The PC is interesting again

#1

Post by DiabloD3 » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 4:18 PM UTC

The PC is interesting again
theverge.com

Re: The PC is interesting again

#2

Post by codingdave » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 4:45 PM UTC

I think this article misses the point of what we are seeing. Input and output devices are changing for the first time in decades. At the same time, cloud computing is disconnecting the computing power from the input and output devices.

You now can select from keyboards, mice, touch, voice, and use local or remote computing power, to get results delivered in real time or async to screens, devices, messages, VR, voice, or IoT devices. And that is not even getting into what robotics can do.

So it is not that the PC is interesting. It is that EVERYTHING is now decoupled, and we can mix and match like never before. It should be interesting to see where people take it.

Re: The PC is interesting again

#3

Post by Spooky23 » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 4:45 PM UTC

In other news, the suit is back!

Re: The PC is interesting again

#4

Post by stephengillie » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 4:45 PM UTC

So are suits. http://paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Re: The PC is interesting again

#5

Post by muninn_ » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 4:46 PM UTC

That Dell has a nice looking screen, but then they go and ruin it with the carbon-fiber-looking body. I'd also have to be able to run some operating system that isn't Windows (I'll never use Windows again) without having to screw around with drivers or other annoying quirks. Until it's beautiful and comes with a non-junky operating system I'm stuck with Mac.

With that being said, I'm very glad to see other manufacturers are putting effort into catching up after like 8 years of serious sub-par machines. All we need now is for one of them to drop Windows and seriously support a Linux distribution and then we could have a real Apple competitor in 3-5 years.

I'm a big fan of the port decision on the new MacBook Pros, but the cost, the obsession for thinness at the expense of battery life, etc... isn't acceptable and they're learning that this year, hopefully, or they'll be on the ropes in 5 years. Or perhaps they kill the Mac themselves. It's not a problem to make a laptop thinner every year. Just don't sacrifice performance and battery life to do so.

Re: The PC is interesting again

#6

Post by douche » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 4:47 PM UTC

I'm not sure PCs are really any different than they ever have been. It's always incremental improvements, year over year. Maybe with Intel essentially stonewalled on Moore's Law improvements, graphics cards pretty well maxed out, and ssds becoming relatively standard, there's not a whole lot of room besides going after different form factors and better efficiency.

Re: The PC is interesting again

#7

Post by delegate » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 4:48 PM UTC

Yep.

Yesterday was the first time in many years when I decided to check out how much a good gaming PC would cost me today.

The price for a i7 6700K 4.1GHz, 32GB RAM, 500GB SSD and nVidia GTX 1070: €1515 EUR (case and CPU cooler included).

Add a €360 27" Monitor and the total goes to € 1875. Let's round that up to €2000.

A similarly powered iMac (i7, 32GB RAM, 500GB SSD and an inferior Radeon R9 M395X) costs exactly: 4.189,00 €

More than double the price! Granted, the iMac monitor is much better, but the price difference gives you 2000 EUR to splash on monitors and still be up 189EUR ! Or maybe splash it on VR helmets and a new bike ?

And that thing gives me all the games plus VR and the pretty powerful Visual Studio IDE for hacking.

Re: The PC is interesting again

#8

Post by zouhair » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 4:54 PM UTC

When did they stop being interesting?

Re: The PC is interesting again

#9

Post by freehunter » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 4:56 PM UTC

delegate wrote: post #7

Yep. Yesterday was the first time in many years when I decided to check out how much a good gaming PC would cost me today. The price for a i7 6700K 4.1GHz, 32GB RAM, 500GB SSD and nVidia GTX 1070: €1515 EUR (case and CPU cooler included). Add a €360 27" Monitor and the total goes to € 1875. Let's round that up to €2000. A similarly powered iMac (i7, 32GB RAM, 500GB SSD and an inferior Radeon R9 M395X) costs exactly:…

Ridiculous argument. Macs have never been the value proposition, especially when they get fully loaded. Any literally any point in the history of the Mac, you could say "but you can get a comparable PC cheaper!" and it would be true.

Macs have always been expensive, everyone has always complained that they're expensive, and they will continue to be expensive. This isn't new.

Re: The PC is interesting again

#10

Post by immigrantsheep » Sat, Jan 07, 2017, 5:00 PM UTC

zouhair wrote: post #8

When did they stop being interesting?

this! exactly what I wanted to write