Are desktop PC's dying?

[El_Capitan]

Bah, double post.

Edited August 22, 2012 by El_Capitan

[El_Capitan]

Here's the thing. Average consumers don't need much power, that much we agree on. Most people can do what they want on a tablet or low end laptop from 4 years ago with 720P resolution. The problem is, if they're okay with that, what needs do they have for an upgrade aside from their older products breaking? They aren't going to buy a 1080P ultrabook for $1k when they can get something on Craigslist for $250.

 

What are these average people going to do with a $700 iPad tablet or $1200 gaming laptop that gets outdated after a year?

 

With the desktop market, everyone knows a friend or a family member that can help them buy, fix, build, or upgrade their desktop computer for them. The desktops have no limitations, aside from portability. Once the tablet and laptop space gets saturated, there's no reason for people to upgrade for such an expensive amount. There's no beneficial reason for most people to want to. People with desktops always have something they can upgrade, because there's a niche base of people that do specific things, be it for business, gaming, productivity, etc.

Edited August 22, 2012 by El_Capitan

[Waco]

Even on the integrated graphics on IB can do a better job than my PS3 can (if not, my GMA 400 graphics got rid of the weird blocky textures that my PS3 had).

What kind of crack are you smoking?

 

A PS3 and Xbox may be "slower" in terms of hardware but I don't think you'll find anyone agreeing that integrated graphics on anything hold a candle to what a modern AAA game can do on a console.

[Tjj226_Angel]

What kind of crack are you smoking?

 

A PS3 and Xbox may be "slower" in terms of hardware but I don't think you'll find anyone agreeing that integrated graphics on anything hold a candle to what a modern AAA game can do on a console.

 

Tell that to the blocky textures I am getting on my PS3.

 

Plus I don't use my integrated graphics are stock. I dedicate 1GB of my RAM for the video memory and I try to overclock the memory and the core clock of the iGPU as much as possible. At 1920x1200 I can play MW3 with 2x aa and it definitely looks a lot better than on my PS3. It does drop below 30 FPS in fire fights, but not so much that it becomes difficult to play. On top of that, I don't have any annoying graphical issues I do with my PS3.

 

I can also mod the game to increase FPS and therefore increase the graphics on the game along with running the ENB for MW3, all of which the xbox and PS3 have a little hard time doing

 

Now I could have an issue with my PS3. I shouldn't because I can run all my other games just fine, but there could be something weird with MW3...who knows . Even still, I can still tell you for a fact that MW3 (on my two systems) (and all the other MW games because that is all I have for the PS3 to compare to my desktop) look better on my GMA 4000 GPU than they do on the PS3... period.

[Skidmarks]

If desktops were to die tomorrow I'd end up in the funny farm. I could never get used used to using a tablet or phone full time. Besides I'd have no idea what to waste my money on if I couldn't upgrade my desktop. The day the desktop dies will be a sad day indeed. Nothing in this world is "forever".

Edited August 24, 2012 by Skidmarks

[IVIYTH0S]

There are just new pieces of the pie: Tablets and Smartphones which will "take away" the small group of casual desktop users anyway. The businesses, PC gamers/enthusiasts and home use tight budget people are always going to be desktop, just your average joe or joan may be using a laptop/tablet/smartphone with the light usage they need of it which today's technology let's them excel at with decent enough battery life and far greater portability.

 

Desktops will die hard for many though, don't forget that.

[vandreadstriker]

Tell that to the blocky textures I am getting on my PS3.

 

Plus I don't use my integrated graphics are stock. I dedicate 1GB of my RAM for the video memory and I try to overclock the memory and the core clock of the iGPU as much as possible. At 1920x1200 I can play MW3 with 2x aa and it definitely looks a lot better than on my PS3. It does drop below 30 FPS in fire fights, but not so much that it becomes difficult to play. On top of that, I don't have any annoying graphical issues I do with my PS3.

 

I can also mod the game to increase FPS and therefore increase the graphics on the game along with running the ENB for MW3, all of which the xbox and PS3 have a little hard time doing

 

Now I could have an issue with my PS3. I shouldn't because I can run all my other games just fine, but there could be something weird with MW3...who knows . Even still, I can still tell you for a fact that MW3 (on my two systems) (and all the other MW games because that is all I have for the PS3 to compare to my desktop) look better on my GMA 4000 GPU than they do on the PS3... period.

 

I think it's just MW3.. I've played BF3, FFXIII & FFXIII-2 and they're in no way 'blocky'

 

As to desktop PC dying, IMO it depends on the people really.. For many of my friends (mostly girls), they ditched PCs a few years back and get Macbooks . For some of them who still play online games with me, they still hang to their PCs and upgrade them from time to time..

[ChristineBCW]

I was reading about post-WWII Americana history and people were building hi-fi sets because the radio and electronics industry's prices and product-offerings made it easy. So, it wasn't uncommon for someone to build a hi-fi. Expensive, but not uncommon. But by the '80s, most home stereos were off-the-shelf rigs, unboxed, connected up, ready to go. The quality was good enough, the price was so much cheaper.

 

I look at today's Atom-Crackerjax PCs running THX, 1080p TV, etc - all the size of a textbook and reaching for that $200 price-point. "I can justify that - it's my DVR, it's my Stereo, it's my game box."

 

There were a couple of decades where 'custom system builders' could reap an easy 25% profit margin over comparably equipped name-brands. Now I wonder if 5% isn't a prayer? Fortunately, the custom system builder still has great allegorical sales pitches - "You're buying a box with one name on the inside, but who knows what's on the inside!" and take those prospective customers 'for a ride' to the HP Driver Download Center. "See how many variations? And why? Because they farm out all of their parts to assemblers and only use their logo to distinguish theirs from Dells, Gateways, etc."

 

And fortunately for custom system builders, Name Brands' insistence on loading up tons of subscription-based software is being understood by customers as more of a negative than a benefit.

 

But at some point, I expect the $100 PC will outperform today's $2000 unit, and some USB stick will make it easy to plug-and-go with "good enough for Joe Consumer".

 

The tablets and phones are courting this "Sit Back & Accomplish Nothing But Being Entertained" crowd, too. Gamers are at the forefront of this attack. XBox's are still being handed out like heroin samples in dark alley deals by Microsoft, anything to introduce (or extract?!!) the Lean-Forward Productive Computer User into the Lay-Back-And-Pay-Subscriber-Fees Customer.

 

Death of the PC? Evolution of the species? It's still going to depend on what customers either choose to accomplish or NOT accomplish.

 

There will probably be a continuing future for Programmers. They'll need productive computers. So will engineers and data-entry types. But when I see the holographic sci-fi portrayals of Computer Users, all I see are "readers" - not do'ers, unless they're "hacking". How cute. Hacking is now the cute "in phrase" for programming or writing a macro or saving keystrokes and playing them back.

[Skidmarks]

There are just new pieces of the pie: Tablets and Smartphones which will "take away" the small group of casual desktop users anyway. The businesses, PC gamers/enthusiasts and home use tight budget people are always going to be desktop, just your average joe or joan may be using a laptop/tablet/smartphone with the light usage they need of it which today's technology let's them excel at with decent enough battery life and far greater portability.

 

Desktops will die hard for many though, don't forget that.

I couldn't agree with you more ATM but the way technology advances, the good ol' desktop will be no more but it will be a while yet.

[d6bmg]

As to desktop PC dying, IMO it depends on the people really.. For many of my friends (mostly girls), they ditched PCs a few years back and get Macbooks . For some of them who still play online games with me, they still hang to their PCs and upgrade them from time to time..

 

Exactly same kind of scenario (add iPad) is in my friend circle, which forced me to think that most of the gals are addicted to Apple products.

On topic, it REALLY depend on the user or user-group we are talking about, their budget as well as need.

[Fogel]

What kind of crack are you smoking?

 

A PS3 and Xbox may be "slower" in terms of hardware but I don't think you'll find anyone agreeing that integrated graphics on anything hold a candle to what a modern AAA game can do on a console.

I just feel sorry for the new people who come to these forums and believe this stuff.

 

I think it's just MW3.. I've played BF3, FFXIII & FFXIII-2 and they're in no way 'blocky'

I find it amazing, for a 6yr old console there are many games on the PS3 that look gorgeous - Uncharted, Castlevania, multi-plats (Batman, etc.).

[vandreadstriker]

I just feel sorry for the new people who come to these forums and believe this stuff.

 

 

I find it amazing, for a 6yr old console there are many games on the PS3 that look gorgeous - Uncharted, Castlevania, multi-plats (Batman, etc.).

 

The way I see it, majority of those who play in Consoles don't care much about Picture quality.

Heck I still wonder sometimes why we, as PC gamers, try to Max out every graphic options of the game. And the answer I found was always: Because we Can.

 

Now, I may be starting a flamefest here, but consider this:

You can max out everything in BF3 and is playing multiplayer. In all honesty, do you observe every single details of the surroundings (that you get after maxing out everything) when fragging someone? I don't. And if I were, I'd probably have a negative K/D Ratio by now..

 

Then there's a factor as to why people like me who thinks that the PS3 graphics capability is decent enough for an immersing gaming session, but play on a PC instead:

-The minority of people who are amazed at how consoles have improved to the extent they are almost able to catch up with PC graphics, but don't play in consoles are those who don't like to play with a 'stick'.

 

It's unlikely for now, but if Game consoles are able to improve on the gaming experience (e.g. Playing FPS with keyboards + mouse or 'virtual life' instead of using a 'stick'. I never got the hang of playing BF3 with a PS stick) and maintain or improve on the graphic quality of the PS3 (take the FFXIII-2 graphics quality for example), even just a little, I honestly can see people like myself getting a console instead of a PC for gaming.

 

Just my 2c.