There was a time, a few years ago, when I thought it was the end of desktops. Looking for a replacement to my laptop that had recently run it's course I barely glanced at the desktops. Why would I want one when I could do more or less everything I needed from a laptop that was twice as powerful and half the weight of my previous one?
I was really wrong.
It's not that I shouldn't have a laptop, it helps. It's just that we have it in addition to a desktop, and now an iPad and smart phone. More and more I've found myself wanting to get stuff done on the desktop over the laptop. I crave the faster processor, the bigger memory, the larger brighter screen, no faffing with power cords and batteries, no set up, better ergonomics and the ability to run more serious, powerful programs.
Part of this need stems from wanting to use processor hungry software for more advanced music and graphics processing. The Adobe Suite and music recording and sequencing software are guaranteed to chew up my memory, benefit from a larger screen (or better, two), a mouse and connections to midi devices, cameras and printers. Same with bookmaking, or photo sorting. Using Photoshop and Ableton are really only viable on a large desktop or, like some MacBooks, the screen needs to be so big you may as well put it on a stand or not bother to try lugging it around.
It seems that we're going through a period of specialization of devices where we'll use a kindle for reading, a tablet for web browsing, a phone for short emails, Twitter and shorter interactions. And a desktop is still great for specialized powerful programs, and a large monitor still hard to challenge for watching videos and working.
As a result I find myself eyeing up larger monitors, powerful processors and bigger hard drives and I'm forced to conclude that, for some people, the desktop will be alive and kicking for a long time yet.
I was really wrong.
It's not that I shouldn't have a laptop, it helps. It's just that we have it in addition to a desktop, and now an iPad and smart phone. More and more I've found myself wanting to get stuff done on the desktop over the laptop. I crave the faster processor, the bigger memory, the larger brighter screen, no faffing with power cords and batteries, no set up, better ergonomics and the ability to run more serious, powerful programs.
Part of this need stems from wanting to use processor hungry software for more advanced music and graphics processing. The Adobe Suite and music recording and sequencing software are guaranteed to chew up my memory, benefit from a larger screen (or better, two), a mouse and connections to midi devices, cameras and printers. Same with bookmaking, or photo sorting. Using Photoshop and Ableton are really only viable on a large desktop or, like some MacBooks, the screen needs to be so big you may as well put it on a stand or not bother to try lugging it around.
It seems that we're going through a period of specialization of devices where we'll use a kindle for reading, a tablet for web browsing, a phone for short emails, Twitter and shorter interactions. And a desktop is still great for specialized powerful programs, and a large monitor still hard to challenge for watching videos and working.
As a result I find myself eyeing up larger monitors, powerful processors and bigger hard drives and I'm forced to conclude that, for some people, the desktop will be alive and kicking for a long time yet.
1 comments:
I thoroughly agree, even laptops seem quite bulky now to lug around. I'm far happier carrying my iPad around and connecting for work on whatever device is available at location. I like having a powerful computer at home so I can use it like a server with VMWare's View enabling me to connect from any device to my home computer. That way the home desktop does all the processing, bulk storage and carries all my software and I can just give it commands remotely and get the results. Eventually though all this computing power will be in the cloud, so perhaps the future is a small Internet box and a 100" wall screen
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