Laptops taking over desktops?

[vexun11]

I am not sure which sub-category to put this in so I just chose homebuilt.

Anyway I was just watching a video and it is a little bit older, back in 2008 I think, anyway it was talking about how more laptops were sold that year then pc's and that within the next 5 years laptops would be taking over desktop computers. What are your thoughts on this? Personally I love having a desktop pc, I have a laptop and don't use it that often, I think it would be horrible to not be able to have a desktop pc.

http://videos.howstuffworks.com/computer/computers-videos-playlist.htm#video-2480

that is the link, everything else in it might be irrelevant I was just talking about one of the things they were talking about in that video.

Will desktop computers continue to be made in 5 years? I sure do like to build computers and do mods, etc. I am hoping that I will be able to keep doing so with the latest hardware.

What are your thoughts?

 

[hunter315]

Laptops are good for your average user, netbooks fit most peoples needs just fine, but desktops will always continue to be made simply because if have a heavy work load, like an animation project that needs rendering, or a fluid dynamic simulation, you simply cant pack enough power into a laptop to get it done as fast as you can into a desktop for far less.

What i have noticed is that since i have a solid desktop to do my heavy workload i dont use my laptop for extremely intensive stuff anymore, the most i ever use it for is some photoshop and illustrator work once in a while, but most of what my laptop gets used for could easily be done by a netbook so thats what im expected to end up with in 5 years, a small laptop for internet stuff when im not home, and a strong desktop at home to take care of anything that needs more power.

 

[vexun11]

It's crazy though that they have mobile i7's now, they are a bit slower but in a few years won't laptops begin to catch up even more? More and more people are buying laptops / mobile devices, the market will be aiming more towards that which is what makes me curious.

Also what about future pc gaming? I really love my what you might call a hobby with computers and I hope I can keep on doing things the way I like them to be done like modding, building a system and having that excitement you can't get with anything else other then cars or whatever...

Also I just noticed there was another thread related to this subject but I am going to keep this open if that's ok.

 

[batuchka]

Gaming on a smallish lappie display , poor audio and crammed kb/mouse? No thank you

 

[vexun11]

I know that having a larger display and keyboard and mouse will stay with us for a long time but you could use any mobile computer and hook up anything externally that you need.

 

[hunter315]

True, but i never expect to have two quad core CPUs, 8GB of ram, and a high end workstation GPU shoved into a laptop like the workstations in our labs at school have.

 

[mindless728]

i prefer desktop to laptops mainly from price

i have a PII X4 desktop with 8GB ram (2 x 4870's for gaming) and it has been a running total of maybe $1200 (with 50GB SSD) but my laptop is the Core i7-920QM with 8GB of ram (15.6" 1080P LED backlit) and that set me back $1400 a few months ago

though the desktop is moving to the Phenom II x6 soon (with 890FX board)

 

[vexun11]

So your desktop was 200$ cheaper then your laptop? That's still a pretty powerful laptop lol

Yea the Thuban is becoming mainstream now. I was going to build a 6 core amd system but I decided to switch to the dark side and go with my i7 930. I checked out some benchmarks for the Thuban and it looks like it's doing great for a lot of multi-threaded applications.

 

[mindless728]

yeah, and that's a running total through the year or so of having it (almost 1.5, in October), as i added a second 4870 6 months ago and the SSD 3 months ago. Yes the laptop is powerful, but i didn't want anything to lag whether in a VM or normal usage, and i have always spent a bit more on my laptops than my desktops just to have some mobile power

 

[vexun11]

That's cool