The Tide is Turning in the PC Market

[tino]

As more consumers move away from desktop computers and go mobile many of the computer giants are struggling to keep up as reported by Reuters. Will the desk top PC really go by the way side as some have said it would , becoming a relic of the past ? The sands of time are mounting as each day passes .

 

View The Reuters Article HERE
Read the full news story here

[daboggeyman]

With mobile devise's becoming more commonplace with the younger generation and consoles beginning to catch desktop PCs in terms of graphics the home desktop is losing its appeal. Older gamers are still holding on like me. But it should remain common in the work place and office of most business's for a while. Updating the desktop computer aren't needed as often as they were five or ten years ago and that has created a slow down aggravated by a slow economy for computer hardware manufactures. So I believe the days of the desktop are numbered in it present form as we know it today.

[Phuncz]

I've seen this evolution start years ago, when I saw laptop and notebook sales overwhelm the desktop sales. Right now we are seeying two seperate uses for a computer: content consumption and content creation.

Most people are content consumers, like watching websites, reading emails, listening to music, watching Youtube movies, etc.
Some people are content creators, like website admins, forum guru's (that's us, smile and wave), music creation, photo editing, Youtube uploaders, etc.

For consumption, people are massively leaning towards tablets, netbooks and smaller notebooks (<15"). The fact that Apple sold 9,000,000 iPads the last 3 months, should be a good indication there is no turning around.

But for creation, most of the times those devices won't do or not enough. Some netbooks are good enough, some ultraportables are actually very good. But the most important things are physical keyboards, fast (mouse) input, fast system and good multitasking. For now, this is something a desktop computer or an All-in-One (iMac for example) can deliver plenty of, along with the more powerful notebooks and laptops.

But since most people are content consumers, we'll see the "larger" devices like desktop PC's and 17" laptops disappear more and more. Will they vanish ? Not in 5 years or so, maybe later. The future household (~5 years) as I see it will be a tablet per person, one All-in-One computer in the house and a gaming console or two.

[daboggeyman]

Your very correct Phuncz the desktop not going anywhere over night , we will continue to see a decline in its use over time but not its disappearance . It could be years down the road. We may see more people move more to mini or sff computer be for the desktop is gone. I wont see it happen in my life time that for sure

[Phuncz]

Well that's something I don't see happening: the mini desktop PC or SFF desktops. We've been promoting those in the store for a while but a lot of people just buy a large laptop or standard desktop instead. I was also expecting them to be sold more and more but people don't trust desktops being that small.