Don't forget that desktops can be cheaply upgraded wheras laptops usually cannot. These numbers do not reflect that.

Laptops are great for checking your e-mail in a hotel room but I wouldn't want to render an HD video or play Bioshock on one.

Desktops are not going anywhere.

The power envelopes on nvidia and ati's top cards are to high and thats lousy for motherboard and ram life span, the microwave heat and wattage is almost as bad as a magnetron for x2 or SLI and are heavy on the utility bill, that don't help desktop sales any.

I agree with those who do not put any credit in the "desktop death" theory.
The PC environment is ideal for tinkering and pushing the envelope, and that is what has been happening for decades.
No console will ever be better than a high-end PC of the same timeframe, and the best console becomes mainstream PC equipment in but a year.
Two years later, no console can hold a candle to a mid-range PC.
That is because the PC is the development environment. It's where the new theories are put to the acid test of performance.
And that is much too practical to change.
I will be upgrading my PC yet again this year, at some point, there is no doubt about it.
The real issue I have is that there are barely a handful of games I'd like to have. The only titles I have on my Wanted list are Diablo III and Dawn of War II.
For the rest, nothing I see is interesting enough to warrant either my time or my money.
And when the PC is good enough for what you've got, there's no pressing incentive to upgrade.

I think the main reason is the lack of real components aimed at the consumer. Too many people are getting turned off by the flood in the market for prosumer products. One example is the hd thing, you buy a 1080 to replace you old television. Then you have to buy a media player (blu) to match, then you have to buy a service that offers resolution to match. In the end if you dont buy the whole package youre left with half an l in your forehead. In america you can walk into a walmart or most shops and still buy an ati radeon 9200 for 130 dollars!! or a creative audigy 2 for 60 dollars, or how about a 150 gig for 100 dollars. People need some value for the money, video cards no longer give you that, and the used card marked is very good. Instead people are left wondering how a 9800 pro on the shelf compares to a 9800gtx. Especially when you end up buying games that are nice in graphics and lack the real multi player experience, in the end you always go back to quake3 et.
Especially when you buy a need for speed that is worse that the last one and requires better hardware and a better shader model.

I've been hearing this tripe since the early 90's.

Yet, nearly all the innovative games are on the PC, the PC game market is still larger all consoles combined and the only console that has lived up to the expectations of its maker is the Wii, which has been a huge financial success for Nintendo.

It would not surprise me if there is no playstation 4 or xbox 720(?), only a wii 2.

I'm currently at a large university campus, and everyone I know that has a laptop (notebook) never really take it anywhere with them. After the novelty has worn off, people realise it is easier just to write notes on paper rather than lugging a notebook around, forgetting to charge it then running out of battery half way through class, the distraction... Laptops do have their usefulness but most people just leave them on the desk. After a while people find the keyboards too small and the touchpads too awkward, so they buy a keyboard and mouse. They then realise speakers would be nice, and curse the fact that the screen is small when watching movies.

Consoles certainly aren't the answer though, there are two reasons why upgrades are required on desktops. The first is intensive game features and physics, such as that in Crysis - a console doesn't have anywhere near the power for that, and the second is many games are just ports from consoles now anyway, and they are coded disgustingly bad. GTA IV is a prime example of very bad pc porting, although the second patch just released and Forceware 185.20/Catalyst 9.1 do help a bit.

Consoles can be expensive too, the models people prefer can be quite pricey even though the hardware used in them is old by todays standards. Also they are expensive for repairs as a friend of mind has recently found. I'm not surprised manufactured PC's are reducing in numbers, people have been turning to store built (or build your own PC) for years. If you build a reasonable machine from quality parts there's not much that can go wrong with them. Apart from the recent Seagate issue, most hard drives for example (as well as other computer components) fail from heat, not from use but from poor circulation. Laptop drives often get too hot and fail. The HDD power down feature as standard turned on (Vista etc) doesn't help either, it ruins HDD's by constantly turning them on and off. Its a good intention thing, just doesn't work the way its meant to!

You don't think the decline in purchasing electronic equipment has anything to do with the global economy?

Purchasing of a majority of items has fallen due to the global economy.

Make it easier for consumers to upgrade desktops and don't sell them as a one time throw it away when it doesn't work box. I think you will find that more people would choose a desktop over a laptop if they knew that when it gets to slow, they don't need a new computer, they can just change the guts. Imagine if HP, Dell, Gateway all sold approved hardware for upgrades(i.e. discrete graphics, RAM) that someone could pick up in their local computer shop and all they had to do was know their PCs model number to know if it was compatible.

Netbooks will become the dominant extension of the desktop computer, not the laptop. Having a laptop and a desktop is redundant for most and I think the netbook+Desktop PC duo is a much better team.

For the average home user they get a laptop because
A. It's portable
B. It gets online

Unless someone NEEDS to have full PC functionality in their lap, I think most will move towards netbooks and use a desktop for their more intensive tasks.

PC gamers everywhere are moving to consoles to get their kicks. That means its less important to own the latest and greatest money and energy eating gfx cards.Even the leftovers like Warcraft dont need a mega gfx card to run.

Since I purchased my PS3 a couple of years back , I have neither purchased a pc game, or upgraded a gfx card. Both of which used to do on a regular basis.

game over PC.And with it, a large chunk of the pc gfx card market.