General / Off-Topic The Gadget Show!!

Krollin

Krollin
Greetings Commanders,

For those of you in the UK Channel 5 showed the first episode of series 19 this evening (could have been a repeat).

http://gadgetshow.channel5.com/

In essence they are saying the time of the desktop is dead! With more and more people using mobile devices and "gaming" laptops (which in my mind are two words you cannot use in the same sentence!).

They clearly have not been keeping up to date with ED\SC\Eve *tut*.

Kro
 

Memnoch

M
Rule of thumb here, where any of these technology shows are concerned, is to take their "predictions" with a pinch of salt.
 

Kipper

K
People have been saying the desktop is dead for years, usually, it co-incides with a new generation console launch (oh hello...) because they offer more bang for a gaming buck when they arrive.

By the time they are 4 or 5 years old though, desktops start to look an awful lot better value again with shinier graphics and all the latest titles.

Pay no heed :)

As with most people who like the occasional game, I have a console and a PC - I've always thought there are games that work on both, but there are also games that are suited specifically to both. Racing with a wheel and pedals on the big living room TV, vs a deep simulation or strategy game that IMO can only be enjoyed on a PC.
 

Tom Sloman

T
I've never bothered watching the Gadget Show, but the whole "the PC is dead" theme is just standard filler for any "tech" media when they have nothing at all to report and can't be bothered to have an actual idea or do some actual research.

Everyone's been doing it since the 80s, and you see the same old nonsense pop up time and again. When Acorn died they said it was because the desktop was dead. When Amiga died, they said it was because the desktop was dead.

It's basically the same thing as when a US TV show airs a nostalgia episode full of flashbacks. They only do it because they didn't have anything better ready and can knock that nonsense together in a quiet afternoon. They've got to put SOMETHING into that time slot.
 

Faerie

Faerie
Memnoch said:
Rule of thumb here, where any of these technology shows are concerned, is to take their "predictions" with a pinch of salt.
Click to expand...

+1. I remember "Tomorrow's World" back in the 70's. Raymond Baxter told us that "Computers will create the paperless office".
Now there's MORE paperwork created because it's so easy to print something ! Much as I admired Mr Baxter, I think that counts as a Big Fat Fail.
 

Yaffle

Volunteer Moderator
Yaffle
Tom Sloman said:
Everyone's been doing it since the 80s, and you see the same old nonsense pop up time and again. When Acorn died they said it was because the desktop was dead. When Amiga died, they said it was because the desktop was dead.
Click to expand...

I agree with the sentiment, but Acorn didn't completely die you know - http://www.arm.com there's a bit of it in your mobile 'phone most likely!
 

kenwshmt

kenwshmt
it needs quantification...

'the pc is dead'.. pc what, exactly?

pc file server: there is NAS, and NAS cloud stuff (not suggesting it)

pc monitor: ok, so its connected to the tv set by some manner or other, and there is no 'computer display', other than changing the input of the tv.
(4k displays for $500 by the way, only 30fps, but 30 inches, people are monitoring on them just fine)

PC mouse: we have seen how a phone can be both a touch pad and an air mouse, if you need it to be (not my choice)

As to the 'pc' thing, I have an android stick i run ubuntu on.. is that a pc? if not, why not? .. it has as many inputs as most pc's for the last 30 years, more than some 30 years ago. and a hell of a lot faster than 15 years ago.

This is the definition of the edge of mist.
 
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Dejay

Dejay
Well, as soon as you can connect a monitor, a mouse and a keyboard to a smartphone / tablet to use it as a desktop, desktop uhm, ehr, desktop is dead-ish?

Then you'd only need all the PC software of the businesses running on mobile devices.
 

Winterwalker

Winterwalker
What the Gadget Show means; is that the manufacturers of said mobile devices WANT the general public to give up on computing and adopt entertainement centres instead .. ie. To be less in tune with their machine, less able to fix it or capable of upgrade.

It seems the companies, who provide the GS's fairly amazing prize bundle, would rather decentralise your database. Better yet, make us buy a whole new machine when you find your old CPU is quite literally glued in to a "wafer".. The gadget show's advice will be followed by many (though it's not the first time I heard that desktops are "over")

Instead of using the computer as a tool, where you might learn about its architecture or communicate in serial or DOS, you may (god forbid you) even switch off (or play elite dangerous) at the end of a long day .. Your "ideal solution" should instead be a portable companion, allowing advertising metrics to be gathered at all times (because basically all you can do is surf of flap the bird), and becoming not much more than a shiny place to store your photos and music .. No longer, and not at all, a powerful calculator that put man on the moon .. !

(rant over) ;p
 

Memnoch

M
How about the GPU? And just reading off its clock speed says nothing about how powerful the processor really is. Some "industry standard" benchmarks should be used so that it could be compared to other processors.
 

PacalB

PacalB
PC Desktop dead? What a pile of clueless poop that show is! Care to spot the Gadget Show twit on the right?

windows_pc_vs_apple_mac.jpg
(because of silly tag on MAC letters. :( The main image still stands. :))

1cdb17dd-05bb-453b-8cdc-b1f0eb5e9dc4.jpg

PC dead? Errr ... I think not.
 
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Tom Sloman

T
kenwshmt said:
it needs quantification...

'the pc is dead'.. pc what, exactly?

pc file server: there is NAS, and NAS cloud stuff (not suggesting it)

pc monitor: ok, so its connected to the tv set by some manner or other, and there is no 'computer display', other than changing the input of the tv.
(4k displays for $500 by the way, only 30fps, but 30 inches, people are monitoring on them just fine)

PC mouse: we have seen how a phone can be both a touch pad and an air mouse, if you need it to be (not my choice)

As to the 'pc' thing, I have an android stick i run ubuntu on.. is that a pc? if not, why not? .. it has as many inputs as most pc's for the last 30 years, more than some 30 years ago. and a hell of a lot faster than 15 years ago.

This is the definition of the edge of mist.
Click to expand...

For clarification, PC means "Personal Computer". Most of the things you are calling PC there are actually PC peripherals, or personal computer peripherals. In other words, things you attach TO a personal computer, not an actual personal computer themselves.

A NAS is not a personal computer. NAS devices have a computer inside them, but they are not personal computers. They usually run on Linux or Unix, although some have a version of Windows on them, but are not directly usable as a personal computer by human beings. The computer merely controls the file system, security and the network controller for remote access.

A personal computer is merely a computing device that a human being directly uses for computational tasks (running software). Not the peripherals you attach to that PC, nor the servers and other network devices that you remotely access.

It doesn't need any "quantification" once you have properly defined what "PC" means and realise all these pundits have been doing this since the 80s whenever they don't have anything real to fill their columns/airtime.

And to the guy who thinks Acorn didn't die. It did. Everything after that was just flogging a dead horse, much like the years that Amiga fans struggled to revive the totally defunct and dead Amiga platform. It would have been nice for both of them to have evolved into modern systems, and my most pleasant memories of Elite 2 were on Amiga, before the DOS version was even released (the DOS version was a pain to run), but they didn't survive. They died and it didn't mean the end of the desktop.
 

smsKONG

smsKONG
The pc is the best way to get the most out of a system, it is highly upgradeable and can specialise like nothing else.
It does browsing better than laptops, tablets or phones.
It does gaming better.
It does media playing and creation better.
It does everything except convenience - unless you hook it up as a hub and utilise it's abilities with some smartglass device and a big screen.

Ok tablets, laptops and phones are great for on the bus or train or more likely for skiving at work.

Yeah, the pc is definitely defunct, dead and buried:rolleyes:

Gadget show? It doesn't even squeeze Suzi into a set of racing leathers for every show; so they obviously know nothing :D
 

Yaffle

Volunteer Moderator
Yaffle
Tom Sloman said:
And to the guy who thinks Acorn didn't die. It did. Everything after that was just flogging a dead horse, much like the years that Amiga fans struggled to revive the totally defunct and dead Amiga platform. It would have been nice for both of them to have evolved into modern systems, and my most pleasant memories of Elite 2 were on Amiga, before the DOS version was even released (the DOS version was a pain to run), but they didn't survive. They died and it didn't mean the end of the desktop.
Click to expand...

ARM, owner of the IP in ARM chips, the one probably in your mobile phone, is born of Acorn as was. Sophie Wilson, of Acorn and whilst at Acorn did the initial designs. ARM was split out of Acorn in 1990. ARM initially stood for Acorn RISC Machine.

It is likely there is an ARM chip in your phone, or some other device about your home.

My point was to concur, the desktop is nowhere near dead. Nowhere near, but it's not quite right to say Acorn is dead either, it continues in a different guise, much like that employee timekeeping machine manufacturer called IBM.
 

MiNi

MiNi
Yeah right.
Everyone knows that today there are more PC's than ever, and remembering that
PC's are more configure able than anything else.
So they are everywhere
they are moddable.
As they are in almost every household, it would be very strange if they not also was used for gaming, now that the investment already was made, and all you have to do is to buy a game.
PC,s will never die because of the above reasons.

Mikael
 

Beachlight7

Beachlight7
Memnoch said:
How about the GPU? And just reading off its clock speed says nothing about how powerful the processor really is. Some "industry standard" benchmarks should be used so that it could be compared to other processors.
Click to expand...

The new Sony and Samsung phones use Snapdragon 801 chips, with Adreno 330Gpu. upto 3GB ram so in theory that's enough unified for Elite.
The Gpu doesnt support dx 10 though I dont think so would need opengl port?

Next year the phones will have Snapdragon 64 bit Octa core, with DX11.1 support, which would make an Elite version more suitable perhaps.

Though obviously tablets would better for Elite than mobile phones.
 
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