Title: PCs and laptops on their way out
4th Noun - August 30, 2006 12:20 AM (GMT)
| QUOTE |
Home PCs and laptops are on "death row" - Brown-Martin
Matt Martin 13:25 24/08/2006
'Ubiquitous data' the future of digital content, says leading mobile consultant
In less than four years, home PCs and laptops will be redundant as more users and manufacturers migrate to online storage, according to Handheld Learning MD Graham Brown-Martin.
In a bold prediction, he stated: "In 2010 the desktop computer will be dead, and laptops will be on death row.
"I've spent quite a lot of time talking to computer manufacturers and they are seeing more value in selling servers that connect to consumer electronic devices such as the Sony PSP and Nintendo DS. They see this as the food chain, rather than lots of desks with computers on them," said Brown-Martin, during the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival earlier this week.
"We're seeing a situation with lots of devices - consoles, video cameras, mobile computers, phones, pocket PCs - that are potentially all going to access their content from a data warehouse or server," he continued.
"Today you can get 25 gigabytes of online storage for free. We're seeing an emergence of companies saying, 'Pay us a little bit of money per month and dump all your stuff on our online hard-disks, we'll back it up and we guarantee you that you'll never lose your data'."
"Mobility isn't just about little devices – it's about the user being mobile and having all their stuff in one location, in cyberspace, on a hard-disk farm," Brown-Martin went on.
"Where ever you go - assuming that media is scalable and interoperable - you can access material, anywhere and any place – that's where we are headed." |
Only 4 more years of life left huh. Interesting.
cmg_oh - August 30, 2006 06:44 PM (GMT)
Somehow this sounds a bit too far fetched.
You will still need a computer to write all the informatin needed to put together the websites, to draw the images, to do lots of things that I doubt those smaller packages will have the ability to do.
And if the could, you would have to have EXTREME upload and download speeds in order ofr it to work.
Just look at all the memory that is needed for any 3D program or modeler. Or even Photoshop.
Nice idea, but not practical.
Onigiri Fury - August 31, 2006 12:36 AM (GMT)
exactly, you still need access to the internet/data. for some things, the psp and ds just can't even start to do.
4th Noun - September 1, 2006 04:54 PM (GMT)
Yeah, I ddint really see how or what exactly was going to replace the pc and LT.
4 years is definitely far fetched.
But what their counting on is the fact that these devices will have evolved to the point to where they will be able to handle pc and laptop tasks by 2010.
Jack Blaguar - September 1, 2006 09:51 PM (GMT)
You know, I could see desktops being phased out.. but by more powerful laptops. We're already at the point where laptops can be made equally as fast and powerful.
I don't think it'll happen. Laptops will always be useful, and there's a lot of progress and tech advancement still to be made in the that market.
Desktops are becoming cheaper and cheaper, and I don't see those being made obsolete, either.
The functionality threshold is still pretty far off as far as handheld units, despite what some whacko says. lol ... and who can discount the gaming aspect by any stretch of the imagination???
DangerMouse - September 2, 2006 05:46 PM (GMT)
I guess what theyre saying is dat the laptop will be replaced by a device like the DS or PSP for the same functionality, but withthe slimmer size.
I know if the PSP were capable of doing everything a Laptop could do, I would rather have a PSP. Imagining not really needing a desk anymore. You know how much space that would save. Hahahahahahahahahaaaaaa
Jack Blaguar - September 3, 2006 06:14 AM (GMT)
But, if that's what they're saying, I don't know ANYONE who would prefer a 4-inch screen as opposed to a 17" laptop screen ... for whatever media or application.
..and while there's certainly room for the handheld units in the market, ... you know as well as I do, Americans want BIGGER, MORE, and better... lol
There's sure to be someone who will invent a laptop screen that folds out to a 30-inch (or bigger) 16:9 format widescreen kept in the same size laptop when closed. ... That's the dircetion of portable computing, I would dare say. (Or at least I think it should be. lol)
4th Noun - September 5, 2006 06:43 PM (GMT)
Ok, I see what you mean.
The screen size does need to be rather large.
I guess they mean the laptop as we know it now will be gone, but we will have a more portable version by 2010, if that's even possible.
The 2010 outlook is way to optimistic. Maybe in another 10 years a statement like that will be more believable.