The PC is not dead, we just don't need new ones • Hacker News Board

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

#321

Post by kdsudac » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 6:26 AM UTC

Every time I read an article about the death of the PC and the ascension of mobile, I wonder how much carrier subsidies distort the relative demand for PCs vs mobile devices.

I'm inclined to believe that mobile sales are "artificially" inflated by these subsidies to a large degree.

Of course, if this business model is sustainable over the long term I guess it doesn't matter for mobile h/w manufacturers.

But for s/w developers the fact that people upgrade h/w every 2 years because of subsidies doesn't mean that those h/w sales are translating into a greater user base.

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

#322

Post by vacri » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 6:29 AM UTC

arjunnarayan wrote: post #40

usaphp wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

~$1,000 sounds quite cheap for a gaming machine which can still run any modern game at highest settings. I remember I built mine at about the same time (2010) for $2500, top notch video card, fastest cpu, lots of ram, but its 2013 now and I can not say that it runs any modern game at highest settings.

You overpaid. You're better off spending $800 and upgrading 3 times as often.

Why does no-one ever factor in the costs of transferring systems in this upgrade process? It's not trivial to set up a new system and bring your stuff over.

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

#323

Post by clhodapp » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 6:41 AM UTC

GuiA wrote: post #190

johngalt wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We would be better off steering into the skid. History has plenty of examples of people who've tried to hang onto the old ways 'because that's how I learned it'. The way forward isn't to try and keep cheap PCs viable for creativity's sake, but to ensure that creative desires are being met on the newer devices. Would I have learned memory management and dual booting if I'd had a tablet instead of a 386? Probably not.…

As a kid, my parents were really anti-videogames (except for a few educational ones), anti-TV (we had one, but it was in its own room and rarely used), and would only let me use the home computer for homework. As a result, I spent all of my childhood and teenage years reading (mostly fantasy and sci-fi; several books a week, at my peak) and programming. I taught myself programming in 7th grade because I really wanted…

Why did your parents, who only let you use the regular computer for homework, let you use your calculator for programming? Is it possible that your identity-building time spent creating SimCity for the TI-82 was not something deliberately enabled by your parents' somewhat closed-minded attitude toward technology, and was, instead, a "waste of time" that they simply failed to realize was happening?

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

#324

Post by Ives » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 6:52 AM UTC

qwerta wrote: post #159

UnFleshedOne wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it perform faster in benchmarks than later CPUs overclocked to their lower maximums? Clock speed alone is not a good indicator.

Yes, it does. Newer CPUs have cheaper thermal paste.

You know you're allowed to use your own thermal paste right? Intel won't mind.

If you plan on overclocking your CPU it's probably a good idea to get a slightly better CPU cooler than the standard one anyway.

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

#325

Post by kayoone » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 7:12 AM UTC

My 2009 Core2Quad with 8Gigs of Ram and an SSD still feels faster than the latest and greatest with a normal HDD. It even runs OSX beautifully ;)

SSDs just changed the game, and it was about 2009 when that started.

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

#326

Post by pjmlp » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 7:13 AM UTC

shirro wrote: post #290

zalzane wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>because people do not need $2000 Facebook and email machines Devil's advocate: if that is true, then why are macbook pros such a hot sell? I'm typing this here in a college library's lobby. When I look around, I see roughly 3/4 of the laptop-using students are using a macbook pro, with a few macbook airs littered around. If I were to walk around and glance at what people were working on, it'd probably be something l…

The MBP is one of the most functional devices available. The wanky, hipster appeal is way overplayed. Plenty of people use them inspite of their image. Phones satisfy the mobile convergence thing between organisers, phones, cameras and handheld games. Tablets satisfy the "computer as a bicycle" vision of Jobs and bring portable computing to the masses. But neither are really full featured enough for a developer or a…

> The rest of the laptop market is hindered by shipping with Windows only and the difficulty of getting pre and post-sales driver support for the developers and students who require an environment like Linux. The industry has really fucked themselves trying to keep to the model of the glory days.

Quite good for those of us that work across multiple OSs.

Just install GNU/Linux on VMWare with CPU virtualization enabled and get two OS in a laptop with the minimum of fuss.

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

#327

Post by hnha » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 7:15 AM UTC

schrodinger wrote: post #179

asafira wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with the general consensus here regarding how computers in general have been aging better now. Especially with different computing devices available today, it's hard for the average person to justify buying a new computer within 3-4 years of theirs. At the same time, I think even the "average" person would want more than a 128gb ssd, and therefore today's entry-level harddrives equipped with these small ssd's…

Flickr gives you a terabyte free.

surely no one wants to rely on a third party service that is only available online and at the service's whim for their photos.

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

#328

Post by beachstartup » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 7:27 AM UTC

robmcm wrote: post #76

UVB-76 wrote: post #46

People snack on smartphones, dine on tablets, and cook on PCs. A lot of people don't want to cook, so are happy with smartphones and tablets. Why buy a desktop or laptop when an iPad will do everything you need for a fraction of the price? That's what people mean when they sound the death knell for the PC.

It's as if the PC is some sort of professional tool, like a truck.

Production Computer?

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

#329

Post by GuiA » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 7:32 AM UTC

clhodapp wrote: post #323

GuiA wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a kid, my parents were really anti-videogames (except for a few educational ones), anti-TV (we had one, but it was in its own room and rarely used), and would only let me use the home computer for homework. As a result, I spent all of my childhood and teenage years reading (mostly fantasy and sci-fi; several books a week, at my peak) and programming. I taught myself programming in 7th grade because I really wanted…

Why did your parents, who only let you use the regular computer for homework, let you use your calculator for programming? Is it possible that your identity-building time spent creating SimCity for the TI-82 was not something deliberately enabled by your parents' somewhat closed-minded attitude toward technology, and was, instead, a "waste of time" that they simply failed to realize was happening?

Because they had no clue that a calculator could be used for other things than calculating :)

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

#330

Post by beachstartup » Fri, Oct 25, 2013, 7:38 AM UTC

andor wrote: post #254

worldsayshi wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No innovation would hardly die but hopefully focus on something important. We will hardly run out of need for innovation any time soon. We rather have a problem of innovative people focusing on the wrong things, because incentives.

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 connections and 4 or 5 different onboard technologies (gps, camera, etc).

WTF are you talking about sir. Do we live on the same planet?