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Opinion: Can You Blame the PC Crash on the iPad?

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it is too simple, make a PC game market where games are not just port of those crappy 6-year-old consoles, and games just use the resources of an i7 to the most, then people should consider moving to another higher PC.
But, frankly now why should anyone move from his PC, while everything is working greatly?!.
To cut it short, the key to PC market growth is in the video game market.
 
All this scares me. Will there be a time when every company is only involved in development for tablet/mobile market? No more hight end motherboards, GPUs, CPUs. Hope that does not happen in my lifetime.
 
[citation][nom]anony2004[/nom]No one can really call iPad a computer let alone blame it for the so-called crash of the PCs.[/citation]

The iPad is a computer as much as any other. Its a different form-factor, nothing more. When Windows8 comes out, you'll run the same Metro software on your deskstop or tablet device.

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]iPad is helping with the downturn but in perhaps miniscule amounts. The real culprit I suspect are the global recession and the simple fact that almost every household now has several machines.[/citation]

Here's a desktop computer in my home. AMD X4 CPU 2.8Ghz, 4GB DDR2, ATI4670, Windows7 on a 19" wide screen LCD screen. It's not mine. Its what my 6yr old uses to use education software and games. A bit more powerful than my first computer when I was a teenager which only ran at 1Mhz!
 
[citation][nom]cTs Corvette[/nom]The lack of growth in the PC sector is due to one simple fact-computers have gotten so powerful, and Windows has gotten so stable, that it's very rare to have any sort of problem with them, and they are fast enough to handle pretty much anything you throw at them, so the average consumer has no reason to go out and buy a new PC every couple of years. That 5 year old Dell is still chugging happily along, and still runs Word and Netflix like a champ. And in actuality, even though I'm a hardcore gamer, the only thing I've replaced in my PC in years is the GPU. Nothing else needs to be upgraded.[/citation]

QFT!! Freakin heck, how could the author of the article miss this blindingly obvious fact! I can remember back in the day, that my PC NEVER felt fast enough, I was always itching for more speed, faster loading times etc. When the upgrades did come (e.g. 486SX to Cyrix 6x86-P166... who remembers those!?), it was amazing, you just wanted to try running everything to see the speed improvements... Word, Excel, IE, Control Panel loading, heck you'd even fire up MSPaint and see if it performed better! The days of hardware breathlessly running afte software advancements are long gone, as the current generation of hardware (even previous generation), has become so powerful that there are really only a handful of applications that would be relevant to a power everyday user (most notably, gaming, video conversion, 3D modelling etc). But all those uses are very single task centric; if it were only for general computing, email, internet, office etc, I would probably only need to upgrade my current rig in around 10 years (moving parts replacements aside). I'm a bit of a slave to PC gaming, so my upgrade cycle runs around every 4 to 5 years, and even there the cycle has gotten longer and longer! I used to start drooling after like 18 months, wishing for the new GPU hardware, but with consoles beating innovation back so successfully, I can see my Nvidia 560ti going strong for many years to come!
 


No chance.
 
I don't believe any of the tablets is the reason for slowing PC sales, I have a desktop, a laptop, and a tablet, they each serve different functions. I seldom use the laptop at home, the desktop is faster and has a bigger screen, I use the tablet when I don't want to bother with the laptop and I am not doing any "heavy computing" away from home. My son also has a laptop. The problem is most of the people who need a computer already have 2 or 3 of them at home. Without a big push in PC gaming that requires a new more powerful rig, no one needs a new computer to just surf the internet. Without computer gaming, there is not much need to replace a computer anymore. And the boring flash games are not PC gaming. They are just games on a PC.
 
I really don't get the people who do these statistics. Yes, PC sales are down, because nobody buys complete PC's anymore, we all buy PC parts, separately, we upgrade, we mod, we change stuff around, we never throw out a perfectly functional PC, we sell it second hand to the next guy. Video cards are selling strong, and AMD is going to launch the new 7k series soon. Bulldozer is about yo come out, and if it's competitive it's going too sell like bread. Sandy Bridge E is also around the corner, and it's going to do well the same. Nvidia is going to throw something in the mix as well soon. So, in my eyes, PCs are doing very well, I don't see what all the fuss is about.
 
I find different reason in PC sales declinig, namely lack of great PC games. Here's what I mean: 5-10 years ago there were great new games, emplying last development in pc hardware, compeling you to buy latest cpu/gpu/motherboard, etc, so to be able to play them. Now most of the pc games are console ports, with just few DX11 titles. Nowaday PC is 3x-5x faster then PX3/XBOX360, so there is no need for you to buy new PC. It is just powerful enough for everything, EVEN gaming. And unles hardware developers - nVidia, AMD/ATI and Intel start investing into creating great content, which would require latest in pc hardware, then, YES, PC days are numbered 🙁
 
[citation][nom]christop[/nom]Can You Blame the PC Crash on the iPad? No.. The Ipad is so under powered compared to a nice laptop or a desktop. I like a huge hd in my system a good bit of ram and a killer gpu. Me too, but I soft-downclock things when not in need.
 
I wrote: "When Windows8 comes out, you'll run the same Metro software on your deskstop or tablet device."
[citation][nom]amk-aka-phantom[/nom]No chance.[/citation]
Perhaps you may want to look into that... rather than coming up with an opinion and stating it as fact.

Metro is the new UI for Windows8.
- In order to make Metro software, it must be approved by MS.
- It will be distributed through MS's app store as well as box, if ya want.
- Metro-centric software WILL work on ARM based systems.
- Metro APIs is what they will use.

So, when MS also releases WinMobile8.... it doesn't need to be a FULL desktop OS to run Metro. All Metro Apps (Office, Quickbooks, etc) will run on tablets running Metro ARM or Metro Windows. In case ya don't notice, there are tablets running full Win7 OS.

This is the ONLY way to get market share from Apple, very smart of MS. Apple nows this already.
 
[citation][nom]christop[/nom]No.. The Ipad is so under powered compared to a nice laptop or a desktop. I like a huge hd in my system a good bit of ram and a killer gpu. The Ipad has none of these.[/citation]

1.5 lbs, runs for 8~10 hours, no parts to break, instant on, auto-rotation useful when sharing content with many people... a notebook or desktop has non of these.

Tablets are not desktop computers. Notebooks aren't desktop computers. Nowadays, all 3 are cheap.

For $1500, you can buy a tablet, a entry level notebook and a desktop computer with a 19~20" screen.

Go back 2000, $1500 would buy you a desktop with a 600mhz CPU (The Intel PIII-866mhz was $800 by itself), 256mb RAM, Win98, DVD drive, 20GB HD and a 19" CRT monitor.

Go back 1990, $1500 buys you a 286 PC, 256color VGA graphics, 20mb HD, a 13" monitor, or an Apple IIgs or Mac SE+ or Amiga 3000 (no monitor) 2mb RAM, 25mb HD, 1 floppy drive.

The iPad and other tablets have enough power for now... and they'll be more powerful in the future - theres room for improvement, not so with PCs.
 


We're coming back to the same argument as a few weeks back... Desktops don't NEED improvement in terms of new "features". They just need faster hardware, and they keep getting it - despite tablets sales, nVidia, AMD and Intel just don't feel like giving up quite yet, mind you, and neither do other, smaller companies. What kind of room for improvement is there on the tablet? Whatever it is, desktops can use it, as weel. Tablets will NOT replace desktops. They're a separate market. I asked around: 8 out of 10 people wouldn't mind a tablet but they don't have BS beliefs that tablets will replace their laptop or a desktop. It's a toy, shiny, expensive and somewhat entertaining, but a toy nevertheless. And the only one I'd go for is the Transformer - 'cause it's got a keyboard dock :)
 
The buyer for desktop computers are corporations. Many corporations have upgrade schedules that must be kept due to the changes in software and other agreements they have in place. Since most of these computers are run 24 hours a day without being shutdown most of the time the life span of those computers are limited.

Computers may have an overall downturn but only because people are find other ways to access some of the most basic things like email and internet. Heck, even some TVs and DVD players come with Internet browsers built into them...
 
This article is very, very missguided.

The blame of the pc crash is the ipads fault, yes. Here is my reasoning:
Due to the economical recession, people suddenly realized "Hey, i should actually think on what im spending my money".
The next logical step is to wonder if you need a new PC, and the consecuent answer "Well... i dont really need to..." and to be honest, noone does.

The PC has long ago archived the mainstream cover that is word for school, outlook for work, facebook for fun, porn, and downloaded movies/songs.
So the next question consumers ask is: "Ok i have some spare cash, do i get an ipad?". Its new, we dont have something like that already, and a few etc later, seems like a much better option than a new PC. Also, the trend is for people to build their pcs more and more.

In other words, Apple DOMINATED the economical recesion by stealing the consumers interests, and shitfing not their priorities, but their luxuries.
 
There is no trend for people to build their own computers.
Only gamers and computer techies do that. Everyone else, just buys $350~700 desktops from Walmart or Best Buy
 
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