful multi screen gaming, video editing, blah blah, etc, etc, then what does it matter what the form is. I don't care as long as it does what I want, and I can customize it to my exact needs.