Death of the Desktop?

[landbeforetimelover]

There's been a lot of talk around the tech community about the death of desktop computers.  With smartphones, Ipads, Netbooks, Laptops, and other devices, are desktop computers becoming obsolete?  It seems that everyone nowadays wants a laptop.  These kind of discussions have been going on for years and years ever since laptops became available for less than $1,500.  I for one would die without my desktop.  I have a laptop too, but if it was a choice between a desktop and a laptop, I'd have to choose a desktop.  Desktops are easily expandable and upgradeable.  You can always get a bigger monitor if you want.  Laptop keyboards usually suck.  Sure you can plug in an external monitor/KB/mouse to a laptop, but who wants to do that?

Desktops are becoming smaller and smaller.  Take a look at the newest Mac Mini.  It's smaller than a Frisbee (and not much thicker either!).  Slim desktops are readily available as are all-in-one units.  But these things have always been available.  They're just pushing them more because sales are so low due to the economy.  They think they have to change desktops because they're not selling as well as they used to.  I think the reason so many people are going for laptops nowadays is the fact that the prices of laptops has dropped considerably.  But there will always be people who would prefer a desktop.  They just want a laptop for portability and because laptops are pretty cool.  I know I wouldn't want to be without a laptop, but I'd much rather be without a laptop than a desktop.

So what do you guys think?  Will desktop computers ever die out?

[Clawandfang]

There's always the gaming aspect; when you want the biggest, meanest machine to run the latest games I would imagine you'd be best off with a desktop. For that reason, I can't see them disappearing any time soon.

[Petrie.]

Desktops won't die.  They'll be around in schools....when you got to buy in bulk and need to save, desktops are the way to go.  Also, wireless does little good in some schools with the concrete walls.

[2007excalibur2007]

There's always the gaming aspect; when you want the biggest, meanest machine to run the latest games I would imagine you'd be best off with a desktop. For that reason, I can't see them disappearing any time soon.

Hell yeah!

[Kor]

There will always be desktops since for one you can assemble one for pretty cheap and sell them for pretty cheap compared to desktops.  Netbooks are neat but don't have the power of a full desktop, which a laptop can get close to but for more money.  

Then there are those gamers who want the best and bleeding edge hardware to play their newest games at the highest resolution with 2 or 3 monitors at once.   I'd guess hard or impossible to do that with a laptop, impossible with a netbook.  Possible with a desktop.

[LBTFan13]

Desktops also contain more storage data than laptops do, at least in my experience. You can put more on a desktop than you can with a laptop, unless you use an external hard drive.

Laptops have become increasingly popular for college. Some schools require a laptop, others recommend one. I personally use a laptop so I never have to leave my room. Call it efficient or call it lazy, but I find it to be very useful.

[Petrie.]

I've been a laptop user since the college days, but my next machine will be a desktop (whenever my current laptop gives up the ghost).  Manufacturers are competing heavily for the market, and to get those "low prices" you have to build with cheap circuitry and as such a lot of things are really crummy (maybe its just the laptop I have - Dell Inspiron E1505).  The desktop better not die in the next couple of years or so.

[JitteryDragon]

I can't stand Laptops... they're just so tiny. Teeny weeny things that I can crush with two fingers. The battery life tends to be pretty horrible unless you do all that energy efficient stuff like run at low brightness, don't listen to music, don't play any games, don't look at the screen funny, don't cross the streams, don't eat your hamster... etc etc.

Desktop born and raised, baby. Just because I can't carry it around doesn't make it any less useful, especially for using graphics design software that requires rendering, gaming, movies... and such. I will admit however that I use a lappy for writing, mostly because the best ideas always come when you least expect it.

So what I'm saying basically is... laptop good for writing. Me john, big tree?