[citation][nom]boletus[/nom]While I appreciate that no one can ignore the rising importance of tablets, phones, etc. in the computing world, they remain a big yawn for me, personally. And, fact is, those types of devices have ample coverage at sites like Cnet, which cater to the general masses. Do I care which little gadget has finally been dumbed-down enough that lemurs can use alongside chimpanzees, or which 3.5" LCD screen is preferred by 4-year-olds? No; I want to know which mobo is going into my next build and which components will best compliment it.So while I don't want to discourage Tom's from expanding in those ways, I do hope that, as Chris says, PC hardware will remain the focus. Because, after all, that's why I come here. And thank you to the people at Tom's HW for being here.[/citation]
I have to agree with the sentiment here; I could care less about tablets and cell phones, really, except the technological progress that they represent and their influence on the computer world I'm interested in.
However, agreeing with the sentiment doesn't mean I entirely agree. Leaving the technology to sites like Cnet (Really? Cnet?) means leaving that technology in the hands of less qualified, to put it mildly, people. For that reason, I'm glad Tomshardware and Anandtech do articles about tablets and phones. There is a need, and only these sites fill that need.
The fact is, while some of us may have little interest in specific reviews about specific tablets or smart phones, they ARE important to today's computing world, and they DO have their influence. I do read smart phone and tablet reviews if I think there is something in them that relates to computing progress - and there often is these days. It's a pretty exciting time, technologically speaking, in the mobile compute world.
One only has to look at Windows 8 to begin understand the influence these things are having on the machines that people that call themselves computer enthusiasts build and own. Following their technological progress tells us what is possible and where we are headed in the desktop computer world, at least in part. I've read Apple is going to release a notebook computer with a 2880x1800 screen on it - that kind of pixel density was seen on tablets and smart phones first. I, for one, hope it's the beginning of a new class of 20"-30" LCD monitors that really produce the kind of quality images I want to see.
I certainly don't expect Tomshardware to focus only on things I am particularly interested in; I'm not the only person in the world, and it hardly hurts me for articles to be written I won't read. (And, I don't need to read about my specific piece of favorite hardware to get something out of an article. This site isn't "Consumer Reports", and I don't want it to be.) Tomshardware, so far, hasn't lost it's roots, and I see no sign of that happening.
This would be a (very) valuable addition to the tests.
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