Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?
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@tim_g said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
Before, a family of 5 for example, had one computer in the house and that was all there was. And the cost of that computer was two to three thousand dollars. Back then, it was a LOT.
Now, there may be 2 laptops, a tablet, and 2 or 3 cellphones per household. All for less than the cost of that single PC back in the day.
That's how I see it and my experience.
For others, there may be a 8 year old laptop in a household and a few cell phones.
On top of that, gaming consoles are pretty common for the games nobody wants to play on a small screen.
One can setup a small desktop and turn that into a gaming system and have it right next to there TV nowadays.
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It is the kind of content consumption. Many do not game, develop in Adobe/AutoDesk/ProTools/etc. I would say the masses do not, and if they do much of it is probably web services. The end user PC is shrinking.
For business, I store nothing on my actual computer and most of my software is FOSS. If my drive died... I don't care. I connect to LOB/MGMT/TS systems for whatever I need. For my consumer life... I have Spiceworks and MangoLassi along with research. That's about it.
The device is becoming irrelevant, or is already irrelevant at this point. It's about the platform, and that platform is no longer the device's OS, or is nearly no longer the OS. People want cheap, mobile devices that are responsive; ones that can jack them into the world to deliver the best UX for their individual data consumption/delivery.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
That all makes sense. NO ONE is out there getting their first computer anymore. it's only upgrades, if needed.
It is not no one.
Plenty of people get their first computer every day. Mostly kids getting chromebooks though.
The home PC is going to be dead outside of developers and high end gamers for the most part.
The tablet market is simply reaching a saturation point. I have a two year old iPad Air 2. I do not plan to replace it in the next 2 years barring a user malfunction (aka I drop it).
Finally, yes. Harder has gotten a lot better.
My desktop was 9 years old and just replaced. Granted it had an SSD swapped into it, but that was it.
And it is still running. It is now my KVM server running my Plex server at home.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@dafyre said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@black3dynamite said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
I think it really depends on the user?
I know people only have one family Desktop at home and then each person has there own tablet/phone.The number of devices in this house actually outnumbers the people, lol... But all of our gear, phones excepted is > 3 years old.
That's how we are. But "normal" people, it's the opposite now (unless you count phones.) I know families that are young (like barely 30) with kids, both parents are doctors, one old nearly useless laptop is all that they have. Totally no tech.
Because for normal people a phone is all the tech they need. A tablet if they want a bigger screen.
As was mentioned earlier, most peopel never needed a computer. But it was the only thing.
And it is not no tech if you look carefully. They have a Smart TV, Alexa/FireTV, AppleTV, etc.
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I have AMD Athlon x4 750K, which is very cheap and should be poor performance CPU, but thanks to mobile gaming and consoles , the competition for high CPU has diminished and folks mostly focus on going green and quiet and SFF.
I know that some exisit that wants best i7 or AMD ryzen, but the way intel kept dragging the evolution so long due to lack of competition (not a real reason , the real reason is greed, look at Samsung SSD series, they have no competition but they still release better generation and not just 2% better) after ryzen then came up with i9 and quad core i3 but it was too late by then, now everyone is interested in Pi3 and its siblings cause they know in the future they will only get better and better without greed stopping that.
I feel in 2018, you should only purchase from AMD cause that money will actually go to further x86 CPU development and research.
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I don't have a PC anymore. I've not wanted to play a game for ages and if I do we have a PS3 PS4 Wii Switch.
For day to day stuff my phone (for Facebook) and my tablet (for games) will do. I have a laptop for work but that only comes out if I need to do some serious typing and need to look at a website that doesn't look right on the tablet/phone. (Then if I need to do work from home)
I bought my daughter a PC but a refurb so she can do homework. Then plan on getting the middle one a Chromebook at Xmas as she'll be in highschool
I think for home tablet and phones will serfice for most people and kids.
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I think computing in general is much more widely available now that many people don't think of the things they're using as computers, but it's a phone or tablet less if a computing device just because it doesn't sit on a desk? @scottalanmiller, you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore. I know you used Treo phones back in the day, did any of us early adopters not see this day coming?
TLDNR: Nobody wants a computer when a phone or tablet is all they need.
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@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
I think computing in general is much more widely available now that many people don't think of the things they're using as computers, but it's a phone or tablet less if a computing device just because it doesn't sit on a desk?
I think so, quite dramatically. Tablets and phones are content "consuming" devices. Whereas traditional computers are built around content creation or interaction. While it's the same CPU and RAM under the hood, more or less, the human interface and resulting interactions are dramatically different.
No different than say video game consoles and general purpose computers. Sure, both are computers. But we know that having an XBOX doesn't really help kids with science homework, or parents with doing financial reporting.
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@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
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@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
I agree. Normal use can all totally be done on phones and tablets, primarily phones now.
That is what makes up the majority.
Those doing coding and content creation are STILL using laptops, that's not what changed. What changed is the "normal" majority, which is now no longer each person having a laptop or desktop, but a phone, and next a tablet.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
Heck I have the Phone, the tablet, the laptop a computer literally in every room and I still do stuff on my phone more often than not.
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@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
Because they no longer need a spreadsheet to track their finances. It is all done by the bank website or by mint.
Also, tools such as Google Apps and Microsoft Office Online provide this functionality.
So, many people no longer need to do it because apps handle it for them. Then a lot more can do it all from their device without needing a computer.
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@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
Because they no longer need a spreadsheet to track their finances. It is all done by the bank website or by mint.
This.
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Any real spreadsheet work is just crap on a small screen. I have Office for Android, and I never use it because it's just a pain in the ass on a small screen. I also don't have a reason to work in spreadsheets on my phone.
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@tim_g said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
Any real spreadsheet work is just crap on a small screen. I have Office for Android, and I never use it because it's just a pain in the ass on a small screen. I also don't have a reason to work in spreadsheets on my phone.
I have no problems doing it on my tablet though.
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@minion-queen said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
Heck I have the Phone, the tablet, the laptop a computer literally in every room and I still do stuff on my phone more often than not.
That doesn't really change that stuff is being done, though. We use devices more, today, and the "extra" is often consumption. So ratios are misleading.
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@tim_g said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@jaredbusch said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@scottalanmiller said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
@travisdh1 said in Are People Just Not Buying Computers Anymore?:
you're right in that what most people think of as "the computer" isn't something most people feel they need anymore.
This is what I find so interesting. What made a generation feel the need to be so savvy, technical, and able to do things like "work from home" and have home offices, and just generally do technical things (which could mean writing a book, going to school, doing science, tracking finances, etc.) And now it seems that so many of those activities are just left by the wayside.
It's not that computing is taking a step backwards, computing is a means not an end. But it seems that everything that people do is taking a step backward.
No it is not. People are doing those things on their phones and tablets. For most people that is plenty.
This is where I don't think this is true. We used to maintain spreadsheets, for example, for all kinds of data. Are people doing this (or obviously, some suitable replacement) on their phones? I don't see this happening. Maybe people are using tons of apps that I am not aware of, but what I understand of normal usage is that it is far, far less technical than it was twenty years ago.
I agree. Normal use can all totally be done on phones and tablets, primarily phones now.
That is what makes up the majority.
Those doing coding and content creation are STILL using laptops, that's not what changed. What changed is the "normal" majority, which is now no longer each person having a laptop or desktop, but a phone, and next a tablet.
I think the big piece here is that there was an era when we grew up with keyboards and rapid input devices. Even if we didn't do it often, it was plausible to easily do complicated things. Most people didn't do much content creation, but they could.
Here is a huge example.... we used to teach coding in school to everyone, it was just something in the 1980s that people learned. Today, more and more kids aren't even getting close to a keyboard.
Not only do people often not have content creation platforms at home, their experience in using them is, I think, dwindling. If you are a kid today, and you just take the "normal" route, you have less and less, rather than more and more, exposure to systems that would encourage you to heavily interact with computing devices rather than simply use them as a consumption platform.
Example.... everyone I knew who had a computer (which admittedly wasn't everyone like today) had word processing apps and keyboards and were able to type papers easily. Today, most kids I know don't have the easy access to keyboard input, and much less exposure to things like word processors, than before.
Now word processors have changed, I'd estimate that WordPress is the biggest one. But even pretty simple things like making a web page, writing a report, or whatever that were universally trivial and accessible to everyone when I started college, are actually pretty challenging to do for a lot of people today - not from a skill standpoint, from a device one.
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There is no question, the consumption of digital media is through the roof. But it's key to see that things like cable TV has become Netflix. Board games have become video games. Computers have shifted from being primarily work or "work like" devices to being primarily entertainment devices. This, of course, comes with a large uptick in the overall purchasing of computers.
But there is a reason that office work is rarely shifting to new form factors, they simply aren't conducive to "getting things done." They are great as notification devices that things are needed. But poor for inputting data.
