Death of PC predicted again

You're average punter just isn't impressed with the nifty multi core/super gpu silliness. For them, the latest computers don't do anything significantly better than their current ones do. 

Do the new ones surf the web faster? Is their any magical improvement when emailing? At best, they might need more space for pr0n but hard drives are cheap and easy for even the most dunderheaded to replace.

I think most aren't going to upgrade until the units they have now turn into door stops.

How are televisions and mobile phones a threat to personal computers? They don't even do the same jobs, can I play next generation games or type up a word document on a mobile or new TV? I fail to see why the demand for these items over personal computers would be considered a sign that PCs are going to die.

What next? Should we be worried about a increased popularity of toasters over personal computers?

I'd like to see how they are going to attach a 30" LCD or plasma to a mobile...

iDiots.

I remembered reading something on internet called "the thumb revolution" in Japan. Kids and teens play games with their cellphone, type words and even some excel calculations on their cellphones, buy p0rn with their cellphones ... but they cant do anything good when they work in a company environment because of insufficient computer skill. I obviously cant do CAD or Max on a Sharp or NEC and I will not go bitchin' around if my water-proof Siemens accidentally takes a bath.

This probably highlights the fact that modern PCs havn't really gotten measurably faster in the last 3 years.

Why?

Well despite the quad core multi GPU rhetoric ,,, the slowest aspect of a modern PC is still the primary storage medium ... the hard drive.

Every thing's on the drive.

Until we see a 5 fold increase in main storage access all of the V8 power you can muster still can't gain any traction on the road.

Add the internet speed ... well some of us are just plain tortured in that area.

A K7 / P4 system bought a few years ago still surf's the net, still does modern office tasks and still plays games at lower resolution.

Until primary storage architecture is improved ... well?

Many users have old PC's and are not stupid enough to update just for the wow factor.


I know ... I'm one of the stupid ones !!


I agree with the discerning consumers of Japan, its not worth upgrading hardware and software on your PC when the new version, despite costing wads of cash, is no faster, often slower and less reliable than the thing it is replacing. This is all due to Vista despite the best efforts of Intel, AMD, nVidia and many PCB manufacturers who have all improved performance dramatically only to face Vista which makes the whole effort a zero sum. This is how Microsoft have let down the entire PC industry with Vista. 

If bigwig fat cat Prince can go for subprime mishaps at Citigroup then surely the obese vole Ballmer should take the long walk for the supreme betrayal of the global PC industry to MS's corporate smug, which is what Vista represents. Its only fair and above all necessary to allow the changes that are evidently needed at Microsoft to begin.

A high powered cell phone + high resolution goggles are the wave of the future.

I think the decline in part can be attributed to the way Japanese families live. Here are just a few of my observations:
* Smaller houses - Not enough room for bigger TV's and computers
* Smaller houses - Kids tend to spend more time away from home to gain privacy (cell phones are much more important)
* Cell Phone Society - Most people in Japan carry more then one cell phone. Now that Email and Browsing are readily available on your cell, why sit at a PC?
* Older population - No need for the next generation PC when Email and browsing work.
* Gaming – Gaming requirements drive PC upgrades, in Japan, most gaming in Console based.

The Japanese aren't impressed by Vista.

They buy a substantial amount of electronics in Japan and their current PC's do all that they want to do already in front of a monitor (browse the Internet, send/receive email, word process and spreadsheet calculations). They really want mobile platforms that do the same as they might do in front of a monitor sitting at their desks and they have plenty of options to do this.

Keep in mind that Microsoft knew this before they released in Japan and subsequently released their hack for nearly half the price as the US or UK. This is where Linux has an opportunity to shine in comparison because many of those mobile platforms are using Linux for the base of their operating system. Not all is lost.

...on a perfectly functional P4 3.2GHz system with 2GB of RAM, running XP Pro, Office 2003 and Adobe CS2. Performance is good, despite the fact that this puppy is nearly 4 years old.

It even runs faster than some brand-new PCs I've seen in showrooms, running Vista. Why then, would I want to upgrade? It's money down the toilet, for absolutely nothing. I *know* I can't have been the only one to spot this.

The answer, for most people, is that we will, but the upgrade cycle will take the best part of a decade now - rather than the 6-18 month cycle it used to. The fact is, PCs are simply fast enough now.

As time goes by, mobile phones are becoming little wonders with a perfect screen, with Java-XHtml-Linux capabilities, with extremely developed transmission and gaming facilites...
People of rich countries are able to buy those very expensive digital toys, and naturally leaving to derive their PCs.
At the end, only persons who are developers, or, truly interested in developing will continue to use our dear computers.
I am developing with 64 Bit Assembly and C++, but I continue, like many others, to program [only for my personal use] on 16 Bit DOS platform in Assembly, C++, Pascal and Basic. And, that's much better, you know...
Regards.

For the gaming market this is completely obvious. An average consumer in an underdeveloped country only has the money to buy an ultra-low end gaming PC every 5 yrs, which is the same cost of a game console, which would also last him about 5 yrs. So just tell me, why da hell would he buy himself a PC instead of a console?


Connecting to a 30+ screen is easy, the nokia N95 already soes it with DVD quality video.

Its only a matter of time before a mini HDMI socket is implemented.

Japanese analysts have been trashing the desktop PC ever since Windows 95 came out. And they're always proven wrong, year after year.

Japanese industry resents the PC, because:
- they didn't pioneer it,
- PCs reduce the need for dedicated devices, which have been Japan's forte
- their OS's and software are dominated by foreign companies
- they offer the consumer limitless, uncontrollable freedom and flexibility.


i they dont know how to use PC.