The PC Turns 30 Today, IBM Says Its Nearly Obsolete

[Robin]

All you guys with the knee's on fire issues, ever heard of a laptop cooling pad?

 

[Tesla]

Mine doesn't even get that hot, so I don't really know what you're complaining about.

 

[Moglet]

I hate how sometimes Mac users say "Oh it's a Mac" when I ask them if I can use their computer.

It's like saying "Oh it's a BMW" when I ask to borrow a car.

That's not because they're Mac users, it's because they're idiots. I can't see the basic tower type system dying out any time soon. They seem very popular with the older generation who just want cheap online access and word processing and so on.

Personally I'll stick with my iMac. Decent specs, silent operation and a 21" screen for my photography. No tower anywhere in sight. I think systems like the iMac or similar will be what kills off towers for the average consumer, not tablets or phones.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

For some reason, to me it seems like the bigger the PC, the more powerful and bigger your e-🤬 is. This is also true for me with cold cathode lighting/ LED lights in your PC, jacketed cables and your cooling system, as well as how many cards you're cross firing/ SLI.

...Yeah, I'm a little screwed in the head at times...

 

[Famine]

All you guys with the knee's on fire issues, ever heard of a laptop cooling pad?

As if laptops weren't already more expensive for less performance?

 

[Grayfox]

I will never trade my tower for a laptop. I prefer having not my knees on fire, thank you.

You're laptop must have issues if it gets that hot.

All you guys with the knee's on fire issues, ever heard of a laptop cooling pad?

Laptop cooling pads do very little in cooling down the laptop.

As the blower fan has the be near or under the laptops air inlet fan, for it to be effective.

 

[Robin]

As if laptops weren't already more expensive for less performance?

They cost like £5 on ebay! Or you could just put a plank of wood on your crotch

Laptop cooling pads do very little in cooling down the laptop.

As the blower fan has the be near or under the laptops air inlet fan, for it to be effective.

Depends which ones you buy, many coolers create a gap between your legs and the laptop allow air to be sucked in through the sides, not from the bottom. Also the fans actually suck heat off your legs making them feel cooler.

Robin.

 

[p-coletray]

My boss has a laptop, its faster than my tower, both are top shelf, but his has a better hard drive, and costed more. Even so, PC's aren't going anywhere, millions of people still need them, probably always will. I don't think you can replace the low cost power and speed with any cloud or network or handheld or pad.
Consumers, browsers, gamers can use "sufficient" machines, but not the industrial sector. It's not competitive unless its the fastest at whatever it is being used for.

 

[Dapper]

They cost like £5 on ebay! Or you could just put a plank of wood on your crotch

Robin.

Hot crotch=birth control 👍

...millions of people still need them, probably always will...

The same people that always need typewriters!

 

[p-coletray]

Hot crotch=birth control 👍

The same people that always need typewriters!

There is nothing as powerful as a pc. All these pads and tablets are toys. Just like my 27" IMac at home. Sure it's a $3000 speed demon, fast and so easy, but it's still just a toy.

The business world are all PC's.

 

[Stevisiov]

All you guys with the knee's on fire issues, ever heard of a laptop cooling pad?

Peripherals.

That's the problem. Laptops trade off practicality for mobility. You can recover some of your practical trade-offs by adding peripherals such as USB mouse, cooling pads but then you loose elements of mobility, I literally didn't have enough usb ports for my laptop, my laptop spent most of its time as a desktop because of the tangle of cables that I added to it to make it usable.

My desktop has surround sounds speakers, a nice keyboard, a good mouse. None of these can be achieved with out building some sort of docking station for my laptop. It makes a lot more sense for me to have a good desktop setup with a basic laptop for its portability.

Things like the usb fans, lets face it are a pain unless your laptops spends long periods of time permanently station. in which case, why not just stick a desktop there.

I'm not arguing that laptops are useless, nor am I arguing that having a laptop with a few peripherals is a better solution to desktop for certain people in certain situations. What I am arguing though, is that even with all the extras a laptop cannot out perform a desktop as a permanent fixture in terms of price or performance, so the desktop will still remain a popular choice for those who want a good computer to sit on their desk at home, no amount of peripherals on your laptop can change that.

 

[chug-a-bug]

So, IBM predicts the future, just like it predicted OS/2 was future of computing.

Bah. It's just IBM's grudge against Microsoft/Wintel speaking here. Desktop PC's will always be need around because there will always be a need for sheer computing power. An internet TV or a Games console, while fine at what they do, are appliances. You switch them on, they do one thing, and thats it.

The thing about PC's are they're not appliances. They're a blank canvas. Want to play games? Install some games software. Want to process video? Install some video processing software. Want to do CAD? Etc. Try doing that on an Internet TV or a smartphone.

Perhaps they will become more of a niche device than an everyday device for the average joe but they're here to stay for sure.

(As for cloud computing, I like having my files to hand, right here on my hard drives, thanks very much.)