Are we seeing a pendulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

[infinix]

Through out most of the 90's and early 2000's, people wrote off Apple for dead. Now, with HP possibly existing the PC market, people are starting to say that PC is forever dead.

Which is it? Is this a cycle with PC being down for the moment or do you think PC is going the way of dinosaurs?

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

Can you really do all the things you need to do with just a smartphone and an iPad? I doubt it. And then again, HP does not only plan to abandon the PC market, they also threw smartphones and touchpads over the railing, didn't they? I think this is just HP being in trouble, but nothing indicative about the market as a whole.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

Is "PC" code for Windows? I think it's apparent that there's not much money to be made in the low-end PC market. Apple makes a decent profit on their kit because they make a quality product that people want, but it's not cheap. HP seems to be like IBM in not wanting to be part of that low margin business; I wouldn't read that as the death knell of the commodity PC.

 

[JarodRussell]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

I hope that cloud computing bubble bursts at some point. HP cited that the cloud as one of the reasons to abandon the PC market. 'cause ya only need a web client in the future and all the magic lies in the cloud, ya know.

It's just totally ridiculous that they are expecting not only companies, but also private persons to put all their files "into the cloud". I will never do that.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

There are some things I have "in the cloud" but I always have local copies, too. No way do I trust companies not to lose my data.

The PC isn't going anywhere. It's still a requirement in the business world--thin clients don't cut it for any serious work. PC gaming is also still quite common.

You might find that users with very minimal needs (e.g. grandmas who just check email and play Scrabble) can get away with something less than a PC, but this won't be true of most people. PCs are just very low-priced commodities at this point, and I think HP has been rather lousy at the whole brand identification thing. When you think "HP computer," what does that bring to mind? Probably not much, right?

I recently bought an HP desktop and am quite happy with it, but I admit I only bought it because it was cheap, not because I have some special attachment to HP. Dell seems to do pretty well with their PC business, as do Lenovo, Acer, Asus, and others. But you'll notice they all have their niches. Dell is big in the corporate desktop world, Lenovo is well-known for Thinkpads, Acer and Asus are known for their laptops and netbooks. If you're going to be a successful PC maker, you need to make your brand distinctive--stake out a particular market niche and appeal to it. HP has always failed at this, as far as I can tell.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

Long as you can back-up your files locally I don't see the downside to cloud computing myself. Apple's iCloud service is something I plan to use to minimise the requirement to sync my iPhone to my Mac Mini.

 

[chardman]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

Umm...pandulum?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

Can I fix your thread title, infinix?

 

[infinix]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

Can I fix your thread title, infinix?

Please do. But it would appear that you already did. Thanks. =)

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I fixed it now. I had not fixed it when you posted saying I did. "Pendulum" is now spelled correctly.

 

[Meredith]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

There are some things I have "in the cloud" but I always have local copies, too. No way do I trust companies not to lose my data.

The PC isn't going anywhere. It's still a requirement in the business world--thin clients don't cut it for any serious work. PC gaming is also still quite common.

The only way the "cloud" will work is if the end user has the same bandwidth to the server that their current PC has to their monitor. That is measured in Gigabytes per second with very low latency.


Imagine a "Net PC" that is playing a HD movie over the internet, it would be worse than streaming 100 netflix movies in terms of bandwidth consumed....

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

There are some things I have "in the cloud" but I always have local copies, too. No way do I trust companies not to lose my data.

The PC isn't going anywhere. It's still a requirement in the business world--thin clients don't cut it for any serious work. PC gaming is also still quite common.

The only way the "cloud" will work is if the end user has the same bandwidth to the server that their current PC has to their monitor. That is measured in Gigabytes per second with very low latency.


Imagine a "Net PC" that is playing a HD movie over the internet, it would be worse than streaming 100 netflix movies in terms of bandwidth consumed....

Heh. Yeah, if you want to know how well "the cloud" works, look up how Roaming Profiles work in Windows. Then, run away screaming.

The cloud has its uses but we are quite a ways off from having all of your media offloaded to the Interweb so you can access it anywhere. Besides that, calling it "the cloud" is just stupid buzzwording. Your data is most likely on one server, and you better hope they've got good, verifiable backups, and that they don't suddenly go out of business or decide you have stored something illicit.

The only "cloud" you can really trust is one you've built yourself.

 

[ThankQ]

I don't even know what the fucking "cloud" is.

What is meant by PC? Windows OS? The traditional "Desk top" machine? Would big giant office server farms count? Are laptops PCs? Anything that isn't thin-tech?

 

[farmkid]

^Well, in the context of the original article, it seems "PC" is referring to desktops, since it lumps Apple in with Windows computers and seems to differentiate them from tablets and, to a lesser extent, laptops.

 

[ThankQ]

Well, I plan always on having a desktop. I like them. You can get more bang for the buck. They're more versatile and stable. Far less chance of losing it or having it swiped. I like the whole setup. I don't want to spend the rest of my life on a fucking smart phone or tablet.

 

[Canadave]

^ I'm with you. My current desktop I've had for six years, and it's still running fine. Ideally, I'd like to replace it soon, but as I don't have much money right now, I'm planning on squeezing another year or so out of it. You don't generally get that kind of reliable life out of a laptop. I also have a netbook that I use when I want portability, but I don't think I could ever use it as a primary machine.

And incidentally, both are HPs...

 

[Mr. B]

I'm not giving this up.

 

[ngc7293]

I'd rather build a PC again and get exactly what I want instead of what THEY think I want. The last computer I did that with has lasted over 10 years and has done just fine. I have had an iBook before and wouldn't mind getting one again rather than a Windows Laptop.

I don't agree that PCs are dead. Touch pad computers are just oversized PDAs and can't do much. They are not real computers. Until they prove themselves with real operating systems and use real keyboards, they are just toys.

 

[FPAlpha]

Re: Are we seeing a pandulum swing or are we seeing the end of PC?

Long as you can back-up your files locally I don't see the downside to cloud computing myself. Apple's iCloud service is something I plan to use to minimise the requirement to sync my iPhone to my Mac Mini.

Biggest problem with cloud services is security.. can you trust a company enough to put all your files, even the sensitive stuff (you know.. homemade porn ) on their servers and be safe?

Sony has proven that this is not possible because any dedicated hacker with some skill (or a group of them) will be able to penetrate the security and copy your stuff and maybe put it on the net for all to see.

Now most people don't have that kind of sensitive data.. my most sensitive data i have on my home PC are maybe my personal bookkeeping files and the most damage i could get is to have everyone see how big my debts are and what i pay monthly for everything but other people may have way more critical data on them and the cloud may make it more conveninent to have access to them everywhere from every machine but the risk is also pretty high.

I can see the advantages for many people to have instant access to their files but i can also see the big bang when Apple or some other provider get's massively hacked (and they will.. hackers like nothing more than to humiliate the big ones).

And i've not even started with companies that are not so tight themselves on protection of personal information and the right to privacy (Facebook for example).

 

[Marc]

I'd rather build a PC again and get exactly what I want instead of what THEY think I want. The last computer I did that with has lasted over 10 years and has done just fine. I have had an iBook before and wouldn't mind getting one again rather than a Windows Laptop.

I don't agree that PCs are dead. Touch pad computers are just oversized PDAs and can't do much. They are not real computers. Until they prove themselves with real operating systems and use real keyboards, they are just toys.

So how is iOS/Android/WinMobile not real operating systems?

You can use a Bluetooth keyboard with an iPad such as Apple's on which also works with the Macs. ASUS have a pad with a keyboard docking station.

The processor power of an touchpad would do quite well for a
lot of people (graphics would need some more oomph to drive a larger screen) because they don't have to deal with the bloat of Windows for example.