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The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

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Re: The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

#371

Post by andor »

beachstartup wrote: post #330
andor wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The computer was a great invention. The Internet also is a big enabler. But the latest computers and phones are hardly innovative: Compared to what you got 5 years ago, they might be smaller and have better power efficiency. But on the grand scale, how does that matter? If you see the latest Macbooks being introduced, you probably want to get one. It's very shiny and the Retina screen will allow you to experience com…

> Compared to what you got 5 years ago, they might be smaller and have better power efficiency. But on the grand scale, how does that matter? This is insane, wrong, and dishonest. How old are you? I'm 30 and during my adult life (the past decade, basically) we've gone from phones that were essentially unreliable walkie-talkies with shitty battery life to ultra fast portable computers with 10 megabit internet connecti…

Smartphones and tablets are the new TVs. Of course, hardware is much faster than 10 years ago, but what is it used for? What is the impact of smartphones on humanity? They have changed communication and entertainment patterns quite a lot, and not in a good way I'd argue. Communication is now cheaper and faster than ever, which means that many people don't think for themselves before they tweet or write an email. Also, many people prefer not to think at all and use their phones to distract themselves by consuming a constant stream of meaningless stuff.

By the way, the mobile phones that I had 10 years ago (Sony Ericsson, Siemens) were quite reliable and had good battery life.

Re: The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

#373

Post by robotresearcher »

thom wrote: post #344
simonsarris wrote: post #96

I've felt this way since I built my last desktop in 2008. I was sort-of waiting for the "gee its time to upgrade" mark to roll around in 3 or 4 years, but it hasn't happened yet. Any games I want to play it still runs very well, and it still feels very fast to me even compared to modern off-the-shelf systems. When my friends ask for laptop-buying advice I tell them if they like the keyboard and screen, then its just…

It's really _only_ code that is harder to create on tablets though, and it strikes me as extremely narrow-minded to write off the music, art, text, huge Minecraft sculptures, photos and videos of singing, dancing, playing, that have been gleefully created by people young and old on these devices. It's the exact sort of snobbery that has almost completely killed art, dance, drama and music in many schools, as if the o…

Code is harder because editing text is harder. Text input and manipulation is just not very good on tablets. Even if you plug a keyboard into iOS editing is still worse than WordPerfect circa 1988.

You might type stuff in OK, but manipulating text is awful.

Re: The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

#374

Post by FeloniousHam »

josteink wrote: post #355
solnyshok wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also enjoy quite old laptop (HP2530p, 2009, 12", Core2 Duo 1.9GHz, sturdy, lightweight). I upgraded to 256GB SSD and 8GB RAM. Plenty enough for the next couple of years, me thinks :) Perfectly runs W8.1/LinuxMint/Android-x86ICS

Completely irrelevant to the rest of the discussion at hand, but if you are going run Android as a Netbook OS on stock PC hardware with keyboard and mouse/trackpad, I've found that everything from Jellybean and up is incredibly much better to work with than Android 4.0. They've done some deep level fixes which just makes everything flow and stick together as one "netbook" user-experience in a much better way. My expe…

Agree, and to wander further afield: how's your luck running apps? The Google apps work great, I use Opera and some hack to get Flash games to work, but the vast majority of apps just fail to load.

In spite of the problems, it's amazingly fast and usable, esp. compared to Windows/Ubuntu.

running the stable android-x86 on a Samsung NB505

Re: The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

#375

Post by keithpeter »

Wow, big long thread here will take me some time to read but I know what the OP is saying. A few pages not mentioned already...

The mysterious K Mandla gives 10 reasons not to buy a new computer

http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/10/28/ten-reasons-not-to-b...

The TOPLAP project (a real hack - give a teenager an old laptop and Ubuntustudio or similar, light blue touch paper, retreat). By the way, if anyone has resources for live-coding in puredata, please post here

http://toplap.org/

The Zero Dollar Laptop Project [1] and current progress [2]

[1] http://jaromil.dyne.org/journal/zero_dollar_laptop.html

[2] http://www.furtherfield.org/zerodollarlaptop/

Now, I made a major discovery over the summer: I am actually more productive on a laptop than on a desktop with a large screen. Strange but true, so I am donating the desktops and adopting a couple of Thinkpads off Ebay (X60 from Dec 2006 and X200s from March 2010) as my major computational devices. One with Debian stock and the other with gNewSense 3.0 for a giggle.

Re: The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

#376

Post by jcd748 »

marincounty wrote: post #331
Zak wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I have T61 guts and an SSD in mine. It isn't so far behind as you might expect. I've used a 15" Retina Macbook Pro. The screen is not better. Sure, it's higher density and brighter, but the viewing angles are not better. Subjectively, I'd say the color reproduction is worse (I used them next to each other). Reflections, glare and fingerprints are significantly worse on the MBP.

Yea, I have a ten year old Toshiba P26-S2607 I still use on a daily basis. I have a one year old MBP that I haven't used much; I'm not sure why, but the screens seem the same? I do know one thing about most old laptops; they were made to last longer than 2 years. That said--HP--as made crappy laptops for quite some time. I bought one a few years ago and it was horrid on an engineering basis, but it looked Slick.

I had an HP laptop that I bought around 2009. It lasted a year before the insane heat issues started; I agree with you completely regarding the engineering issues. In the end, I ended up buying a Lenovo about two years ago, and it's been perfect for me.

Getting back to the original story, I don't think I've bought a desktop since 2003. I prefer using them, but laptops are just so convenient.

Re: The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

#377

Post by beloch »

PC's are far from dead for consumers but, for manufacturers and retailers, the high-churn glory days are over. With high-end gaming now chained to the console cycle, even gamers won't get the itch to upgrade more often than Sony and MS refresh their platforms.

Intel, AMD, etc. might want to consider slowing their desktop product cycles down a tad. Instead of spending extra to bring every incremental performance to market as soon as it can be, perhaps longer product cycles will bring down costs.

Re: The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

#378

Post by nooneelse »

rythie wrote: post #207

I think people are pissed off with PCs. They bought a windows machine for what to them is a lot of money (more than a iPad), it didn't last long before it slow and it's got extra toolbars and all sorts of rubbish. What's worse is that this happened last time they bought a PC and the time before and the time before that. They are not going to add a SSD because that's not how they think + they don't how + it's throwing…

I agree that this frustration is likely an appreciable factor in the market. I use a pretty swift laptop for work stuff and need that power there, but lately I've been noticing how much I've gotten spoiled by the relative lack of babysitting that my phone and tablet have required. And I'm not even easy prey for the toolbar and crapware BS you mention like a lot of people who were previously in the PC market. PC makers worked damn hard to bring down the dollar price, but let the price in time+frustration stay high and grow until they got undercut by the overall cost.

Re: The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

#379

Post by Havoc »

x0054 wrote: post #252
Havoc wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The new Mac Pro supposed to be only 12DB. Until the dust hits it...

Solution: clean it once in a while :)

>Solution: clean it once in a while :)

Teach me oh great one. Honestly I've never managed to clean a fan. You can brush off the obvious dust but the noise comes from dust getting into the fan itself.

Re: The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones

#380

Post by rayhano »

bluedino wrote: post #241
rayhano wrote: post #142

This is an over-simplication. Yes, PCs aren't ageing as fast as they used to. But they are obsolete beyond 'not being portable'. Here is why tablets are winning: 1. Instant on. I can keep my thoughts in tact and act on them immediately. No booting, no memory lags, no millions of tabs open in a browser. 2. Focus. Desktop interfaces seem to be desperate to put everything onto one screen. I have a PC and a Mac (both lap…

Don't forget your iPad isn't going to be covered in popups or left disabled by ransomware like PC SPYWARE DOCTOR 2014 like your old Windows PC.

Haha, the mental image of that has been solidified by years of Windows mediocrity.

What's ironic, though, is OS X out pop-ups Windows 7/8 with annoying prompts and notifications.

Again, tablet OSs just aren't prone to this, so people 'feel' more comfortable using them.

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