Is the PC on it's way out?

[RabbitLuvr]

If you can carry a pocketbook or a backpack, the weight of a laptop is a non issue.

My iPad weighs a fraction of what my laptop weighs, and is a fraction of the size.

I consider my laptop portable in that I can carry it in to the living room to use while I watch tv, or into the bedroom to use in bed. But I would not want to carry it around outside the house. (And I have what I guess is a netbook, as it has no cd drive, but it's got a 12" screen so it's larger that a typical "netbook.")

My iPad, on the other hand, goes with me most places, in my handbag.

iPad in a carrying case + cables and Bluetooth keyboard is still smaller and lighter than my laptop. Weight is definitely not a non-issue.

 

[Envy]

The iPad is more fragile though.

 

[RabbitLuvr]

The iPad is more fragile though.

I keep it in a case with a protective cover. Still smaller and lighter than my laptop. (I have iPad 3, I know the newer model is lighter still. If I was buying today, I'd get the Mini instead, which would even fit into my smaller handbags.)

 

[beancounter]

Yea it's smaller and lighter but it's functionalty is limited to light word processing, email, texting and surfing the web. A laptop can do those things plus be used for business applications, and even gaming to a degree. So for a little extra weight you get a lot more functionality.

 

[ledboots]

I have an android smartphone with a big screen that I do a lot with, and a new laptop that Im not using much yet. I have an old netbook with linux on it, and I like everything about that except the screen is small and not great and no cd drive.

I don't think I would go to an iPad or the other tablets though. I like having every single thing on my phone, tbh.

 

[RabbitLuvr]

But not everyone needs the added functionality of a laptop, or needs it enough to consider the weight to be a worthwhile trade off.

Sometimes weight and portability are more important.

 

[RabbitLuvr]

Also you're assuming that any and all locations you need to visit will have spare peripherals just waiting for you to use them. I don't think we're there yet...

The title of the thread asks if PC's are "on the way out." While I think there will be PC's for many years to come, they are definitely becoming less and less necessary for a lot of people. As time goes by, more people will be demanding peripherals be available for their portable devices, in hotels and on airplanes, for example.

The amount of power that's in a tablet is going to continue to increase, and I would not be surprised if they eventually kill, or at least take a huge bite out of, the PC business. (As they've already pretty much killed the netbook.)

 

[yakherder]

If it doesn't sound like a jet engine when you turn it on, it's not worth getting.

 

[FortyTwo]

Tablets are the future! They also scare me a little.

 

[Second Summer]

If you can carry a pocketbook or a backpack, the weight of a laptop is a non issue. Besides you can carry extra stuff in the laptop case like a smart phone, a tablet, or even paper docs. It may be a brave new world, but we're not paperless yet.

And besides "Brave new world" was a dystopia, so it's strange you would want to associate that book with something you view as positive.

Also you're assuming that any and all locations you need to visit will have spare peripherals just waiting for you to use them. I don't think we're there yet...

What Rabbitluvr said. As for "brave new world", I have mixed feelings about the consequences of the many advances in science & technology, so that is why I used the term. (There seems to be an ever wider gap between the huge and rapid progress we make in science and technology on one hand, and progress in our moral development on the other hand.)

 

[ledboots]

What Rabbitluvr said. As for "brave new world", I have mixed feelings about the consequences of the many advances in science & technology, so that is why I used the term. (There seems to be an ever wider gap between the huge and rapid progress we make in science and technology on one hand, and progress in our moral development on the other hand.)

Agree. The laws don't keep up with technology, either.