will tablets and smartphones soon render PC's obsolete?

Recently I was shocked to read on the web that they expect PC's to become obsolete in a few years, possibly even sooner. The article said smartphones and tablets would replace them. I still miss my old typewriter. But researching on the internet, I was quite impressed. Already, you can purchase a decent quality of tablet with keyboard for cheaper than ninety U.S. dollars. And in years ahead, progress might even make that as ridiculously cheap as under forty dollars.

Yet another fact that really impressed me was that since each smartphone has a unique OS, it is pretty hard for creators of viruses to craft a virus that affects masses of them. I intend to consult my computer guy, study all the pro's and con's. Yet if after my research I think switching would be smart, it might be sayonara to my desktop p.c. in a few months.

 

If you look at Windows 8, the interface is like as if designed for tablets..

 

No full PC softwares are available for tablets and smartphones yet. However, the upcoming windows surface pro will change that, but it's going to be more expensive.

Despite the facts, both the iPad and Android tablets have thousands and thousands of apps to choose from. There are apps for everything.

 

I wouldn't want to code, game or do audio/media editing on a tablet. For most internet users that only surf the web and go on social media sites, tablets will take over though.

I grew up on desktops, so this change makes me feel old. I love using keyboard and mouse but for everybody else, touch screen is more intuitive (elderly, non-computer literate folks, kids growing up with iPhones and iPads).

 

Hmm, this is a valid point. I guess it's all a matter of what you're aiming to do. I just use the computer for blogs, Facebook, email, research. It's like the difference between merely driving a car and being a mechanic or car designer.

 

... i hope pc's don't become obsolete. i love my little notebook computer and prefer using a full keyboard ...

 

MS Surface is pretty impressive! What do you think? Microsoft making a comeback... Apple falling out of popularity?

 

I find that my smartphone and tablet is able to mostly replace my PC today. I would say that my tablet replaces my PC 75% of the time. The only major things I do on my PC is play PC games (which I am doing less and less of these days), spreadsheet (MS Excel is still untouchable) and manage my music. I also have a lot of files stored on my PC from pictures and other personal files I have created over the years.

My PC and tablet are only a little over a year old. When it comes time to upgrade, I expect to be using just a tablet and phone instead of a tablet, phone and PC.

Just FYI, I have an Asus Transformer tablet with a keyboard dock. It is the dock that makes it a good, near PC replacement device. I do a lot of typing, so a good keyboard is a must.

I have had the opportunity to try out the MS Surface tablet this weekend. I am pretty impressed with the form factor. For me, I would prefer something more like the Transformer and keyboard dock. I believe Asus will make Win8 devices. If I had to get one, I am definitely going to consider an Asus device.

 

An advantage and a real plus with the Windows Surface tablets over iPads and Galaxy Tabs is usb port and memory card reader. The physical keyboard is also great. However, their apps are very limited compared to Apple and Google. The Windows Surface Tablet Pro will be able to run full windows softwares such as Photoshop CS6 etc, but it'll be more expensive and bigger in size.

 

The Asus Transformer line of tablets have a keyboard dock with USB ports and full-sized SD card reader.

 

i tried the surface at oakridge, it was really laggy...

 

I tried the Surface tablet at Metrotown. It was just the exact same Windows 8 on my desktop, except you get a touchscreen instead of a mouse.

 

I'm interested in those laptops with touchscreens on them.

They give you all the capabilities of a typical pc + the touchscreen capabilities of a tablet.

why do you need a tablet? just have the best of both worlds with a laptop + a proper keyboard.

Maybe get a touchscreen monitor too.

too bad that apple doesn't have anythin' like 'em.

Hopefully the release of Windows 8 will force them to release a laptop which has touchscreen capabilities.

I'd like to get an Apple computer where I could load OS X and Windows 8, have touch screen on both platforms.

But if Apple doesn't release anything affordable like that within the next two years, might switch to Windows.

anyway, those touchscreen tablets are relatively slow. I had my android tablet crash when it had to much going on at one time. They aren't there yet. They're really just a luxury item - some fancy thing which is ideal for marketing demonstrations, etc.

And I question the amount of radiation on those things - how can it be healthy to have it so close to your body/face/skin all the time?

 

Anyone considering a Chromebook? Only downside for me is that it is meant to use cloud services. I prefer better offline use, though.

 

I am a Google guy. Google Chrome, Gmail, and Android phone. This Chromebook would be blazing fast. Will probably be very affordable dual to the fact that some applications will be cloud base. Cause of this, they only need crappy specs to have a super fast machine. Google seem to be coming out with super powerful tablets at $199. I can't wait to see how Chromebooks will be like. I'm thinking it'll be slick and thin like Macbook air and Ultrabooks. I had last year's Macbook Air. On paper the specs are shitty, but it ran extremely smooth with no slowdown. Even my dad's windows laptop with better cpu and ram was laggy. If Google can make something similar and price it at $399-$499, it'll be gold. Macbook Airs are like $1100.

 

I seem to be getting pretty entrenched in Goggle as well. I have an Android phone and tablet and pretty active on Google+. I still have a PC with a lot of my files on it. Just got my laptop and tablet last year, so I likely won't be looking at upgrading for a few years. I am interested in seeing if these Chromebooks take off. I wonder what my devices would be in 2015 when it will probably be time for me to get a new PC/tablet and phone. Until then, I'm pretty well settled.