BBC: Does the PC have a future?

[fix-the-spade]

I think with games now costing tens of millions to make, the graphically-demanding PC exlcusive will slowly die out as publishers look to recoup there investment

This argument has been floating about for more than two decades now and it's wrong, not unreasonable or stupid, but certainly wrong.

Triple A headline games have always been cyclical in their publishing, going from PC market leading development towards Consoles as the hardware catches up mass marketed titles are seen as more proftiable, then back to PC led as technology moves forward and new intellectual properties and developers emerge.

New trends, series and developers almost exclusively emerge from the PC gaming world. Epic, Bethesda, Valve, Dice, Infinity Ward, Gearbox, CSC Gameworld, Crytek, all began developing exclusively for the PC and moved outwards as their markets expanded. Very few developers (notable exceptions being Naughty Dog and Insomniac) ever start with consoles as the exclusive platform, the console world is a very difficult one for new intellectual properties to break.

Also, there is no innovation in the console market. Look at the feature set of the home consoles available now and try to find a feature PC players didn't have first, it's near impossible (unless you count the Xbox-logo switch on the controllers). This being ahead of the curve has been primarily what's kept PC gaming relevant and thriving. Everything from network multiplayer through digital distribution and downloadable expansion have come from PCs to consoles and not the other way round.

At the moment there are a great number of PC centric indie developers about. Looking at small downloadable games like Frozen Synapse or f2p shooters like QuakeLive and World of Tanks seems to be a pretty good indication of where the console markets will go in four-five years time.

Speaking of which, the current home console hardware is becoming extremely limiting to developers, in the last year there's been a small shift back towards PC as a lead platform, BF3's heavy feature cutting (even going as far as letter boxing the game on 360) being the most obvious. The console market is pretty saturated now, aside from Call of Duty nobody has been breaking any records in a while.

As far as home use goes, this is something of a fad and not a reliable indication of 'the future'. Tablet units like the iPad are sorely lacking processing grunt, connectivity and ergonomics, as a pure work tool they are largely useless without a full ofice suite and an attached keyboard/mouse, which defeats the object.

Whilst netbooks and laptops are expensive relative to performance and also tend to lack features. The PC is slowly taking over as the defacto home entertainment unit, whether consumers realise it or not.

The most convincing vision of the future I've seen comes from Gigabyte. They've recently released a series of computers they call 'Booktops,'

Essentially a mash up of a netbook, tablet and a full desktop PC, at the moment they are far too expensive for mass marketing (think £1000-ish) but they integrate a capacative Ipad style screen with a proper keyboard, Windows 7 and hardware fitting of a reasonably high end laptop, whilst at the same time having built in connecivity (USB, HDMI etc) and a mount-in docking station containing an optical drive and further connections for separate screens and hardware (printers, stand alone keyboard, mice etc).

Off the docking station you have a 1KG-ish platform that behaves either as a normal small laptop or as a tablet when the screen is flipped round. On the docking station you have a solid mid-range PC, not suitable for high end gaming, but it will work 1080p playback and any application short of high end 3-D, video or graphics editing without breaking sweat.

As a work and entertainment package these are far more convincing than rapidly obsolete tablets, they're literally everything in one package. I predict a lot more of these coming out in the next few years as pricing drops.

 

[fix-the-spade]

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/phpimages/article/2/8/2/25282.gif?v=1

You mean to say you have never in your life seen an infra red cursor control?

Come on man, to the time machine and 1990!

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Yeah, people can be stupid. They keep buying gadgets they really don't need and then they convince themselves that they can't live without them and don't know how they used to live without them. I'm talking about iPhone and iPad here. Two of the most useless gimmicks ever created by man.

A lot of people depend on PC's. Video game developers, special effect guys, engineers etc. They all need the latest and greatest PC tech. And the biggest crowd of them all are PC gamers. PC won't die. In case you didn't know, companies that make PC components (Intel, Nvidia, AMD etc.) are earning more money than ever before. All of these little gimmicks are a thing of the moment. They can only go so far. Just look at iPhone and iPad. Every fuckin' year they make the same thing, add a few extra features that no one should really give a damn, and they sell it as a new product. It's only a matter of time before people just stop buying those gimmicks because they are too expensive and don't offer enough to justify all that spending.

 

[RA92]

http://cdn-www.cracked.com/phpimages/article/2/8/2/25282.gif?v=1

You mean to say you have never in your life seen an infra red cursor control?

Come on man, to the time machine and 1990!

You may have a point. I remember the time when I first saw a <url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smaky>motion detector.

But on a more serious note, the bit I hated about the article was this:

One thing the PC makers have not done over the last few years is make products that are innovative in terms of compelling features and novel form factors.

They're basically saying desktops/PCs will die out because they've failed to procure gimmicks like the iPad and the Wiimote. you know, the shiny stuff the sheeple are are looking for. Those idiots were probably responsible for <url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/113986-Apple-Voted-Largest-Influence-On-Gaming-Industry>this as well.

Because yeah, that's exactly what the office workers, developers, hardcore gamers and simmers want. Can't wait to start using my iOS device for using UDK!

*facepalm*

 

[fix-the-spade]

see that whole thing is a brilliant idea BUT (and yes its a big but like my own) it would require high amounts of marketing to educate the average user in why its a good idea (because it is no shadow of a doubt a good idea). You gotta remember the general public aren't as tech literate as most people would like.

Actually I think it's strength is the ease of use.

All the advert would have to do is how someone using it, you can take between all three 'modes' inside of thirty seconds. The hardware handles the switches automatically so all the user has to remeber is 'flip thing over' and 'plus thing into other thing' and the rest takes care of itself.


I can already see the douchey Apple commercial for one,
This is a Macbook {hands using laptop flip it into tablet mode} and now it's an Ipad {Sits unit into docking station. screen, DVD drive and keyboard power up automatically} and NOW it's a Mac, the new apple I'm smug, everything in one.

<spoiler= In fact I dug up this little demo video here>
<youtube=oPcBFm6dktU>
I see what you're getting at, but Gigabyte really seem to have nailed the user friendliness aspect, I think these things will be huge soon.

 

[Tyrant T100]

The BBC is one of the worst news networks around which is a shame as they used to be very good, horribly biased stories, so in short everything they say is most likely wrong.

 

[RagTagBand]

"graphics heavy games...Skyrim"

-chuckles- what a quaint joke.

Anyway, OT.

Desktop PC's aren't going anywhere, they're just not "the one and only" anymore. Much in the same way Landlines still exist even though Mobile phones also exist now too...as well as being able to call people from a computer.

What PC's are going through as a whole is the rise of mobility. Need the best performance? You get a Desktop. Need the best Mobility? Get a smart-phone. Need to strike the best balance between performance and mobility? Get a laptop. And between these extremes there are bridges and midpoints, Tablet devices bridge the gap between smartphones and laptops, things like Ultrabooks and small desktops (the kind you'd take to LAN's) bridge the gap between laptops and Desktops.

Desktops aren't dying, it has just had a bunch of incredibly successful children, rest assured a desktop will always be required.

 

[Loner Jo Jo]

They are dying, but that's the nature of technology. Who here still uses a type writer to type up documents? Probably very few of you, and probably less of you use a typewriter solely to type up documents instead of a PC or laptop or tablet or whatever. Who still uses telegrams? Very few people if any. It's not a bad thing though; technology has improved and outmoded older forms of it. Our lives or at least communication has improved because of it.

This being said, I don't think the PC will die for a long time. Now, it's filling a niche market on both the industrial and personal level. PCs can hold more information and are more powerful than most laptops. If you take the best PC and the best laptop, the PC is still stronger processing wise. One day, this will no longer be true. Laptops will be just as strong as PCs. When that day comes, PCs will die. It hasn't yet, especially for the video game market, but to say that it will never come ignores historical trends.

(Also for anyone arguing semantics about "technically your laptop is a PC" you're splitting hairs. Does anyone refer to their laptop or tablet as "my PC"? No, they call it a laptop or tablet. Yes, PC and desktop are not synonymous, but most people equate "PC" with desktop. Of course, computers in general aren't going anywhere. Probably from this point until the end of humanity, there will always be a personal computer of some sort.)

 

[zehydra]

Of course it does.

That's like asking if people still need cars since we have so many bikes.

Maybe when any of the listed competitors becomes competent enough to replace the PC in what the PC NEEDS to do.

 

[Fishyash]

I think the PC definately has less of a role for the average person than it used to so many years ago, but I think the PC will still have a place in the most performance intensive tasks. I won't use a laptop for any music studio work personally, for example.

Also, would you use a laptop for gaming over a PC? (okay your thread wasn't about this but I had to say so, however it's decieving because this is in the gaming discussion forum)

And I don't think this is a bad thing. The PC will still be here, but there is no point trying to resist any change to technology, by any stretch of the imagination. If PCs ever die (for whatever reason), it will definately be for the better.

 

[devotedsniper]

I think it abit stupid asking a company that only really produces RAM, my system is getting on now it's 4 nearly 5 years old, it's had 4gb RAM since i built it, i've never needed to upgrade my ram, it still runs all modern games on high at 1680*1050 and currently its down a gig (has been for a few month but i havent needed the 4th gig).

The one thing my system has had upgraded several times (lemme count...on it's 5th) is the graphics card, and thats only because i buy midranged cards so i don't go spending £200+ on a card.

PC's will always be around and for one simple reason, a desktop has a hell lot more horsepower than a laptop or smartphone. That and a desktop doesn't go an overheat every few hours unlike alot of laptops i've owned.

 

[Zantos]

I want to argue against this, but I'm really struggling to think of anything I do on my PC that I couldn't do with something else. Play a specific few games maybe, that's about it.

 

[The Lunatic]

For the average consumer, the laptop likely is a more practical solution to their needs.

To a gamer, and to anyone who's working in any kind of creative industry, the desktop is a must.

In business, it also makes a lot of sense to have a desktop.

The desktop won't die for an awful long time, if ever.

Portability is a thing, sure, it's nice for some things. But, the idea that "Portable = better" is just silly.

Any activity that requires more than 10 minutes of your dedicated attention just won't work as well if you're using it in a "Portable" way.

The reason phones, MP3 players and what-not work is because you're not using them constantly, you might press your Ipod 3 times in the space of an hour, and it'll do it's job all during this time.

A game will not.

 

[Ledan]

A laptop is a PC. Instead of my family only having one desktop, we have five PC's. The desktop is dead (i think), the laptop is the future.
The PC is dead, long live the PC.
Keyboard has a certain advantage over touchscreen, just like controllers and buttons have a certain advantage over the wii and kinect.

 

[direkiller]

Mr Atwal said Gartner is expecting a "notable" slowdown in the number of PCs consumers buy in late 2011 and 2012.

That seems odd given what technological advances and the recession are doing to the desktop PC.

"The PC has become commoditised so it can sell at lower prices," said Mr Atwal. "And that's been exaggerated by the economic downturn."

wait what
http://content.dell.com/us/en/corp/d/secure/fy11_q3_earnings_release
dell 3q reports have 19% increase
yes PC is dieing despite people buying more of them

 

[Lug100]

With most stuff the BBC are "generally" pretty good, but as soon as they start talking about technology, its not worth paying attention, cos they have no clue what there talking about.

For instance over the summer hols, I was watching the news when they had a half an hour special about the internet (i think it was the anniveriasry of its creation or somehting), and dear god was it retardely patonising. This is genuinly how it started.. "Did you know the internet and the web are two differnt things? I didnt." Yes well done BBC, good to see your keeping up with the times... It then went on for another 20 mins and didnt even properly explain the difference, and introduced a couple of people who hold the "keys" to the internet. -_-

But random BBC technophobe rant over, back on topic;

It maybe true that PC sales are done, but then again it is a recession, so even with cheaper PCs its only logical that sales mabye down. And yes there is still a lot of potential for PC, for instance just compaire the graphics of the Xbox edition of BF3 to the PC one and see the huge graphical advantage the PC has.

 

[Diablini]

Yes it does.

No gimmicky touch screen portable doohickey is going to replace the PC. I don't think I even have to argument myself. People might start using other devices but I doubt they'll stop using PC altogether.