Poll: Do You Have a Desktop Computer At Home?
Notebooks have been eating into the desktop space for a while now. This replacement has been due to the increased capabilities of notebooks coupled with lower prices for same. I am immersed in mobile technology, so it’s no surprise there are no desktops in my household. What about you? Have notebooks taken over your house like mine? Answer the poll and let’s see how many households have gone the mobile route.
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Two basic answers for our house:
(all machines including those in basement storage)
5 desktops
3 PDA’s
2 ultraportables
4 operational tablets
or (currently in use)
- 1 x Fujitsu P1610
- 1 x Fujitsu ST-5020D
- 1 x HP TX2508CA
- 1 x Toshiba R10
- 1 x desktop in need of repair
- 1 x very obsolete emachine desktop
I hope you don’t live alone.
I think notebooks began outselling desktops around 2002.
I mainly use desktop as a huge file server, but with NAS gear getting more affordable I may not need a desktop much longer.
Actually, it was reported last year that notebook sales exceeded desktop sales for the first time and that was only in the US.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkYOf_SCQ1ugSXKLXCsSs7qWnsQA
Actually C-Net reported Notebooks outselling Desktops back in 2005. Anyway I am sure the trend will continue as notebooks (even netbooks) get more powerful and cheaper. Some of those new Gaming Notebooks can run circles around 99% of the desktops out there.
http://news.cnet.com/PC-milestone–notebooks-outsell-desktops/2100-1047_3-5731417.html
notebooks can never replace my desktop server :)
i thought they could but.. i just love having a server/desktop to run my conversions on and for centrally storing my media/data.
plus, my recent upgrade was a mere $250 and i went from a 2.0ghz amd athlon 64 to dual core 3.0ghz with 8gb of ram :) and i’m one of those system builder types too :P
Never say never. Wait till that 16 Terabyte notebook-sized 2.5″ hard drive comes out.
Never is right. A server usually does not need a display does not need to be carried around, and needs to be opened up. So a notebook will be inappropriate.
A notebook has always been my home computer of choice – the only difference now is that it stays tethered more often than not since my purchase back in November 2007 of a netbook.
I love the poll design!
3 desktops: Media Center, server and a “normal” PC with a calibrated true HD screen for audio, graphic and video work.
This is in addition to a netbook and a MID.
I don’t appreciate how the poll asks, “Have Notebook replaced Desktops? Yes (I don’t have desktops) or No (I do have desktops)” while the title of the article is “Do you have Desktops at home? Yes (I do have desktops) or No (I don’t have desktops).”
My old desktop upstairs was last rebuilt around 2000. It’s only used now when I need to redo settings on the dsl modem. My wife and I are now hardcore laptop users on the wireless sytem at home, she with a Macbook, and me with a Macbook Pro. I doubt I’ll ever have another desktop computer. I much prefer using the laptop downstairs so I can watch tv while online.
3 desktops
1 laptop
1 UMPC
1 PDA
1 MID
1 Smartphone
2 Cell phones
Sent from my OQO, smoking my cigar, outside of Starbucks. Needless to say, the UMPC is mine.
2 desktops run 24/7 (home office/server and kitchen)
1 laptop
1 tablet notebook
1 PDA
2 WinMob phones
I love notebooks, but work far more productively with my three-monitor setup on my desk.
Haven’t bought a desktop for 10 years. All notebooks, tablets and smartphones in our house.
Use a windows home server for mass storage.
In my house we have:
3 Desktops (all used as servers running 24/7)
2 Notebooks
2 Eee PCs
1 Nokia N800
1 iPod touch
1 Peek email device :)
2 Feature phones
So desktops win out for now, only because I like buying cheap eMachines and using them as servers.
Yes, I do have a desktop at home. I use it mostly for storage, and occasionally encoding video.
In all honesty, my laptop is way more powerful than my desktop, though. It’s just nice to have a stationary computer, that’s always on, and is easy to crack open and inexpensive to repair. I’ve repaired plenty of notebooks, but they’re a lot more work, and the parts are a lot more expensive and not as readily available.
Overall, we are a laptop house, though. We currently have the one desktop and five laptops.
My Wind is my main machine, but I coudn’t get by without a desktop. My desktop needs are mainly for development and virtulization.
1 notebook, 1 netbook, 1 family desktop PC. Our desktop PC is the most powerful of all.
The only desktop I still have in use is my main gaming box which also doubles as my home server. It’s on 24×7 but I rarely use it directly. I use my Macbook for most of my computing at home and my wife has her Inspiron 1420 as her main computer.
Got my first laptop in January and I treat like a baby or a fine piece of jewelry. Can’t wait for the newness to wear off so I can actually use it like a computer and ditch the ‘ol desktop and it’s tired wiredness.
Post title vs. poll title FAIL! I clicked the poll link quickly and ignored the poll title assuming it was asking me the same question the post asked “Do you have a desktop computer at home?” I answered no. Only to see the poll asked “Have notebooks replaced all desktops in your home?”. Which then the answer is yes, notebooks have replaced desktops.
Might wanna correct the discrepancy to avoid skewed findings. You can throw out at least one ‘No’.
Never answer a poll like that. Do I have a desktop? Yes. Why? Because I cannot get overclocked Core i7 processing power, GTX295 graphics performance, 4TB storage or WQXGA display from a notebook, so I need to sit at a desk for the serious stuff.
Can a good notebook replace a desktop? It’s possible. The same way a good netbook might replace your notebook.
Computing is personal, we all have different needs and different hardware for those needs. The trend has been notebooks replacing desktops over recent years, but if you think in any way that desktops are dead or going away any time soon, you are seriously mistaken.
The desktop at my house is an Apple for my wife to manipulate still and video photography. I haven’t owned a desktop for myself since the 1980s, though when I had a choice at work, the laptop they offered at the time was barbarically slow, so I took the desktop.
But my home desktop is a laptop, and my laptop is a UMPC.
Forgot to list my hardware:
Desktop 1: CPU/Graphics engine in main office
Desktop 2: sff living room HTPC
Desktop 3: HD media storage server in basement
Desktop 4: Surveillance machine
Desktop 5: sff desktop in bedroom (high performance)
Desktop 6: Kitchen pc (gotta love that one)
Netbook 1: 2133 mini note
Netbook 2: on the way!!!
Notebook 1: HP dv4
Notebook 2: HP zd7000 (retired)
Notebook 3: Toshiba X305-Q708
PPC1: ipaq h6315
PPC2: HTC Innovation
PPC3: on the way!!!
And yes, they’re all mine.
Still need a desktop for HTPC functions.
Laptops will replace desktops for me once they become more easily upgradable.
If you buy a PC make sure you buy a great motherboard. I have an 4 1/2 year old PC that got a few upgrades and it runs as fast as new high/mid-end systems today.
In my house… No, but I’m sure a decent Netbook could replace my desktops. I mostly only use the computers for video and internet. (Yay Hulu and Youtube.) I live in Utah and the best I can hope for is an unprotected WiFi signal coming from a strip mall. It would appear Utah wont be getting WiMax for several years, if at all. 3G prices for limited internet access? Not for me. Therefore the only place to really use internet is at home. Therefore, ancient desktops stay in service.
Notebook computers are nice and all, but they still have a long way to go before they can completely replace desktops. (Upgradability, price, battery life, and a dollop of heat be gone.)
Don’t get me wrong, I am not against laptops, I just don’t think they’re entire necessary in my hear and now.
I’m really surprised by the responses here. I have three laptops (including a tablet) but none of them can replace my desktops. Why? Screens and keyboards. None of my laptops can give me the screen space I want at home(I have 3 monitors at home, all 20″) or need at work (2 at work, 20″ & 24″) with ergonomic keyboards on both desktops. Also the power of my desktops far exceeds any laptop out there. If I could only have one computer, it would definitely be a desktop and I could just get by with my Blackberry for everything else.
Multiple displays is also why I don’t use a notebook, but when all the new Intel hardware and MS software comes out later in the year I’ll find something that offers dual digital video outs and switch. For triple displays you’d have to wait for displayport daisy-chaining I suppose.
It would be very hard for a notebook to do what my desktop does, so I don’t foresee changing to one anytime soon for my main computing duties.
I have multiple (more than two) screens, I have a sound system with a big subwoofer and surround sound and so on that takes up a lot of space. Just hooking that up to a laptop would be a challenge, starting with needing some very esoteric hardware to just get my screens working, and there would be no point in doing so when everything but the actual computer is too large to move with any ease.
Then add the fact that gaming on a PC is still fun and the need for graphics cards that suck down more than a normal laptop does in its entirety and then going the laptop route would be kind of impossible.
Laptops as sole computers is never going to be able to do what a properly specced desktop can, to say nothing of the utter ergonomic nightmare of using a laptop on a regular basis.
That said I do use portable computers as well obviously, but quite rarely when I’m at home.
My desktop computer is quad core, has 8gb of ram, 2.5tb of hard drive space, 2 video cards, and *4* monitors. I love my laptops and UMPCs, but I don’t see them replacing my desktop any time soon.
I began with a laptop, and could not see any advantages of a desktop for me. Never being one to sit around, I enjoy the portability of a laptop and it’s all I’ve ever used.
6 Desktops (3.2 Pentium 4; 3.8 Extreme Pentium 4; 3.2 Core 2 Extreme X9770 quad core – 8 GB DDR3; TWO Core i7 920s – 12 GB DDR3 each; and a Mac Mini)
Server Dual Xeon Intel server
4 laptops (2.8 15.4″ MacBook Pro; Fujitsu P1610 2 GB; HP dv9000; Dell 700m)
iPhone
Can’t help myself.
i’d have a ‘desktop’ only as media storage/viewing as a TV replacement in my house. if i had my own house. but since i’m not settled, i don’t want to make an investment in big stuff that i’d have to move around.
also, a laptop does me just fine.
One dual tuner Media Center Desktop in the Office as the main PC.
One Notebook in the kitchen.
One Netbook for all over the house.
One UMPC currently DOA.
One Nokia Tablet PC.
One PSP.
3 Windows Mobile cell phones in the family.
There’s still one desktop at home. It’s my TouchSmart PC running Vista Home Premium. I run Media Center on it. I enjoy goofing around with the Touchscreen but mainly bought it for the all-in-one “clean” look. Got tired of all the cables, power cords etc. It’s great seeing what looks like a “fat” 22-inch monitor, keyboard, mouse, and 3 cables (Coax for the tuner, Power, and 1 USB for the UPS).
So our household breaks down as:
2 HP TC4xxx Tablets
1 Toshiba Laptop
1 HP TouchSmart iQ526
1 HP MediaSmart Windows Home Server
For those of you hanging on to a desktop as a server, check out the HP WHS. I love the fact that it’s small, quiet, and just sits in the corner, requiring little to no maintenance and it backs up all my systems every night like clockwork. If I lose a drive on a system, I just replace it and pull the latest backup from the WHS and I’m back in business 25-40 minutes later.