CNET: The Future of the Tablet is the PC

[HarryT]

There are things that desktops are a lot better for, but they're generally specialist uses, such as high-performance graphics, or very large amounts of storage or memory.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There are things that desktops are a lot better for, but they're generally specialist uses, such as high-performance graphics, or very large amounts of storage or memory.

Completely agree on the special uses. I was thinking the general public.
The one person I am thinking of is the reason I won't buy a certain brand of computer. They talked the person into a low end Ram and Memory for 3 times the price that computer sold for at Best Buy. They also told this person 2 computers back that laptops are only for travel.

[HarryT]

I entirely agree that a laptop is ideal for most people. I am finding personally, though, that I'm doing more and more on my iPad, although I use my laptop still for my photography work. If all you use a laptop for is things like web browsing and the occasional email, a tablet may be all you need. I travel a lot, and when I go away, my iPad (and Kindle, of course!) is the only computer I take with me.

[Jessica Lares]

Just being able to use the laptop outside when the sun's not out is nice.

And you know, not having to always be in one room.

Just being able to travel around your house makes it worth it.

My keyboard is dead, so I use my laptop in clamshell mode with a monitor, and have a Wacom hooked up to it, but it is something I'd do again with another laptop. It's nice having a big screen without having to sacrifice portability.

[wodin]

Historically hardware has driven software which in turn drives hardware which... until there was Vista. With Win7 that cycle was broken and 7 would run just fine on hardware that Vista would drag to it knees. So new hardware sales had to be driven by something else; enter touch screens and Windows 8.x -> Win10.

There are other things in the pipe like facial recognition and bio-metrics, but touch screen is the single hardware upgrade that will most redefine how we use computers. I personally think that voice recognition will rival that at some point, but we're just now beginning to explore that with Siri, Google Now, Cortana and Alexa.

[HarryT]

Voice recognition works amazingly well these days. I am composing this message on my iPhone using purely speech recognition and, as you can see, it's done pretty well. I've done no manual editing of this message at all.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Or those that think a laptop won't do everything a desktop does because they don't research but believe something they heard years ago from a computer manufacturer.

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Completely agree on the special uses. I was thinking the general public.
The one person I am thinking of is the reason I won't buy a certain brand of computer. They talked the person into a low end Ram and Memory for 3 times the price that computer sold for at Best Buy. They also told this person 2 computers back that laptops are only for travel.

Well, my mother used to have a laptop, but she moved it from her desk exactly two or three times a year, and that only during out-of-state travel.
Seems she prefers doing things at her desk.

Now she has a desktop that cost no more than a laptop of comparable quality would, with the additional benefit that in a couple years, I can upgrade parts for her, at considerably less than the cost of a new computer.

She has not noticed any difference in her usage patterns.
I suppose it helps for traveling that she finally got a smartphone.


Oh, yes, and the bigger screen which is more enjoyable when streaming Hulu/Netflix/etc.

[HarryT]

A good compromise is a laptop with an external monitor. Certainly it'll cost more than a desktop, but less than buying both a desktop and a laptop.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, my mother used to have a laptop, but she moved it from her desk exactly two or three times a year, and that only during out-of-state travel.
Seems she prefers doing things at her desk.

Now she has a desktop that cost no more than a laptop of comparable quality would, with the additional benefit that in a couple years, I can upgrade parts for her, at considerably less than the cost of a new computer.

She has not noticed any difference in her usage patterns.
I suppose it helps for traveling that she finally got a smartphone.


Oh, yes, and the bigger screen which is more enjoyable when streaming Hulu/Netflix/etc.

For streaming videos, we find an HDMI cable hooked up to the TV and the laptop works great.
Hubby has his laptop hooked up to an HD monitor. I forget whether it is a 24 or 26 inch.

My favorite device is my Samsung Galaxy Tab 4.

Now as per smartphones, mine was useless on our last vacation. There are no Verizon towers within a 30 mile radius of Brownwood, Tx.
I never realized how many things I looked up on it until I couldn't use it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Now as per smartphones, mine was useless on our last vacation. There are no Verizon towers within a 30 mile radius of Brownwood, Tx.
I never realized how many things I looked up on it until I couldn't use it.

It's scary how much we rely on these things now, isn't it? One reason I have a different SIM in my phone and my iPad . Two different carriers greatly improves your chances of getting connected.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

A good compromise is a laptop with an external monitor. Certainly it'll cost more than a desktop, but less than buying both a desktop and a laptop.

I have a 27 inch iMac as my desktop, where I do most of my work at home. I simply like having the 27 in monitor. In general, laptops are optimized for the laptop screen, so they don't tend to take advantage of the large screen, higher res monitors. I also have a macbook pro that I use mostly to do email, and keep my iTunes music at work. I do have a work laptop with Windows that uses two external monitors, but even two monitors don't really match the iMac screen, IMPO. I will admit I'm probably an exception since I'm a programmer that uses lots of screen space. I suspect that for most a laptop with an external monitor is more than good enough, especially if it has a high resolution laptop screen. My previous work laptop had a lower resolution with a font size I couldn't read without reading glasses.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Voice recognition works amazingly well these days. I am composing this message on my iPhone using purely speech recognition and, as you can see, it's done pretty well. I've done no manual editing of this message at all.

Apparently Siri understands English-English better than she understands Southern-English.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

I have a 27 inch iMac as my desktop, where I do most of my work at home. I simply like having the 27 in monitor. In general, laptops are optimized for the laptop screen, so they don't tend to take advantage of the large screen, higher res monitors.

A laptop with a decent video chipset will drive an external monitor at its full native resolution; it won't simply replicate the laptop's internal screen resolution on the external monitor.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

One reason I have a different SIM in my phone and my iPad . Two different carriers greatly improves your chances of getting connected.

I borrowed my husband's dumb phone that works on all towers to make calls. Luckily, we stayed at a place that had nearby wifi so we could check the weather on my Galaxy.

I think that was our last state park vacation.

[pwalker8]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Desktop sales have been in free fall for a long time. I work for an extremely large company and they've bought nothing but laptops for years now, and I imagine most home users buy a laptop in preference to a desktop, too. There are people who still buy desktops, such as hardcore gamers, but it's very much a minority market.

The other group getting desktops are those looking for real cheap computers. At one time, desktops were faster for the money than laptops. Now, not so much. I can remember a time where I was buying computers every two years simply because the performance characteristics changed that fast. Now I keep a computer for five years and don't really notice much of a difference when I upgrade.