The Amazing Shrinking Personal Computer.

This is off topic!
The Amazing Shrinking Personal Computer.

Better I put this here. It is not news until there is a dead body. Son there will be dead bodies, metaphorically speaking. Now mobile computer devices are killing the desktop and laptop personal computers. In fact, the newer gadgets are really much more personal. Many people use them as communicators and as PDA. But they really are computers and do what computers do.

Anyway, here are some recent headlines.

Tablet PC Comparison News: IPad Outsells PCs | presentations ...
http://www.presentations-plus.biz/tablet-pc-comparison-news-ipad-outsells-pcs/908/
Tablet PC Comparison News: IPad Outsells PCs. by admin on Feb. 1, 2012, under Technology, Computers. Last year here at Tablet PC Comparison, we saw a ..

Apple Expects Tablets to Outsell Desktops and Notebooks ...
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/mobile/display/20120125175944_Apple_Expects_Tablets_to_Outsell_Desktops_and_Notebooks_Eventually.html

A Computer Blog: Apple's iPad Outsells HP's PCs in Q1 2012
http://acomputerblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/apples-ipad-outsells-hps-pcs-in-q1-2012.html
Jan 25, 2012 – Apple's iPad Outsells HP's PCs in Q1 2012 ... mobile tech gadgets draw in customers for the company's netbooks and desktop computers.

What happens when the iPad outsells the Mac | Circuit Breaker ...Jan 24, 2011
But even though it sells more iPads, Apple still rakes in more money overall on Macs than the touch-screen tablets: $5.4 billion in revenue on desktops and laptops, $4.6 billion from iPads
http://news.cnet.com/8301-31021_3-20029258-260.html

Power supply: What's going on if the iPad is hotter than the Mac
http://john-powersupply.blogspot.com/2011/01/whats-going-on-if-ipad-is-hotter-than.html
... sphere of added money overall on Macs than the touch-screen medicine: $5.4 billion in the sphere of revenue on desktops and laptops, $4.6 billion from iPads ...

Titbit: Amazon's Kindle Fire Outsells Apple iPad at Release
http://www.abalook.com/journal/2011/12/31/titbit-amazonrsquos-kindle-fire-outsells-apple-ipad-at-relea.html
Dec 31, 2011 – Titbit: Amazon's Kindle Fire Outsells Apple iPad at Release ... mid-2012 and it will work very nicely on tablet computers (compared to Windows...

I am not making this up. This is what other people are saying. In the future, like maybe this year, a PC will be defined as something you can carry in a coat pocket, not a briefcase. 

EDIT link
Comments?

All of those devices require a PC to do things like update firmware, I believe.

So clearly they aren't completely emancipated.

Heck iPads, iPhones, etc are all but useless without a PC to connect them to. I don't even think you can charge those without a PC, which is a pointless limitation. (though the iPad itself is fairly limited in what you can do without a PC in a lot of ways as well. And even when  you do you have to use a specific piece of software to transfer files or perform upgrades to the system.

I don't even think you can charge those without a PC ...

That's not true.  They come with a 10W USB power adapter that plugs into a power outlet.  Reference: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4060

That's not true.  They come with a 10W USB power adapter that plugs into a power outlet.  Reference: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4060

It's functionality and capabilities are still limited if you don't have a PC to interoperate with. Basically they aren't even designed to replace a desktop or laptop anyway. One could argue that they are, but only for simple tasks like web browsing and E-mail, but they suck at both of those (dreadfully slow page rendering and awful support for modern web standards) and they aren't aimed to do that anyway. They facilitate PCs. They do not replace them.

It's functionality and capabilities are still limited if you don't have a PC to interoperate with. Basically they aren't even designed to replace a desktop or laptop anyway. One could argue that they are, but only for simple tasks like web browsing and E-mail, but they suck at both of those (dreadfully slow page rendering and awful support for modern web standards) and they aren't aimed to do that anyway. They facilitate PCs. They do not replace them.

I don't have one but I have at least two or more relatives who have them and I suspect they'd disagree with you.  But, I have only briefly seen an iPad in use and can't refute what you're saying.  Still, I'm skeptical.  For one thing, I did briefly see some web viewing and it did not seem "dreadfully slow", but, again, this was a very brief exposure to an iPad.   

[Web moderator]

I have a smartphone, and it is not "dreadfully slow" at web browsing or email. It is actually the best phone I have had since I've been buying phones.

I do agree however it is not a replacement for a PC, and never will be.

[Moderator]

They aren't PC's...

Geek can use all the 30 year old references he cares to but in my opinion they are NOT PC's...
Do they offer some of the functions of a PC ? ? Yes.
Does this make them PC's ? ? No.

I recall the early 2000's when they were hyping up smartphones to be the next best thing and stated that we'd have hologram keybords soon.
Never happened. I tried using a PDA for my daily chores, appointments and whatnot and everyone thought I was the delivery man.

All I can see is that I appreciate devices that require no electricity or Windows licenses more by the year.

It's important that you decide when and where you want to be "connected". Having a device on you at all times just gives people pretext to harass you with silly notions of modernism.

I hate "gadgets".

I love gadgets. Except TV remote controls.
Here is a rant I missed from PC World.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/249313/smartphone_sales_boom_who_needs_a_laptop.html
By Jeff Bertolucci, PCWorld    Feb 4, 2012 12:04 PM

Will your next laptop be a smartphone? The idea isn't as crazy as it sounds. In the coming decade, mobile phones will gain capabilities that make them suitable replacements for the conventional desktop/laptop computer.   

Phones are already more popular than PCs. New research by Canalys shows that 2011 global smartphone shipments topped those of client PCs -- including desktops, laptops, netbooks, and tablets -- for the first time.

The development is a "significant milestone," says Canalys analyst Chris Jones.

[Moderator]

How would you be able to participate here on a smartphone if you're convinced they have replaced PC's ? ?
What speech to text apps do they have currently that even come close to working ? ?

How would you be able to participate here on a smartphone if you're convinced they have replaced PC's ? ?
What speech to text apps do they have currently that even come close to working ? ?

You got me! 

I don't have one but I have at least two or more relatives who have them and I suspect they'd disagree with you.  But, I have only briefly seen an iPad in use and can't refute what you're saying.  Still, I'm skeptical.  For one thing, I did briefly see some web viewing and it did not seem "dreadfully slow", but, again, this was a very brief exposure to an iPad.

I said it was slow. Not completely unusable. If somebody is willing to drop several hundred dollars on an iPad I doubt they are going to be as open to noticing it's various flaws, particularly since if they bought it in the first place they are already a lost cause as far as being reasonable is concerned anyway. My Windows 98SE machine browses faster and more correctly than any smartphone or iPad I've used. It has a 133Mhz Pentium processor. Why? This makes no sense. Web browsing is one of the primary purposes of the devices and they can't even seem to get that right. And even if it is "fast" (or rather, if the person using it determines that it's fast enough, it's never as fast as your average desktop computer) it's still going to look like crap because very few phones and tablet have browsers that work properly.
The ironic bit is behind all the bells and whistles "smartphones" are misnamed, since their ability to act as a phone is hardly ever utilized by anybody. People are more intent to "text" each other at exorbinant rates and act as if this is the "future" when all they are doing is the equivalent of IRC, difference being that they pay for every message they send- and receive- rather then a hourly rate or a flat monthly fee. It's profiteering, plain and simple, and the fact that so many people buy into this crap, regard it as "hip and cool" and happily pay the ridiculous fees attached to simply swapping ascii text is just plain sad.

Truly, the demographic for smartphones, ipads, ipods, itouch's, whatever is simple. They are devices designed to be as efficient as possible at separating hipster trash from their parents money. Sort of like Alienware machines. You can tell when something has this purpose if all you can choose is the colour.

[Moderator]

Truly, the demographic for smartphones, ipads, ipods, itouch's, whatever is simple. They are devices designed to be as efficient as possible at separating hipster trash from their parents money. Sort of like Alienware machines. You can tell when something has this purpose if all you can choose is the colour.

Well put...

People actually buy MAC's just cause the top bezel can be replaced with different colors...

P.T. Barnum was right...

Barnum is widely, but erroneously, credited with coining the phrase "There's a sucker born every minute."

EDIT: OK, if you must, here is the Full Story

[Moderator]

***sigh***