There has been a lot of talk recently about desktop computers going the way of the dodo. With tablet PCs and laptops becoming increasingly versatile, will there be any room for PCs in the tech marketplace 10 years down the road?
At FixMyPCFree.com, we say the answer is ‘yes’. Desktop PCs have been a key feature in our corporate and home offices for nearly 20 years, and there are still many ways in which a desktop PC is superior to laptops, tablets, and many other competitors. Here are our top 3 reasons why you shouldn’t give away your desktop PC just yet:
PC gaming
Yes, there are plenty of gaming laptops out there, and many of them are more powerful than even an above average PC. However, these laptops are always restricted by a few different factors. They lack the required space to hold video cards and their cooling units, for example. As much as computer technology has shrunk physically over the last few years, components like video cards seem to get larger and larger, and laptops just can’t hold all of it inside.
Gaming laptops also don’t have the power to support high-end gaming for an extended period of time. Today’s top of the line gaming PCs can hog up as much as 1000W of electricity, and a laptop’s battery can’t supply that kind of power for more than a few hours – if you’re lucky.
Until batteries are able to store a large amount of power – or network providers finally deliver on their promise to charge our electronics using wireless signals – you’re still going to need your desktop PC for serious gaming.
Work and business requirements
While many businesses have been able to transition away from desktops over the last few years, there are always going to be companies that need to rely on desktops – at least for the near future. Companies that supply server space, for example, always use desktop PCs to handle bandwidth and the processing of information. If your company is fixed in an office environment, then desktop PCs are still an easy and affordable way to do business.
Complex design and multimedia projects
If you mess around with any sort of multimedia and graphics, then you probably prefer to use a desktop. These types of applications can suck up a lot of processing power, and having a powerful desktop is the only way to keep up with the demands of the industry.
Whether you’re designing special effects for a new 3D movie or creating a next generation video game, a desktop PC is the easiest option. Put simply, when you need pure, raw performance to do your work, then you need a desktop, not a laptop.
The bottom line
Of course, this doesn’t mean that the desktop computer is completely future-proof. Eventually, higher-end components will shrink to a point where they can fit within even the smallest electronic device. Laptops and tablet PCs have exploded in growth over the past few years, and with more and more tech companies devoting resources to the ‘mobile revolution’, the desktop PC could very well be an ancient relic 20 or 30 years from now.
