If you following technology stories you probably have seen many articles online about the demise of the PC. While this topic has been in and out of the news for the past several years, it appears to have gained more traction in recent weeks.
Of course, depending on which camp you are in – mobile devices or PC – you can either believe that the PC will be gone soon, or will still have a much longer than suggested lifespan. For me, I am and always have been a PC guy, but at the same time I also realize that things change, especially in the technology world.
Tablets have seen a tremendous rise since they were released a few years ago. It seems many of the top tech companies have produced a tablet, but both Apple and Samsung have clearly been the winners in that market. The popularity in the mobile devices market, and the slowdown in PC sales, has now called many to predict the downfall of the PC.
My answer is “not so fast.”
The Shifting World of Technology
As I had mentioned, the technology world is changing, that is to say, always changing. Devices come, and devices go. When devices stay, the current devices in the market tend to shift to niche roles. That is what will be happening over the next few years.
The PC (desktop and laptops), have always been the devices of choice to do just about anything – email, Internet, gaming, office work – because there wasn’t really anything that could do what the PC could. That started to change with the rise in popularity of the smartphones as everyone could now check their email and surf the Internet while on the go. With the rise in tablets, the shift from PCs to mobile devices accelerated even faster. Now the average email and Internet user is performing those tasks mainly on a mobile device.
This shift has led to a drop in PC sales, and has begun to call for the end of the PC. This call for the end of the PC is a little premature, in my opinion, the technology world is just shifting.
The world of technology is becoming more niche. The tablets and the smartphones will fill the needs of the average user when it comes to email and surfing the Internet. Tablets will also satisfy those that like to play a few small games, although nothing too intense.
The desktop market will, or has started, to shift into the areas that require more powerful processors and graphics rendering, namely gaming, photo and video editing. While tablets can perform some editing, a desktop can do more because of the extra processing power, memory and local storage.
That leaves the trusty old laptop. These devices are the middlemen in the niche world – bridging the gap between the desktops and mobile devices. The laptops will be for those that need to do more than they could with a mobile device, such as create large office documents, on the go and don’t really need a stationary desktop. Of course, gamers and photo editors may also choose a laptop over a desktop, as well.
Will the PC Ever Disappear?
In my opinion, no. While tablets have become popular, there will always be a need for more powerful systems with large amounts of memory and local storage space. Tablets match a desktop in those areas, and probably never will. Laptops have been around for over twenty years, and the top laptops cannot match the top desktops in all those areas.
On top of that, I feel that tablets are where desktops were 10 years ago. As newer versions of tablets are produced, and the apps that run on the tablets become much larger and more complex, we may find that the lifespan of a tablet is only about 2-3 years. Users may find that they will need to upgrade to a newer tablet to keep up with the apps.
I remember when people talked about how a PC was outdated the moment it was purchased. Today, the average PC can easily last 5 years or more before it begins to shows its age and even then a minor upgrade, such as adding memory, may be all that is required.
As evidence to this, my current desktop is almost 3.5 years old (since January 2010), and I can still play the latest games, and edit photos and videos without any issues. I did upgrade the RAM from 6GB to 12GB, which was a cheap upgrade. I feel this computer can last, easily another 3 years, maybe not for the newest games, but for what I need to do on a daily basis.
In the end, the world of technology will be filled with many different devices – smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, and new devices – and this world will constantly be shifting to allow each device to fill a specific niche. In the end, however, you just need to choose a device that best allows you to complete your tasks.