Author Topic: Are desktop computers being phased out?  (Read 16239 times)

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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Are desktop computers being phased out?
« on: February 04, 2010, 04:37:49 pm »
Ok so as some of you heard from me for several months alerady, this month I am supposed to buy a new desktop computer. No I'm not gonna build it myself. I am illiterate about that stuff and with Canada shipping costs, it will cost me more to build one myself, especially that stores includes Windows 7 for free with their prebuilt systems.

So for the past year, I've been looking flyers and stores to see how powerful and expensive are the computer they have on sale most of the time. However, I've been noticing something scary: as time goes by, flyers started showing more and more laptops and barely anymore desktop PCs. Only one year ago, there were 2 pages of desktop PCs in them, then around Christmas time, only two or three per flyers. Today, none at all! During that time, I also went to stores to see computer prices and same thing, despite to a lesser extent, was happening. At Staples, they only had 3 desktop PCs for sale the last time I checked. Walmart had none anymore. The rest were expensive and less powerful laptops. Zellers no longer sells computers since at least 2 years so that one is to forget and The Source by Circuit City only had two desktop PCs the last time I checked and about 10 laptops. The only exception was Future Shop (AKA Best Buy stores that has yet to be renamed): they are the only store that still sells a decent amount of desktop computers, and even then, they had some empty shelves the last time I checked.

Since the desktop computers currently for sale would fit my needs pretty well, I shouldn't have to worry about if I'm gonna be able to locally buy a computer instead of having to buy parts online and get charged incredibly high for shipping. But this is still something that made me wonder: Are desktop PCs dissapearing for good?

Offline TsukasaZX

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2010, 05:02:28 pm »
Maybe they are where you live but on a global scale desktop computers are far from endangered. As of yet it's either impossible or too costly to put the power of modern desktops into a mobile form. Well, as far as I am aware. It's possible that simply there's waning demand for desktops in your area so, naturally, businesses are stocking less and less because an item that does not sell is an item not worth stocking.
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Offline Builderboy

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2010, 05:13:46 pm »
Its true that Desktop PC's are becoming less common, but I think it will take a fair ammount of time for them to disapear completely, if they do at all.  Desktops will always be faster than laptops just because you have more space to work with, easier cooling, ect...  Only the future will tell though, I'm rooting for them to stay around ^^

Offline JoeyBelgier

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2010, 06:07:29 pm »
But desktops won't disappear, laptops are just too hard to cool and to put more stufz in

Offline Hot_Dog

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2010, 06:10:56 pm »
It makes me wonder if there's going to be a point where it will be plain impossible to make anything smaller...that is, I wonder if, 100-200 years from now, if you want 10,000 TB Hard Drive, 100 GB RAM and a 50 GHz processor, you will have to get a computer the size of a desk

Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #5 on: February 04, 2010, 08:01:48 pm »
Things are always going smaller, and proof of this is the cheap "desktops" that are being produced that use many laptop parts and solid state drives. There are also the computers that have touch screen technology with all things being built into the monitor. I think there will always be "desktop computers" in a sense, at least for the near foreseeable future. The design will just be constantly evolving. @Dj Your specific issuse seems to be more of a local dilemma. Desktop computers are in plentiful supply where I live, I'd say it's just the local market in your area catering to what is sold the most there. That said, Bestbuy sounds like it would be your best bet locally.
« Last Edit: February 04, 2010, 08:03:20 pm by Art_of_camelot »

Offline TsukasaZX

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2010, 12:10:18 am »
It makes me wonder if there's going to be a point where it will be plain impossible to make anything smaller...that is, I wonder if, 100-200 years from now, if you want 10,000 TB Hard Drive, 100 GB RAM and a 50 GHz processor, you will have to get a computer the size of a desk
100-200 years from now you won't need a 10 PB hard disk drive or 100 Gigs of RAM or a 50 GHz CPU. You'll be able to download your porn directly to your brain :P

On a more serious note, I agree with art_of_camelot. Desktops and computers in general will keep evolving over the years. Nothing will disappear, they'll just take on new forms.
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Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2010, 03:01:55 am »
I personally dislike laptops because they tend to break easier. They are not done for heavy usage, they're done for school and smaller tasks in general, aka not for use several hours a day. I heard countless rants about how someone's laptop broke in the community so far. Not to mention you can get a desktop PC for $200 cheaper and it will still be as powerful

I'M not sure, but in Quebec city, the fact the shopping centers are located near an university and three colleges, this might not help desktop PCs sales, since most students will go for the laptop. IN my city, there aren't as many schools, but most people who come to buy new computers here are students anyway. I guess this might just be a local market thing, which sucks, kinda x.x

Offline Galandros

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2010, 09:26:01 am »
Desktop are turning less common.
And the actual desktops sold are for people who need powerful computer and build from parts or people looking for cheaper computers and can't afford laptops.

I think desktops for home use will not disappear easily unless laptops can be as powerful as desktops without cooling problems.
But in long term, I think "fixed" computers will be servers, supercomputers, kiosk and working computers.
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Offline JoeyBelgier

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2010, 02:18:41 pm »
Well since I had to choose between laptop or desktop (not willing to spend all my money to get both) I got a laptop.
I fixed the cooling probs with a $20 thingy that I can use to set my laptop on an angle, has 4 extra USB ports, and has 3 FAN's to cool the laptop. So it's a win win win for about $20

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2010, 04:00:45 am »
Finally got my new comp!

At least the max fps at max settings in Unreal Tournament 2004 will be a huge improvement from the 15-20 at medium settings I got on my old comp and I can play Halo CE again

As for what I got, it's an Intel Core i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80 GHz with 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, 1 terabyte harddrive and a NVIDIA GeForce GT 230 graphic card with 1.5 GB video memory. I guess I should be fine for a while :P
« Last Edit: February 10, 2010, 04:23:26 am by DJ Omnimaga »

Offline Builderboy

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2010, 11:34:54 am »
Niiice!!  I'm assuming you got a desktop?  Stats sound that way, 1 terabyte hard drive?  Wow that's a lot of memory.  Congratz! :D

Offline Geekboy1011

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2010, 12:48:26 pm »
dam that friggin nice  i wish i had a comp like that X.x

im stuck with a 897mhz 512 ram no graphics card(dell integrated graphics controller) as my desktop :(   great to here though i hope you enjoy it XD

Offline DJ Omnimaga

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #13 on: February 10, 2010, 01:24:54 pm »
yeah desktop computers. I am happy Staples got some new ones the other day.

I was debatting to choose Dell at first but my credit card cap is not that high to allow me to get such powerful comp and shipping might have become an issue (I and my bro are not always at home and our work schedules are unstable, so no way to setup a specific shipping date either if that's even possible)

As for building it myself I am not tech-savy and getting the pieces online would have costed a lot for shipping here, so in the end I wouldn't have got a big price difference, not to mention I would have got to buy (or... er... pirate :P) a copy of Windows

I will probably move some of my stuff over this comp at one point, altough I may still use the old one for some calc stuff if I get any issues regarding my 64-bit Windows 7

Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: Are desktop computers being phased out?
« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2010, 02:24:46 pm »
That is a really nice PC. Congrats!