How much do desktops matter?

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Aspects of computing

Computing has various aspects: processing capacity, I/O, data-storage, interface, control, and portability.

Hand-held devices of every description are heavy on portability, but poor on interface (small screens, no keyboard, awkward mouse is one exists at all), so-so on I/O (low bandwidth) and poor on processing capacity. They also offer a fair amount of control.

Desktop machines are heavy on processing capacity, control, storage, I/O, and interface, but poor on portability.

Laptops are fairly portable, offer a fair amount of processing capacity, a large amount of storage and control, an interface that's reasonable or good, and fairly good I/O.

Cloud-based devices are heavy on portability, low on control, generally so-so on I/O (low bandwidth unless connected by wire), and vary enormously in processing capacity and storage.

So it depends on what you want to do.

If your need is portability first and foremost and you work with little data which you don't have to have work intensively with, then the desktop is indeed irrelevant to you. You will use something hand-held and store your data whereever, preferably in the cloud. Salespeople and teenagers fall into this category.

If you need decent portability, but need a good interface and processing capacity too, then you'll likely use a laptop. The desktop will matter to you.

If your foremost need is a decent interface, much processing, a fair amount of I/O and lots of storage, then you will be desktop-bound and the desktop will matter very much. Office workers, programmers, and researchers fall into this category.

So: as long as there are lots of office workers, programmers, researchers etc., the desktop will continue to be important.

Posted by: Golodh2   Posted on: 06/21/09 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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