The PC is Here to Stay, Says Intel's Paul Otellini

[pocketdrummer]

Whoever thinks PCs will ever die apparently haven't built one of their own. You literally CANNOT purchase a laptop with the same power or level of customization as a PC. Sure, you can buy them pre-configured, but the real beauty comes when you fine tune your own system to YOUR specifications. Show me 1 100% black brushed aluminum laptop... just one. I've built a PC with a Lian Li PC-B25F, and I wouldn't have any other laptop to replace it, though I do supplement it was a highly mobile laptop for those times when I'm out of the house.

PCs have their place, just like laptops, tablets, and smartphones. None of those components completely replace any other, and we should do our best to acknowledge that fact.

 

[ojas]

[citation][nom]beardguy[/nom]I think most of us have been keen on this "post-PC era" bullshit all along. The PC isn't going anywhere, if you want to get technical, my smartphone is a "PC". It is a mini computer that is for personal use that I take everywhere I go. The only thing that is changing is the definition of what a PC is.[/citation]
[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]That's because that is what PC means to you, not to the rest of us. A personal computer does not mean an ATX form factor. I have already got a nettop attached to my TV that I use as a HTPC, not exactly heavy lifting but it is 10 times more powerful that my first ATX PC. As long as the narrow minded think that PC must equal a specific form factor they will always be disappointed.[/citation]
PC=IBM-PC like, plain and simple. That's what Otellini's talking about here.

The argument here isn't whether smartphones/tablets are personal computers or not, of course they are. Even a calculator is. But in the the industry, "PC" equates to a desktop/laptop that conforms to the IBM PC design.

So whenever someone says PCs are dead or PCs aren't dead or whatever, they mean the desktop first, and in second place laptop computers.

And yes, Macs are PCs today 😀

 

[The_Trutherizer]

If anything I see the PC market growing with PC integration into the design of buildings and homes so that you will be able to access your PC's computational power from terminal screens throughout your home for example. Or maybe on the kitchen counter with just a projection of recipes and maybe watch internet news while you are busy eating breakfast in your dining room. Access your calendar while you are busy brushing your teeth. Things like this. The fact is that while hardware is starting to reach a bit of a plateau not in capability, but what you need the hardware to do there is room to extend the hardware's utility outside of the screen on your study desk.

 

[deksman]

This really depends on what constitutes a definition of a PC.

As components get smaller and smaller, you will reach a point where desktops and laptops will be on an equal footing in terms of processing power (they already are mostly).

Having said that, there is no reason we cannot make mobile devices into fully fledged (if not x times more) powerful computers.
The use of silicon is an outdated practice.
The only reason its still used is because its 'cheap' to do so and because the silicon industry is a multibillion dollar one that won't transition so easily.
They would prefer to milk the market as much as possible with outdated technology, making revisions upon revisions of the same thing, but notion really 'evolutionary'.

Synthetic Diamond and graphene could have already been used to create full electronics and completely replace silicon for years.

Cost efficiency has nothing to do with resources or out technical ability to pull something off.
Companies in Capitalism concerns themselves with spending the least amount of money on a product, so they can rake in large profits - designing them in the process with planned obsolescence in mind so that people would be 'encouraged' to 'buy' something new as fast as possible.

this is wasteful, and its holding us back from a technological point of view.
The technology in wide circulation is way behind of what we are actually capable of accomplishing because of idiotic notion of 'cost' and 'value' (none of which represent resources because we had the ability to produce abundance since 100 years ago via technology in the first place).

All the revisions that Intel makes year in year out... they are pure garbage.
Instead of releasing their '5 year plan' in the first year and then releasing the next thing 5 years later (but that would entail losing profits in the long run).

Plus, the market benefits from producing varying form factors even though its relevance in terms of size is no longer that much applicable concerning how much horsepower you can actually get when you apply synthetic materials that are far superior.

Capitalism is not good for technological progress.. its been holding us back for a century now - before then, it was still usable... now, its just a nuisance.

 

[fuzznarf]

[citation][nom]m22222222[/nom]The PC has been dead ever since the iPad was released. You're living in a post-PC era just accept it.[/citation]
And what do I and millions of other software developers write my iPad, android, roku, and windows phone apps on, oh brilliant one? dirty troll go back to your cave.

 

[demonhorde665]

[citation][nom]beardguy[/nom]I think most of us have been keen on this "post-PC era" bullshit all along. The PC isn't going anywhere, if you want to get technical, my smartphone is a "PC". It is a mini computer that is for personal use that I take everywhere I go. The only thing that is changing is the definition of what a PC is.[/citation]


people are morons , thumbing you down for stating a fact PC = Personal Computer. it doesn't mean desktop , laptop or any thing other than that , what people mean to say is the desktop is not going anywhere . and yes the meaning of PC is evolving.

and for teh record i don't owna cell phone of any kind nor any kind of tablet hell i don't even own a laptop, i'm on a desktop just hate seeing doofuses use PC to mean only desktop. it's not what the phrase means in any definition or literary since.

 

[hetneo]

[citation][nom]Gundam288[/nom]The PC that we know today, will be replaced someday. If a Quantum PC replaces it or something else is up for debate. But, as with everything, it will be replaced by something else. It's not a question of if, but a question of when and what.[/citation]
Dude, you are mixing frogs and apples. PC as concept will never go away, doesn't matter how CPU functions whether it's silica based circuits or quantum states of particles or light based circuits or something else. Computing device that sits in your house and is intended to have highest level of versatility will never go away.

 

[hetneo]

[citation][nom]eddieroolz[/nom]There will be no post-PC era as everything that computes around us - smartphones, desktop computer, tablet, whatnot - are all in some way or another, a personal computer.[/citation]
They are not PC. Yes they are computer because they satisfy requirements of von Neuman's concept machine, but they are not PC. It's different form factor, it's like saying for 2 seater that it is SUV.

 

[scannall]

I think the form will continue to evolve. For regular users in particular. I can envision a time where a household will have a computer somewhere in the house, in a utility closet. Then the household members will use a wireless keyboard, mouse and monitor anywhere they want, and as many using it as there are people in the family.Perhaps even offload heavier computing loads from your tablet to the household computer, allowing you to do more intensive work on it, while keeping your battery life high.

[citation][nom]livebriand[/nom]Hard to say - this reminds me of mainframes and terminals, which have since gone extinct, for the most part. (well, sorta, with the cloud now)[/citation]

Sort of, but for very different reasons. Terminals and mainframes type setups are for sharing a very scarce and expensive resource (The mainframe) giving each user a slice of processor time.

But, now CPU's are at the point of being vastly overpowered for *most* individuals to actually use more than a fraction of its power. And each new generation, more and more CPU power goes to waste. So in this future scenario, individual stations would allow a family to get better use out of their computers. Plus save space and power consumption of having a box at every desk. Not to mention make it easier to change where your desk space etc is.

Being able to off load heavier computing tasks from your lightweight computing devices to your home system would also be an advantage. Whether it's your tablet, your phone, your refrigerator or security system (Face and voice recognition) or any other manner of computing task you might require.