The Desktop pc has long been dead, the specs have decreased and left what would normally be a good computer, feeling like netbooks.

Respectfully disagree. While some markets may be cannibalizing others, it’s shortsighted to say that the shrinking one is “dying”; it’s just moving toward a stable equilibrium. People will still want laptops in a netbook world, because of the greater power, bigger screen, etc. People will still want netbooks in a tablet world, because of the expandability, better keyboard, etc. (though who knows how this will evolve).

And people will still want desktops for what they have to offer over portable computers.

1 – Size: First, let me spin this another way: Desktops can sport giant, beautiful 30″ LCD screens, full-sized, comfortable, ergonomic keyboards and mice. Try coding on a laptop for long periods of time. And second, desktops of today have many compact varieties. While I prefer beasts, it’s trivial today to find a desktop smaller than your average DVD player.

2 – Power: Tell that to PC gamers (or as I like to call them, “gamers”) that laptops are more powerful. I’m sorry, but perhaps the most appealing thing about a desktop PC is its capacity to be packed full of the highest performance hardware out there. While admittedly, most people are scared away at the thought of having to customize a PC, the rest of us are thrilled at this aspect. Attend the Penny Arcade Expo PC gaming (and “Bring-Your-Own-PC” area and count the number of laptops.

(Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a good beast of a gaming laptop, but it’s still no replacement for a beefy gaming desktop.)

Oh, and don’t get me started with console gaming. It may be the most popular (just like Lady Gaga), but there will always be a market for people who like *good* music–er, gaming.

3: Portability: It’s true that laptops/tablets are more portable. But this in no way implies that they’re going to kill desktops. It’s a tradeoff. My cell phone is even smaller than my laptop, but I’m not going to use it to write an essay.

4. I agree that they’re cheaper than they used to be but still expensive for comparable specs. I won’t deny that the price decreases will indeed lead to laptops cannibalizing some of the desktop market, but only to a point of equilibrium.

5. Again, this is shifting toward an equilibrium. There will always be lots of people who need the power and size of a PC: graphic designers, programmers, gamers, video/audio composers, etc. It just won’t be as popular amongst the average web surfer.

Laptops are for when the desktops under repair, there not proper computers just cut down, low spec, over priced junk. My mobile phone does all most laptops do : )

I know I’m coming in a bit late on this one, but I had to have my say.

Ron, you are quite clearly, correct. The desktop is dead, and anyone that says otherwise is clinging onto the past.

Desktops are heavy, clumsy, noisy, power hungry hogs that the average user has absolutely no need for.

I may not whip my laptop out at a barbecue, but I will certainly sit in the garden with it on a nice day to do some work. I’ll also take it on the bus, train or plane. I’ll take it to the sofa to tinker while watching TV, or take it to bed to watch a movie.

And you know what, when I go to my desk, I plug in 3 cables in 3 seconds. One mini dvi, one usb, one power adapter. Then I have a 27 inch cinema display with keyboard, mouse and sound. Perfect. No synching between my mobile and desktop life. It uses about 60 watts and barely makes a sound.

So, who are these people that really need a desktop?

a) Gamers (and the sad ones at that. Those gamers that insist they need the bleeding edge graphics cards because “Mine renders 10 gizzilion polygons and yours only renders 4 gazillion”, means a lot to some inadequate teens.
I run games on my laptop. Sure I can only really manage low to middle detail on the very latest games, and even then I may only be able to crank out 50-60fps, but you know what, it’s still fun, and playable. And lets not forget a whole plethora of games from last year that I can play in full detail at 120fps.

b) Video professionals. Because editing Hi-Def video, and rendering the latest Pixar movie, does require a monster machine. Audio professionals however, will be quite happy with any modern laptop.

c) Researchers. You know, REAL professionals with REAL work. Like curing cancer or analysing gigabytes of data coming out LHC.

That, as far as I can tell, is about it. Your average person, including developers and other techies, can survive perfectly happily on any modern laptop. Sadly some people will always flaunt the raw power of their machine as some testament to how brilliant they are, but really they are classless troglodytes.

Or they simply have not experienced the joy of having small lightweight machine for all your needs, wherever you are.

3 years from now, most laptops will have no CD drive, or hard drive. They will all run on solid state drives. They will all use Wi-Fi. Your external CD drive will sit on your desk along with your monitor, keyboard and mouse, waiting for you to return home.

And one day that laptop will simple be a shell with a screen, keyboard and trackpad which you slot your phone into. And there will probably be something the size of micro sd card you can take out your phone that will in fact be the entire workings of the machine with all 10TB of storage on it. It’ll be like those russian dolls.

And lets not even get started on the huge shift we’re going to see from desktop to cloud computing.

Anyone that thinks people will still have large humming boxes with cables everywhere in the future is living in denial. The death of the desktop is clearly visible today, in the present, now.