Windows I think we need to sit down and have a chat

About the gradual demise of the ATX desktop computer...

Unless you're an extreme PC gamer or needing high power graphics for design, you probably don't have much use for a traditional desktop PC anymore. The average non-techy computer person is going to buy a tablet or a laptop right?

Even Microsoft has eventually recognised that things are changing and set about modifying windows 7 for the tablet market > windows 8 and of course their first tablets.

So what's keeping ATX desktop computing alive now?

Hardcore overclockers?

Extreme gamers?

Nvidia and AMD make a wide range of graphics cards for desktop PC.

CAD/Rendering sector.

A large percentage of gamers now use consoles and tablets.

So the ATX PC market is shrinking right?

The desktop PC for the average home user also appears to be shrinking down into something you can hold in one hand.

I myself am going through a period of total disinterest in PC games and perhaps gaming in general. Because of that I don't need to be sat at my desktop computer each day. I can sit with my iPad and do almost everything I'm using PC for including recording guitar and creating music.

The biggest downside of the tablet especially iPad is lack of connectivity for gaming. There are driving sims on iPad but you won't be using a Fanatec wheel and pedals. Consequently I just don't bother with those kind of games or FPS on tablet. Tower Madness is the number one tablet game I play sometimes.

My desktop GPU cost more than my iPad 4th gen. Aside from a few GPU computing apps it's dedicated to gaming. I've reached a point of total disinterest in gaming and I don't think that will change until Oculus and I don't want to get to that point again where I'm addicted to games. So I'm now considering if I should stop myself getting Oculus HD when it hits the market.

So in summary I can do almost all I need to do on tablet except for FPS and flight or driving sims.

Having said that... I don't like the idea of a future without the vast wealth of PC games and simulations. I mean you can get simulations for everything including logging, skyscrapers, train driving and bus driving. I also like to overclock my desktop PC.

So perhaps the desktop PC won't die out... it will just continue to shrink down into smaller boxes. The question is whether it will continue to be overclockable.

 

Hmm...

 

I think it's going to be a little while before the desktop pc dies out (if at all), for many many families it's still the 'family pc', even if they have a tablet or a laptop as well.

Then for gamers, I would agree there are more smaller form factor builds going on, since you don't need all of the slots anymore unless you're really going for an extreme setup.

I personally have gone from atx to matx, with a bit of mitx in between (changed due to number of HDDs wanted) and I don't see myself going back to atx anytime soon.

 

I've been a PC gamer for 16 years. For 16 years now I have read that PCs are a dying breed and that consoles/phones/tablets are the future.


I have never believed this before and today, when I look at the biggest video game in the world (League of Legends), I can't imagine PC dying any time soon.

Oh and people who "game" on a tablet aren't gamers. They're just casuals. There is only so much an accelerometer, a touch screen and a microphone can do gameplay wise. It's just a trend that's going to slowly die out. Tablets will stay but people will stop considering them as a real gaming device soon enough

I personally still use an ATX PC (sig). It's ****ing awesome and I can do more with it than I ever could with my computers in the past. Everything is centered around my PC. I game on it, I use it to watch movies, listen to music, browse the web, store my billions of files, download new files, communicate with friends. No other device can do all of this. They can only do some.

I ****ing love my PC and it's not going anywhere. The worst case scenario is that parts will go back up in price like they were back in the 90s. There's no way the PC will disappear altogether

 

Gaming and performance market is the answer.

Server market left ATX area long time ago.
Business computers are migrating towards small devices/network terminals/laptops. When the current generation of devices dies out, i don't see companies getting something else than NUC-like devices.

On other side, desktop gaming market is not as small as you would think - XBOX360 is at 78 million units, PS3 is estimated at similar amount of units. I am pretty sure there is similar number of gaming PCs/gaming laptops - just right now there are 4,5 million online Steam users (peak for last days is at 5.3 million users).

 

So based on your replies the desktop market has a future. I would certainly hope so because as much as I like my tablet, I agree there is only so much u can do with touch screen and accelerometer. Just perhaps... My pc could do with being reduced in size a little. I still have my monster water cooling and its just cooling CPU now.

What we have with the desktop pc is a truly open and flexible system that gives us choices.

I think there's a fair bit of scaremongering with some so-called tech journalists proclaiming doom for the desktop platform.

 

I brought an i3 laptop for general use, but still keeping my desktop for storage, connectivity and gaming even if I have downgraded to an AMD 7770 and i3 2120 it still plays BF3.

The desktop gives me that flexibility and that is why it's awesome.
LONG LIVE THE DESKTOP

 

No, they are claiming the post-PC era, which technically is right. There is a bunch of people who have computers and laptops, but tablets fit their usage pattern better. How many of your parents really need the laptop or PC features and would be fine with a cheap 7-10" tablet instead ? Most of them - you can browse web, write that one-two emails per day or chat via Skype with tablets too, no need to have huge desktop for that.

And that is what is happening - the "casual" users are moving away from PC and laptops, but that of course means less sales = post-PC era. PC manufacturers won't sell 90 million PCs per quarter of year, but maybe 40-50 million, while tablets will go up to 70-90 million per quarter range.

 

We have smart phones. tablets, laptops and pc's in the house and when ever we want to do anything properly we head straight to the pc's

Don't get me wrong I love my tablet but if I had to type for any length of time on it it would get right up my nose, they have some fun games and they are useful to pick up and watch a movie or have a quick game when out and about but for me at least it will never replace a proper desktop.

 

The sector is not dieing its just people are not upgrading, I've had my CPU for close to 4 years and have since added ssds and new gpus to it but its still quick enough to give me the same FPS as everyone else gets in Gpu limited games. Not really any CPU limited game anymore civ 5 is as close as it gets in that reguard.

The new consoles might change that as people assume that with AMD chips been 8cores that AMD chips will become super competitive again but can't see it. Most devs still use a intel compiler even when making ports of games. Still alot of games that don't even use 3 threads let alone 4 or 8. Was running crysis 3 last night and it used 40% of 3 cores of my CPU rest where at 0% usage. And that's one of the latest released games that actually needs a good computer for.

And alot of the new console releases have been made on high end intel pcs. Microsofts Xbox one was even running off a intel nvidia pc in the recent event.

Will take 2-3 years before we see a real port of a console made game and even then it will likely be some version of a EA game.

 

Post pc era. I guess if someone just needs web browsing, email, social network then tablet suits them fine. If I should happen to move away from pc gaming, that would mean my desktop being used for music making and perhaps a bit of photo and video editing. Some web design too perhaps.

I don't think I'll ever become just a casual user but certainly there is a lot of stuff I can do on tablet right now.

My gf has a vista era laptop, a netbook, an i3 desktop I built for her with gtx 460 and an iPad 3rd gen. She uses the desktop each day when she's making her web pages or writing her blog. Also uses her iPad quite a lot and the laptop less and less because its so slow.

She also uses photoshop.

She has watched me playing BF3 on my pc and thinks its amazing. She would love to play but she finds key and mouse for fps too difficult.

 

To add. If you have a a Windows tablet, like the Razer tablet, you can play games on it. It has a GeForce graphic chip. And all Windows tablet you can plug a monitor, keyboard and mouse. So essentially you have a tablet, which is also a light desktop PC, which can be a laptop, with the keyboard add-on.

 

I've gone down to an M-ATX because of space constrictions in my household but I don't have any need for all of the slots. I have a Dual slot GPU and that is it. I don't think the Desktop PC will ever die but I'm not so sure about the ATX size. I think there's less of them about this time round and companies have opted to produce more m-atx and ITX sized boards.

 

I still prefer desktops. I think a central home desktop is better than a laptop just for maintenance, repairs and upgrades. You get more bang for your buck. My laptop gets turned on a few times a week for browsing in bed, but I prefer browsing on my larger screens and using my desktop. I think pc's are slowly downsizing to smaller form factors for convenience but with all the other mobile technologies lagging behind in grunt and power, I think desktops aren't going anywhere in the near future.

 

Same here. After having played on the PC since 1986 I've finally reached the point, where games aren't that interesting anymore.

For DTP and making music the iGPU of an i5-3450 is enough allready. If you want to, you can slap a low-profile 7750 into the system and then you'll sure have enough power for a workstation (DTP, video, music, 3d-modeling).

For the couch and surfing the web I have an iPad, and I even bought some apps like Sketchbook Pro, iMaschine, DM1 and even a few games like Pirates!, TW PGA12 and it's a great device for these slow-going days.
And then there's the PS3 in the living-room ofc.

I wouldn't recommend a laptop as primary PC really, as it's not that good to upgrade/repair and usually not as cheap.

 

I looked at that razer.. Nice to have a tablet with x86 and more connectivity than the iPad has. Only thing that kills it is the cost I guess. Perhaps it's a sign of tablets to come though?

I've built matx systems for people and they're fine as far as I'm concerned. Overclocking is just as good. I wouldn't mind building an overclocked mini itx.

I've actually never owned my own laptop. Repaired a number of them for people and upgraded but its the lack of graphics grunt and upgrades that kill them for me.

A friend of mine many years ago when xp was just released, built his first pc. Cost him £1000 for the parts and it turned out to be the worst computer ever. It made him hate desktop pcs so much he has only had laptops since. The desktop had an amd processor but it was back in the days when that awful chip company whose name escapes me were making chipsets for mobos. He couldn't even install xp on the pc because it failed with errors every time. My pcs were always intel and I just remembered it was Cyrix chipset his mobo had. He replaced it with a laptop costing £900 many years ago. It lasted until a few months ago and he now has a new laptop. He will never own another desktop again but I have always said I would never want a laptop as my main computer.

I love my iPad music making apps and there's a good site that shows when music apps are on sale or free.

http://www.iosmusician.com/

 

Via is most likely the company you're looking for

edit: didn't read the whole thing. meh

 

Oh deity. You're right. Yeah, the awful VIA.

 

I think that Desktops will be around for many years to come here. And ATX? I think it'll be around too; but i don't think that companies will make as many. There are the power users and enthusiasts that have to have 3 or 4 way GPU configurations and all that.

 

When people say the market is shrinking, they are mainly talking about Office and family computers - does anyone here even care about those?

The enthusiast and gaming market is as big as it ever was. Hurrah.