News Global PC market slowdown to continue

I recall visiting my local PC World to buy a graphics card. I was tempted by a Radeon 9600XT (which turned out to be a bad choice, but that's a different matter), but wasn't sure if my pre-built PC's 250 watt PSU would suffice. I asked a member of staff about it and he sort of looked bewildered and proceeded to turn the 9600XT's box over a few times while glaring at it. Then he gave up, and called over one of his colleagues, who was none the wiser. The PSU was good enough, but they didn't have a clue about it.

Last time I was in they hardly had any PC components on display. It looked more like a television showroom. I don't even bother browsing in there now, and buy all my components online.

Anyway, I'm rambling off topic.

 

Having just gotten back from a month in California on vacation I have to say that while a tablet would have been nice at times, I NEED at least a laptop. Several reasons for this, really:

1. Downloading cameras and video: We shoot a lot of stills and video on vacation, something like 70 or 75 GB for the month. This gets saved to the laptop and edited there, which is something else I can't imagine trying to do on a tablet.

2. Writing: I did a fair bit of writing while I was there for a book I might publish someday. It was challenging enough of the small laptop keyboard, I can't imagine using a touchscreen or dock keyboard. If you're going to be spending hours writing on a computer, you want a real desktop.

3. Gaming: I spent a few hours playing World of Tanks while on vacation. Couldn't have done that on the tablet.