As mobile devices advance, PC's future murky

I do quite a bit with my smartphone but there are a lot of things I use my laptop for that I don't/can't do with my smartphone. I won't list them all here, but just one example is that you can't write comments like this on the smartphone version of JT.

Also there are quite a few applications that I much prefer using on a laptop since they're so much easier to read, write and navigate with.

I agree that PCs won't dominate for long but I don't think they'll lose as much traction nor lose it as fast as the people/companies in this article predicts.

It's all made to be obsolete as fast as possible now in our throw-away society so we go out and rush to get the newest device to fill some kind of void.

I think low sales growth of PCs has a lot to do with their longevity. Their computing power and the versatility of Windows XP, now over a decade old, means you can use a good PC for nearly 10 years, with only occasional and minor hardware upgrades.

Some of my friends have given new life to their 15-year-old and older PCs by installing free and simple Linux OSs. Works fine for web surfing and email, which is what most users need most of the time anyway.

Another pointlessly anti-microsoft article by the french.

“Their Windows 8-tiled approach may be different, but not necessarily better,” he said. “Windows 8 will be Microsoft’s version of what you already have—but about four to five years less mature than the rest of the market.”

Are they talking about Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8? Windows Phone 8 actually is entirely unlike ANYTHING in the mobile market, and is actually now about 3 years old if you include Windows Phone 7 which was based on the earlier zune system.

The other thing is that Windows 8 is actually OLDER than all the other systems simply because it shares the NT core with everything back to NT3, so two decades ago.

That and practically every site praises Microsoft for innovation, pretty much turning Windows 8 into the ultimate hybrid pad system. Unlike iCrap and Android, Windows 8 is geared to BOTH content creation AND consumption, the others only consume. You'll see hybrid pads (dockable laptop/tablet combos) take off especially in the business side, and while normal laptop sales may decrease, all those companies will simply evolve rather than falter.

Computer hardware has been outpacing most software requirements for awhile now, so old PCs are still viable for years and years. Heck, WinXP PCs are more than a decade old yet Microsoft still offers security updates till 2014. Especially businesses, they want stability and less turnover rate - they don't want to switch to new systems every couple of years.

Consumers, however, have a couple of things going for them with regard to smartphones and tablets. Service providers often heavily discount smartphones along with new contract agreements (though sometimes you pay thru the nose with those contracts, so it's like you're paying for your phone in installments, though that can be more tolerable than a lump-sum payment). And consumers can more easily re-sell their old smartphones and tablets when buying the new version. That re-sale market would be viable for a long while yet, as most people still don't own smartphones or tablets and willing to buy old ones.

Soon, tablets and smartphones would be able to do some of the tasks that computers can do now, such as true multi-(window)-tasking. Then those devices and computers converge.

lostrune2Oct. 11, 2012 - 12:33PM JST

Computer hardware has been outpacing most software requirements for awhile now

Apparently you don't use industrial programs or photo/video/3d editing (and not to mention games). Sure something that used to take a month now only takes a few hours (running matlab on an old pentium 4 vs running it on a 16 core (total) opteron server is quite a jump), but that doesn't mean there isn't room for improvement. The programs have also become more bloated as time goes on, and they tend to use new features like openCL to make up for it on new systems.

Soon, tablets and smartphones would be able to do some of the tasks that computers can do now, such as true multi-(window)-tasking. Then those devices and computers converge.

Call me when you can use Blender one one of those and actually see ten million faces at a reasonable refresh rate (hell, when you can do it without crashing would be fine). Most phones would, at the current rate of progress, need half a decade to reach that point, and over a decade to catch up to last year's high end (but not bleeding edge) desktop model (or bleeding edge laptop model).

Tablets can never take place of PC. Forget it!! Tablets are just new toys and everyone wants to get a hand. Tablets may be lighter or whatever but they cannot offer many functions which a PC or a notebook does. Apple keeps upgrading models and processors in order to run newer OS then asks older model to upgrade new OS on older models making the performance poor...what a theif...

WaxmanOct. 11, 2012 - 02:06PM JST

Tablets can never take place of PC.

Microsoft is banking on that, but at the same time challenging your idea of what a tablet is. Practically all the cool tablets that will be here in a month are regular edition windows laptops without a fixed keyboard. The smart cover idea is great, allowing you to have a keyboard on the go. Hybrid docking laptop tablets are also there, giving you portablity at the cost of keyboard and battery, and giving you both when you dock them. Just have it set to automatically go to low power mode when undocked and you have a powerful tablet and a more powerful laptop all in one.

i has a little tablet on the side, it's nice for when i'm stuck in waiting rooms or trains or busses but not nearly as much fun as my diy-pc for which i got every part from a single internet store and half the fun is in sticking it together, installing, re-installing, and then installing something else, just to try it out. I can't do that on that little tablet. All i can do is stick a bigger sd-card in it. I think the best they can do is turn pc into an expensive hobby for some kind of geek-elite instead of the cheaper alternative it still is now.

Windows 8? Wasn't it that made the news some 3 or 4 weeks ago, about not working well - typically Windowish - in pre tests? Hmm, no thanks.

LostinNagoyaOct. 11, 2012 - 05:11PM JST

Windows 8? Wasn't it that made the news some 3 or 4 weeks ago, about not working well - typically Windowish - in pre tests? Hmm, no thanks.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/10/10/sony-vaio-t13-touch/ they call it incredibly responsive

http://www.zdnet.com/windows-8-vs-windows-7-benchmarked_p3-7000002671/ zdnet says that real world multimedia tasks are much improved, and there's more or less no negative difference in anything else.

Sites dedicated to gaming hardware liked the first impressions http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-8-metro-tablet,3029-11.html

Hell, even the ever Mac fanboy PCMag gave it rave reviews: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2408502,00.asp

On a related note, on the news this morning they said there are 6 billion cell phone subscriptions in place on this planet right now, which equivalent to 85% of the world's population. For the reasons noted by others above, I'm happy with my PCs and laptop, but it's very clear that even in the business world, mobile is the future. At least until lots of folks start experiencing identity theft by keeping their personal info in the cloud...

Photoman333Oct. 11, 2012 - 10:15PM JST

On a related note, on the news this morning they said there are 6 billion cell phone subscriptions in place

This is actually very deceiving as the number includes corporate phones and connected devices (not cell phones but connect to cell networks). Take for instance the 330 million subscriptions in USA for 103% of population and the 190% of population of montenegro and hong kong. Of the 6 billion subscriptions, only 1.2 have 3g data connection, and more interestingly, there are only 1.5 billion "cellphones" around and of those only 470 million are "smartphones". A far cry from the 1.1 billion PERSONAL computers, and the many more that people lost count of.

Thanks Basirol, Microsoft is a software maker not selling hardware and they created Windows8 in order to get all the markets(PC, Tablets, Smartphones) with one single creation!! Tablets can only survive long term if they become hybrid as you said hybrid kinda docking style and tablets need to increase processing speed too! As for now PCs are going nowhere! And Windows8 for me is JACK OF ALL but ACE OF NONE

And Windows8 for me is JACK OF ALL but ACE OF NONE

Don't you think you should either use it first or see how well it works AFTER its release before you come to that conclusion?

JeffLeeOct. 12, 2012 - 06:48AM JST

Don't you think you should either use it first or see how well it works AFTER its release before you come to that conclusion?

I've got some friends that work at Microsoft and have the release product installed, and absolutely zero complaints (one of them even uses an iPhone outside work, so not locked into the company). Desktop is still the top of the food chain, so certainly at least one mastery, tablet's still up in the air, but initial reviews are promising.

JeffLee, Windows8 is available for developers and IT professionals already! We have IT companie too and am talking with IT professionals everyday. Many will not agree on Windows8 getting positive reviews, interface for PC should have been classic style, even Apple has different interface for Mac PC and iPhone/iPads, Windows has been same since 95edition, but Microsoft has almost forgotten millions of users used to old interface, this is a big gamble for Microsoft putting all their eggs in same basket. Hope it works, otherwise....

WaxmanOct. 12, 2012 - 12:26PM JST

Windows has been same since 95edition, but Microsoft has almost forgotten millions of users used to old interface, this is a big gamble for Microsoft putting all their eggs in same basket. Hope it works, otherwise....

You know you sound like all the DOS fanboys? Back when Windows XP shipped out a vocal community of DOS users cried foul at the use of NT5 kernel rather than their favorite DOS addon. We know how stupid they sounded like now, considering XP's the most used OS in history, and businesses are dreading the day that they need to upgrade.

The desktop interface is still there and faster than ever. And while there are millions that don't want the new interface, there are HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS that could care less and will use the new one and love it. If Microsoft didn't break the chain now after the huge success of windows 7, they wouldn't get a chance until another company beat them too it. It's a gamble alright, but ultimately it may very well be considered a defining moment in OS evolution.