Five Reasons Desktop PCs Won’t Die

My main reason not to give it up is gaming

Yep. I agree with all. My wife loves her iPad and iPhone. But my main hobby is photography and tablets are all but useless for anything productive in this endeavor. I need large amounts of storage space and the desktop meets that requirement without having to resort to external boxes sitting around. I also desire the larger 21" to 24" monitor for editing and managing my photo images. Even a top-end, expensive laptop does not meet those requirments. So....yep...I agree with all of your assessment. I'm gonna keep a copy of it because I'm always being nailed with questions on this subject by friends and family members.

I so totally agree with you on why PC's will not fade away. My eyes are fading fast;I suffer a joint disease which worsens with age. E-reader, tablet help lots for their ease of weight and fast communication... but for _real_ productivity (yes I am full time lecturer), give me the PC always and anytime.
I also find the PC much better, more flexible in connecting with other systems and my Intranet; managing large amounts of information and programs, adn connecting other hardware, such as loudspeakers, printers, beamers.

I finally gave up my desktop when my hard drive crashed (again). As a freelance writer/editor, I needed something immediately. Since my husband and I also travel in an RV quite a bit, I decided the best bet for me was a high-end laptop with 17" monitor. I have it hooked up to another monitor at home and use it as a desktop, with a 1T external harddrive for backup. But when we travel, all I have to do is pick it up and go. Incidentally, we replaced the harddrive in my other computer (which was less than one year old when it crashed). My laptop is faster and more productive than it. As far as tablets go...I love my 7" generic Android tablet for playing games, checking e-mail, and reading books. But it is for consuming information, not generating it. Tablets have their place; so do desktops and laptops.

What a great article. Very thought-provoking at a time when many older people are wondering whether to buy tablets rather than desktops and may be getting advice from younger people. Pros and cons for all options are nicely covered in the article plus readers' comments. However, fading eyesight (for both screen content and keyboard) is probably the major criterion for much older people who wish to benefit from the empowerment of the communications revolution.

Ergonomics is not just about a work area designed for comfort, it's everything being discussed here.

In 2000 the International Ergonomics Association defined it as:

Ergonomics (or human factors) is the scientific discipline concerned with the understanding of interactions among humans and other elements of a system, and the profession that applies theory, principles, data, and other methods to design in order to optimize human well-being and overall system performance.

With respect to the PC/MAC - there will be changes we can't even imagine. For example, the equivalent of a PC will be a part of our body. Then, we'll likely be gone when it comes to that!

Thank You Bob

I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said - in spades!

Well, I use my notebook for working and in my bedroom which I hook up to a second 24" monitor. I also use it, for instance, for typing this comment. I use my desktop PC which is hooked up to my 40 inch flat screen TV, with wireless keyboard and mouse, when I want to sit down on the couch after a hard day working and watch a movie or browse the internet. I use my Android phone on the go and as my mobile hotspot for my notebook and desktop PC, since I don't have cable or DSL. They all get used equally for different purposes.

Screen size and especially dual screens are very important to me. It effectively mimics he ability to shuffle papers around on a desk. It even allows cutting and pasting from one program to another so much easier.

yes.Desk tops are great.Only the mass of wires at the back is a bit daunting but there is an option of all in one too.For older people like me ideal

I agree with the posts that i did read. I do believe that the desktop is here to stay, despite all the hype of iPads/tablets and other wireless devices. You can't beat sitting down in a comfortable chair in front of a big monitor of your choice and resolution, under lighting conditions you select, to get your work done. I love laptops, iPad devices,and smartphones for what they can do given the location and situation you are in, but they are not replacements for people serious about computing work.

I see people here in the NYC subways constantly with these iPads who appear to be doing nothing more than than trying to impress people by viewing pics, rotating them,zooming in and out,etc, or maybe playing a game. Some are reading online papers, but i see those few and far between. The book readers are using Kindles,etc. As someone who has fixed desktop pc's for years, i don't even open a laptop,except for stuff like the RAM,disk drive or possibly the optical drive. I can't imagine government workers sitting at a desk with a laptop and/or tablet to get their work done, no way. In my opinion, the desktop is here to stay, and i hope the stick shift and round steering wheel for cars is here to stay too.

Thumbs, excellent scrutiny. Both desktop and mobile devices are important in their own aspect. During work i use Desktop but at times when don't feel like sitting and working then i pull out my laptop, and still when i need to type it's again switch over to desktop. So both have their own pros and cons. Thank you bob.

I feel the same. If you juat have to have your computer with you every waking minute no matter where you are, then you need to get a life. What people are mostly using those devices for is "tweeting" and "facebooking", both of which are mindless pursuits. Since the invention of those things, traffic accidents have increased as well as the seriousness of them. More people are dying than ever before in auto accidents because of these "convenient" devices which, from what i have seen, cause more problems than they are worth. What was good about laptops is you couldn't really use them while you were driving. First it was "smart" cell phones being used by dumb people to text while driving. Now, thanks to ipads, androids and now the windows rt, you can not only text while driving but have complete conversations on twitter and facebook and even watch a movie. After all, you dont really need to watch the road while your driving because it is not your responsibility if the other idiots on the road are not watching out for you. If they get hit it's their fault for getting in your way while your watching a movie on your ipad. Thank you apple for increasing the number of fatalities on the roads. Everytime someone gets into an accident while using one of these devices while driving, the manufacturer of it should be held responsible. Meaning that the person, or persons, not at fault in the accident should be able to sue the manufacturer of the device and then maybe, just maybe, they will start putting some kind of device in them that will prevent people from using them while driving. Then maybe these people will actually have to get a life and discover that there is something else besides twitter and facebook. Who knows, they might actually have a real conversation with someone that does not involve a keyboard. OMG! LOL!

i looked into replacing my desktop with a laptop,which meant loosing some features as others have stated.Which may have been ok, but to get close to the same spec was 6x times the price,which says it all.
most likely with 6x times the loss of usability all things considered.Except portability.

I agree with all your comments. I enjoy building desktop computers. The web is an excellent source of help and repairing is a cinch, even for seniors.

Smart phones, lap tops and tablets offer convienience and portability, true enough, but, the power and the glory remain with the desk top.

Anything smaller than a desktop has never appealed to me. One huge reason is that, due to a severe wrist fracture many years ago, I have a huge problem manipulating small keys, buttons etc., or even holding on to the thing. Also, to me a laptop is heavy, and even an iPad that I held seemed a bit much for me. This is all probably due to my injury.

But--there is nothing like a tower PC. It looks serious, powerful and really makes me concentrate on what I am doing. I think all the reasons given in this article are very valid. Long live the PC!

Great article. I work from home typing transcripts. I cannot work on a laptop all day, but when my PC died I bought a laptop to use as the processor only and kept my full size keyboard and large monitor. It's also easier if I have problems to just hop on a bus to the computer shop with the laptop. So I have the best of both worlds!

A few counters to you arguments.

Re Power and Storage. With Cloud computing this is far less relevant as mobile cloud storage could be as large as you want it. Using external cloud computing power can be faster on a mobile device than a PC. eg Voice recognition on my Android phone is faster than on my PC.

"Miniaturization is always more expensive". Try configuring a PC with a Mobile phone Radio, a FM Radio, Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, a Digital Compass, a proximity sensor, two cameras and a touch screen and see the price compared to a smart phone. PC's use physical footprints and technology developed decades ago and have far lower component integration than Smart phones. Now and more so in the future this concept, Miniaturization will make the future devices far cheaper than PC's such that it will be cheaper to purchase a new Smart phone than repair a PC.

It is possible to add external USB devises, including external hard drive keyboards mouse and the like to Smart Phones such as the Samsung Galaxy. Its only marketing by the like of Apple that disallow such things from happening. After all, mobile devices are just PC's in a different form.

The big downside of mobile devices is screen size and data entry which will be overcome in the future with heads up display glasses and thought input.

Geoff Greig
Brisbane Australia

I agree with all of Bob's comments on the subject. I am fairly certain that when most people have any proper work to do they will be turning to their Desktop to do it. Surely the trend for smaller and (supposedly) clever hand held devices is driven by those who crave the latest fad and fashion. All the hype has been pushing this stuff. Very recently we are seeing a few of the big names pushing desktops again. The sheeple will follow the trend.