PCs vs Tablets (split from My new toy -- iPad Air)

[MoonRise]

I can say I have the Samsung Galaxy Note10.1. No issues here as far as Android goes. Use it as much as my laptop. Couldn't go without the laptop though. With what I do I need the horsepower there. I have spied on those "convertible" laptops. Wonder how they are?

[GreyGeek]

Arghhh! More funds out of my fixed income. I have been waiting to but a tablet. This post has sold me on the iPad Air. (Along with research on the product).

My 8 year old grandson was given an 7" iPad with retinal display (not sure what model it is) and he runs it like a Zen master. Fingers only.

At 72, if I live as long as my dad did (94), I will have seen the birth and death of the personal computer as we know it now. At the rate PC sales are declining. While the commercial market declined 5% this year, the consumer PC sales declined 15% in 2013, so far. That means that its numbers are being cut in half every 4 1/2 years! SO, IF the rate of decline doesn't increase, by 2018 there will be only half as many PCs sold as were sold this year. In 2022 only 1/4 as many will be sold. I suspect that sometime in the next 10 years the market for consumer PCs will hit a critical point and the decline will be catastrophic, resulting in many OEM switching to smaller form factors. Who knows what the computer will look like in 10 years. Housed in a clip on your clothing that draws its power from body heat and uses the body as an antenna in a cellular WAN? The imagination goes wild.

I bought the first Apple ][+ sold in the state of Nebraska from Team Electronics in Grand Island in the Summer of 1978, after having built an analog computer for my physics class three years before. The changes that have taken place in the PC world during the last 35 years have been astronomical. I have read about and/or learned how to use and/or program for so many devices it makes my head hurt. All that study and knowledge. It's like knowing how to recycle the launch sequence of a Saturn V booster. What can you do with it? Apple grahics vector values? Zip Drive anyone? How's your Forth programming skills, used them lately? Prolog? Cobol? RPG? PCL? LISP? The list goes on and on. But, while they were popular I supported my family using them!

[richb]

Same here claydoh. lust not need. But then lust always wins over need in my case. My nick is gadget guy.

[whatthefunk]

I dont think the pc will die anytime soon. Every body keeps predicting their death based on declining sales statistics, but they arent looking at the whole picture. This year alone, 300,000,000 pcs have been sold and the total number of pcs in use in the world is growing. As early as next year, there could be 2 billion pcs in use around the world. The pc still has a long life ahead of it.

[Feathers McGraw]

I had a 32GB wifi Nexus 7 (1st gen) and upgraded to a 32GB 4g Nexus 7 (2nd gen).

Both have been amazing, but particularly the 2nd gen, the screen is fantastic and it's really snappy. The size is perfect for me - I have big hands so it's a perfect one-handed device. Being a bit of a weirdo, I have a waterproof feature phone instead of a smartphone, so this bridges the gap nicely. It's the perfect size for a SatNav, is very portable, and perfect for reading articles, controlling the TV, chatting on Hangouts/Chat Secure etc.

I can put it down and walk away, and still get notifications using my Pebble. I use Tasker to remove the pattern lock when the pebble is connected, and reset it when I walk out of range - this pretty much locks it when I'm out of sight, and unlocks when I can see it.

I agree that tablets will steal some of the PC market, but I wouldn't dream of replacing a laptop with a tablet.

Creating content? PC/Laptop.
Consuming content? Tablet.

[richb]

Creating content? PC/Laptop.
Consuming content? Tablet.

Good summary. But I would venture to guess that most potential buyers are content consumers. That does not negate the assertion that tablets are replacements for laptops, I agree that they are not. Just that it is and will continue to be a declining market.

[GreyGeek]

I dont think the pc will die anytime soon. Every body keeps predicting their death based on declining sales statistics, but they arent looking at the whole picture. This year alone, 300,000,000 pcs have been sold and the total number of pcs in use in the world is growing. As early as next year, there could be 2 billion pcs in use around the world. The pc still has a long life ahead of it.

Believe it or not, whatthefunk, but your argument supports mine. Sure, the number of PCs in the world is increasing, BUT, the RATE of that increase is rapidly declining. People don't seem to grasp the reality behind exponential growth AND decline. The rate measurements on new PC sales ARE the whole picture. That's why used laptops will be appreciating in price until such time as their hardware passes out of the kernel window and is no longer supported. We see that scenario on this forum regularly when folks trying to install Kubuntu 13 on an old laptop realize that the video drivers for the chip in that laptop are no longer in the LiveCD iso that they downloaded, and they also realize that they do not have the skill set necessary to seek out the driver and install it, assuming of course that the ancient driver is compatible with the current version of libc6 and the kernel.

[Feathers McGraw]

Believe it or not, whatthefunk, but your argument supports mine. Sure, the number of PCs in the world is increasing, BUT, the RATE of that increase is rapidly declining. People don't seem to grasp the reality behind exponential growth AND decline. The rate measurements on new PC sales ARE the whole picture. That's why used laptops will be appreciating in price until such time as their hardware passes out of the kernel window and is no longer supported. We see that scenario on this forum regularly when folks trying to install Kubuntu 13 on an old laptop realize that the video drivers for the chip in that laptop are no longer in the LiveCD iso that they downloaded, and they also realize that they do not have the skill set necessary to seek out the driver and install it, assuming of course that the ancient driver is compatible with the current version of libc6 and the kernel.

True, but if the total number being manufactured remains the same (seems like a reasonable expectation?), prices shouldn't go UP because there's no lost economy of scale.

[GreyGeek]

It seems that as of October 30, 2013, Microsoft quietly stopped selling Windows 7 to retailers!

So, if you wanted a copy of Win7 you'd better hurry. The end of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled will be on October 30, 2014, meaning you have less than a year to snatch up a desktop or laptop with Windows 7 preinstalled. Microsoft will stop shipping Windows 8 to retailers on Oct 31, 2014, in a bid to get Win8 users to move to Win8.1. But, with the poor showing of Win8 Microsoft may be shooting itself in the foot.

With the end of XP security patches, app updates and vaccine dat files, I've removed my guest XP and even VirtualBox itself.

Intel is pivoting hard towards the tablet market and now prominently talks up its support for multiple OS platforms, in order to maintain its historic revenues.

That leaves the OEMs themselves, and they’re going to take a beating here. Dell has already gone private, HP has reentered the tablet market, Lenovo has aggressively courted emerging markets, and Asus has its own line of tablets and convertible systems. If Q4 sales fall as steeply as IDC expects, January’s quarterly announcement is going to be ugly. Unfortunately, there’s no real recourse for the various OEMs — when HP was considering selling off its PC business a few years ago, one of the major questions was what company would be large enough (and interested enough) to buy it at anything less than a firesale price?


Gaming is one of the most compelling remaining reasons to upgrade PCs on a regular basis, but with relatively cheap Steam Machines on the horizon, even that reason may soon disappear. There will likely always be a place for the standard PC (so far, no control scheme has come even remotely close to efficiency and precision of keyboard and mouse), but it looks like manufacturers will soon have to think of a way to take our money.

[richb]

It seems that as of October 30, 2013, Microsoft quietly stopped selling Windows 7 to retailers!

So, if you wanted a copy of Win7 you'd better hurry. The end of sales for PCs with Windows preinstalled will be on October 30, 2014, meaning you have less than a year to snatch up a desktop or laptop with Windows 7 preinstalled. Microsoft will stop shipping Windows 8 to retailers on Oct 31, 2014, in a bid to get Win8 users to move to Win8.1. But, with the poor showing of Win8 Microsoft may be shooting itself in the foot.

With the end of XP security patches, app updates and vaccine dat files, I've removed my guest XP and even VirtualBox itself.

I hear you. I currently run XP in VB. Not much option to replace it with Win 7 without buying a copy. Of course I have "bought" a copy with a previous laptop. It irks me that you do not get media with it and cannot transfer to another machine.
However I see no immediate reason to abandon XP in VB. How vulnerable will it be to security problems. I do not care about app upgrades

[Feathers McGraw]

What do you use it for? I think I read that Google and Mozilla will continue to provide security patches for their browsers until 2014. Not sure how much difference that makes in the grand scheme of things, presumably you use it for programs that will only run on Windows, and not for doing things you can do in Linux!

If it's not ever connected to the internet, and you scan files before you transfer them onto the system, then I don't see how you'd have a problem with it (I'm sure someone will enlighten me, though!).

[richb]

I use it for Quicken because I do not like any of the Linux alternatives, a golf league management program and for updates to devices such as Garmin, and Harmony remote. So connection to the internet is required for those activities. I do not browse the internet with it.

[woodsmoke]

Two parts:

Grins and Giggles:

Ummmm there was a post in another thread about "starting" a pc company for just Linux....

How about just buy one...( the HP mention earlier in the thread)... split into two parts, one which still sells Windblows and the other to sell Linux based systems.

When it shakes itself out then the Windblows side could be dropped or kept depending upon income stream.

Let Windblows finance it's own demise! lol

The Original Post:
I gave away my first little tablet.

I presently have a "My|Eebo" tablet and it works fine, but the screen is not too responsive.

Uses:

a) consuming stuff, like listening to music streams.
b) a "server" for the smart television, again, playing music streams. Unfortunately it is not powerful enough to run a screensaver and also stream music, so I "blank" the television screen to avoid "burn in" and it will, indeed" take on a lasting image of something that is in the same place for an extended period. However, the image will go away.
c) I actually use it to produce stuff when I am travelling.
i) If I drive, I take both it and laptop because the laptop is easier to type on.
caveat: the last time, I took an "air mouse" usb keyboard and typed on that keyboard.
ii) If I fly I take just the tablet.

Laptop: I just installed 14.04 on an ancient Toshiba Lappy and it runs jiffy quick, I am typing on it right now. I can also play you tube videos.

PC: That is where I do "long term" work, because I have an ergonomic keyboard and wide screen monitor so Kubu can be tweaked to the max.

woodsmoke
woodsmoke

[whatthefunk]

Believe it or not, whatthefunk, but your argument supports mine. Sure, the number of PCs in the world is increasing, BUT, the RATE of that increase is rapidly declining. People don't seem to grasp the reality behind exponential growth AND decline. The rate measurements on new PC sales ARE the whole picture. That's why used laptops will be appreciating in price until such time as their hardware passes out of the kernel window and is no longer supported. We see that scenario on this forum regularly when folks trying to install Kubuntu 13 on an old laptop realize that the video drivers for the chip in that laptop are no longer in the LiveCD iso that they downloaded, and they also realize that they do not have the skill set necessary to seek out the driver and install it, assuming of course that the ancient driver is compatible with the current version of libc6 and the kernel.

Except that there is no exponential growth involved here....and Im not quite sure what the resale value of ancient laptops has to do with pc sales growth....

[GreyGeek]

...How vulnerable will it be to security problems. I do not care about app upgrades

Besides bug fixes apps can have security holes in them that need updating as well. System files do not contain the only holes. IF Microsoft Security Essentials isn't releasing a vaccine data file for XP any more then bad hats will have a field day breaking into XP machines with unpatched holes, etc...
I really didn't do anything with XP except load up my guest OS version of it once every 3 of 4 months and let MS SE update the vaccine data file, so there really wasn't much of a reason to keep it around. Every 3 or 4 months I do exactly the same thing with the Win7 partition that this machine came with.

Windows 7 Service Pack support ended 4/9/2013. Its main stream support ends 1/13/2015 and its extended support ends 1/14/2020, so there is plenty of life still left in it.