Are the days of the desktop numbered?

[TheFu]

Desktops will always be around for some segment of the workforce AND home user population.

• Cheaper for more powerful "stuff" - A $300 desktop blows away a $300 smartphone/tablet.
• Upgrades (add 5 HDDs to a smartphone).
• More peripherals available and connected simultaneously
• Easier to track - harder to steal (important for offices)

Still, portable devices ARE gaining huge market share. The last 10 yrs, these devices have been complementary, but that is definitely changing for average-Joe-users. I've been an early adopter of portable computing devices since 1995-ish with a PalmPro. I don't update constantly, but I have used/owned portable devices all this time. I've owned a dual-core ARM tablet over a year and really like the form factor for portable, business computing over a remote desktop connection. The "desktop" is actually a virtual machine running on a private cloud. Am I covering all the correct, popular buzzwords?

Last spring, but smartphone was stolen during an overseas trip. I decided NOT to replace it, since I already had a dumbphone + Nokia 4.5" tablet. I wish I'd purchases a Nokia N900 - I really do, but it was $400 over my budget ($700+ total cost).

I've traveled all over the world with the Nokia N800 and/or (a tablet or laptop or netbook). The tablet is very close to an ideal remote computing platform for me, except it lacks 1 element - a good, secure, efficient remote desktop client. We use NX at work, not RDP or VNC. I need an NX client for Android. Proprietary data never leaves the server, so if the laptop, netbook, tablet is lost or stolen, there isn't any data at risk. This is critical. This need is at the point that payment for an Android tablet-friendly NX client is definitely possible.

About a year ago, I was interviewed for My Linux Rig where I outlined my current and ideal setup. I looked into the future, just a little .... http://www.mylinuxrig.com/post/12414...chitect-writer getting into a portable, wearable, desktop computer.

Here's the most important part, as related to this thread

Wristwatch-sized for the CPU, RAM and disks combined. The CPU connects to external keyboard, mouse, video and audio based on proximity with complete security. Basically, my desktop is with me everywhere and peripherals are added as needed through voice commands.

I'd add:

• No dock needed.
• No wires needed.
• Sub-dermal audio interface and voice commands.
• 30 day battery life.

I think we can all look forward to that "desktop."

[SeijiSensei]

As a 63-year-old, I'll just mention that peoples' vision declines as we get older. An employee in her 40's or 50's will not be very comfortable trying to work on a 7-10" screen with tiny fonts.

Problems like these usually do not get much consideration on forums where a large fraction of the members are under forty. I notice that the author of the linked poll didn't even provide an option for me other than the bogus answers like "young" or "get off my lawn."

[TheFu]

An employee in her 40's or 50's will not be very comfortable trying to work on a 7-10" screen with tiny fonts.

Sometime around age 42 or 43, my eyesight started to change for the worse. Reading became more difficult. A 10" tablet has made reading fun again, thanks to the built-in scaling provided. I love being able to have 28pt fonts for ebooks. PDF books still suck due to the manual scroll back-and-forth required, but at least I can zoom in.

It seems that most people will have this near-sighted issue as they get older, though my father did not. Mom has been mostly blind without correction, until she got cataracts and had her lenses replaced, no she sees 20/20. She looks funny to me without glasses.

Mom doesn't have AND is not interested in any portable computing devicew. When "current" 30 yr olds age a little more, they will understand better. Being connected to the world all-the-time is much less important than being connected to those few loved-ones.

Anyway, small screens aren't always bad, but they can be a challenge for anyone over age 40-ish. Too the younger people, it will happen to you too. I didn't think lots of these things - common life things - would happen to me either, but they are as I get older. It will happen to you too.

Fortunately, 2x24" monitors makes up for most of my poor eyesight these days on desktops and larger fonts seem to work on smaller portable devices that do not support voice control. I use voice dialing almost exclusively on my dumbphone.

[Sableyes]

But why spend so much money for a tablet and the attached keyboard when a tower can be built for a couple hundred dollars less and outperform the tablet? It makes no sense at all.

As I have said previously, tablet and keyboard are cheaper in the UK.

[Sableyes]

As a 63-year-old, I'll just mention that peoples' vision declines as we get older. An employee in her 40's or 50's will not be very comfortable trying to work on a 7-10" screen with tiny fonts.

All in ones / tablet hybrids no good there then aye?

[whatthefunk]

As I have said previously, tablet and keyboard are cheaper in the UK.

A 60 quid tablet and attached keyboard are not at all adequate for a modern office environment. The screen size is way too small, the processing power is not even close to being enough, and setting up a large network with those things would be an admin nightmare. I saw the picture you posted of your set up on the first page of this thread and while that may be fine for your purposes, using that tiny little thing for word processing or any other serious work would drive me up the walls.

[Sableyes]

I can't imagine in the future for a secound we are going too see bigger tablets.... >.> Just sayin.....

[whatthefunk]

I can't imagine in the future for a secound we are going too see bigger tablets.... >.> Just sayin.....

Tablets cant get too much bigger. If a tablet was the size of the monitor Im using right now, it would be too big to carry anywhere.

[Sableyes]

so they cannot go as big as laptops? Infact with current technology being almost there, whats too stop a tablet being plugged into a bigger monitor in the near future?

[whatthefunk]

Yeah, that would be about as big as they could get before they cease to be portable. But why bother with this for an office envirnoment? What advantages does having a tablet for a desktop provide??