tech

Don't sound the death knell for the PC just yet

20 Comments
By BRANDON BAILEY

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

20 Comments
Login to comment

Every couple of years you hear the same lame news that PCs are becoming obsolete. This is ever so ridiculous and the typical one-sided view of the press. Somebody has to develop all the software and that can't be done on smart phones. And developing software will not become extinct anytime soon.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

PC is not dead and will never be. Anything more complicated than browsing the web is frustrating to do on a mobile device, including simple word processing. The reason why PCs don't sell as many is partly because they now take a long time to become outdated and in need of an upgrade. In the 1990s PCs used to become outdated 2 years after you bought it, but my Windows 7 PC is 6 years old and I could use it for another 3.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Let's face it, the whole "PC is dead" thing was partly down to misreading the stats, partly down to the market rejecting the idea that we had to upgrade every three years or so and partly marketing blurb from people with a vested interest in gobbling up the market share that would be left by the PC's decline. While the tablet and the smartphone have their places, they are still both specialist devices while the humble PC, regardless of the OS or manufacturer, is a general purpose device which has yet to be replaced with anything viable.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Terrible article, how can the author claim that PC's only advanced larger hard drives and faster cpu's?

If not for the PC than graphic cards wouldn't be where they are today due to the intense competition in the market and the constant upgrading and release of new cards. High definition resolution (1920x1080) was available on PC's years before TV manufacturers even considered it.

Solid state drives also wouldn't be mass market if not for PC's, what other market could have brought about this great evolution to the hard drives? Not smartphones, tablets or consoles.

Chipsets, RAM, motherboards, cooling all get their first advancements on PC before other markets get a look in.

Laptops also help out here by taking what the desktops first get, and making things smaller, this in turn than miniaturises more for smartphones.

Consoles with their 6-8 year cycle wouldn't have done this and all these upgrades help make the smartphones/tablets what they are today.

Without PC's, there would be no smartphone/console market as it stands today.

/PC fanboi rant over

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I need a PC's processing power to produce my 3D modelling/artwork... a laptop, tablet or smartphone can't do that. I also need the bigger screen.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Ha, I'm using 30-40MB raw files Canon photo files. A tablet (or even a common laptop) do open them eventually(in minutes). My desktop does it in less than 10 seconds. The author of this article does not really know what PCs do...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Anyone working in film, music, and photography know that this is all hot air. The desktop is needed. I work in music and editing not only needs horsepower but it also needs screen real estate. There's nothing worse than micro-editing on a tablet screen.

If anyone does film editing or anything visual, you need the power + screen size. Those are just facts.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

PCs aren't going anywhere. There's a lot of people who don't need them at home anymore since the functions they used them for are available in a tablet, but for gaming, for photo/video editing, for publishing, for spreadsheets and word processing, PC is still king and will be for some years yet.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Yes, smartphones are OK for a number of tasks and games but for others they fail miserably. Most 3D games that have a tad more flexible controls just suck on touch controls. A touch surface just can't replace a mouse, keyboard or joypad for these. Many developers seem to be deliriously misled about this fact.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Ptyping on a stupid screen sucks to say the least. Zi love my 18 key boards

1 ( +1 / -0 )

For anyone playing games out there, the best experience is usually on the PC (though I'm a die-hard fan of consoles as well), with services like Steam and GOG providing great content and value.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The thing that will save the PC is Windows 10, in my humble opinion.

And with good reason: Microsoft finally wised up to the fact users intensely disliked the Modern tiled interface used in Windows 8, and that's why people refused to buy Windows 8 PC's. Windows 8.1 is less obtrusive (since you can now directly boot into the Windows 7-like desktop interface), but Windows 10's mostly desktop-oriented interface makes it easier for Windows 7 and earlier users to upgrade, and Windows 10 will likely be far more welcomed by corporate users.

1 ( +2 / -0 )

We need the PC to do and creates "things" and surf & type quicky. On phone and tablets, people are mostly passive only consuming contents almost exclusively build on... PC ^^

3 ( +3 / -0 )

The PC isn't in trouble yet, but it will eventually disappear. Once a smartphone has as much storage space, RAM, and power as current PCs do, no one will need PCs anymore. Large screens and keyboards will always be necessary but the giant tower will eventually be replaced with smartphones themselves or other more portable devices.

I imagine one would just have to plug in their phone into a dock and have access to tactile input and a larger screen at their desks in the future. Since things will be much cheaper, I imagine this kind of interface will be far more widespread than just one location in your home.

Much like calculators that used to take up entire rooms and no longer do, our current computing power on PCs will be accessible anywhere in the future.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

A desktop PC is like the kitchen in a home and while there are PLENTY of fast food outlets and combini around to keep you from being hungry, the real deal is almost always enjoyed while seated at the 'table' at home. I own 3 smartphones, a couple of tablets, 3 laptops and 4 desktops plus 2 all in one touch screen PCs mounted in place at home. The PCs 'desktops' get the most use while the rest 'round out' the 'connected life experience'. They are all now part of the 'collective hive' but the PC is the 'Queen Bee'.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

It's kinda like saying the hammer will become obsolete because I can pound nails with the handle of a screwdriver. They're different tools for different jobs and it's why Apple created more seamless integration between devices with the release of Continuity in OS X Yosemite and iOS 8.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Another interesting thing that I've noticed is that there is once again a computer literacy divide between those who own PCs and those who simply consume content on mobile devices.

A few weeks ago I was talking to a very mobile device saavy 18 year old who was trying to apply for entry level office jobs. Unfortunately, they weren't able to check any of the boxes that asked about proficiency is in Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc... their family hadn't actually owned a computer for over 10 years. It was like a flashback of the early 1990s.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

There was never a risk in losing the PC, most the stuff you do on a mobile device is not the core of what brings money into a business. Its the consumers who are using the mobile devices that feed money into the companies that setup and program services that the mobile devices use. For best part, we waste time on mobile devices I think.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I hate typing on my tablet and smartphone. I type a lot and really prefer to use my laptop for that.

Watching video and listening to music I prefer my tablet.

I strongly doubt laptops/PCs will disappear. At least not until it becomes less cumbersome to type on tablets.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

I have a smartphone, e-reader and tablet. 80 percent of "device time," however, is spent on my PC or laptop.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites