I had the same desktop for over ten years which gave good service until the hard drive died a little under a year ago and I thought I'd really better upgrade that 466 Mhz processor and 256 meg of ram :-o I plumped for a laptop over a desktop primarily because I find it so much more comfortable to lie on my bed or sofa with the laptop on my lap than sit at a desk with a desktop.
I did find the keyboard layout and touchpad took a little getting used to but once I did it was fine. I sometimes plug in an external mouse if I feel like it as it somehow feels more pleasurable than using a touchpad. It also has a scrollwheel which I do miss.
I guess the only thing I miss from not having a desktop are a bigger display and a 'proper' keyboard, but these are minor misses. The laptop has everything I need in one compact package.
What leaves me cold are tablets and mobiles. Mobiles are great for surfing the net on the go but does anyone really use them as their primary surfing device at home, with that tiny little screen?
Yeah tablets are cool and all, but for me personally they've never appealed. If I was lying in bed using one I'd have to keep my knees up to get a proper viewing angle. Also using a touchscreen all the time sounds far too much physical effort, not to mention the fact I'd have to keep cleaning the screen to remove fingerprints.
But the main reason I'd never have a tablet would be the lack of a keyboard. A touchscreen works great for my iPod but I don't use my iPod for programming, word processing or playing text adventures. And the thought of using a virtual keyboard with no tactile feedback? Horrible. Worse than a ZX81. Plus I enjoy the physical sensation of typing for it's own sake.
I'm not knocking tablets. I could see they'd be great for the casual user who just wants to surf the web, log in to Facebook and go on YouTube. In fact I'll probably be buying one at some point for my mum to get her on line - ideal. Just not for me, and it winds me up when I hear people say all PCs are now obsolete.
but, Valve's Steambox could make the gaming tower obsolete especially if they make it upgradeable. There's definitely a place for a souped up pc in a small box underneath the telly.
Have you seen the (rumoured) spec and the price of the thing? If I was dropping the best part of $1000 on a PC, I'd want something with rather more grunt than that, even if I had to go with a tower as the form factor.
I am thinking of replacing the tower that's currently serving as my HTPC with something a little more compact though, probably a mini ITX solution.
Exactly. Rumoured. Nothing has been properly announced yet. It's not going to be $1000, hardly anyone would bother. If they can hit a $300 to $500 or ?200 to ?450 and they can market Steam into the console gamers consciousness (it is much cheaper for games after all) then it has a very good chance of success.
I'm sure it will come with a very decent GFX card (and, yes another 'rumour', but it's apparently upgradeable - also CPU, RAM, etc), so it's most definitely a potential player in the market.
I am thinking of replacing the tower that's currently serving as my HTPC with something a little more compact though, probably a mini ITX solution.
There's someone on here who slated them, can't remember who, but I have an Acer eMachine sitting under my main TV as a HTPC. It's perfectly adequate, is absolutely silent and runs XBMC like a dream. Mine's a crappy old one and the successor Acer Revo's are faster. You can get one pretty cheap from the likes of ebuyer.
Comments
I had the same desktop for over ten years which gave good service until the hard drive died a little under a year ago and I thought I'd really better upgrade that 466 Mhz processor and 256 meg of ram :-o I plumped for a laptop over a desktop primarily because I find it so much more comfortable to lie on my bed or sofa with the laptop on my lap than sit at a desk with a desktop.
I did find the keyboard layout and touchpad took a little getting used to but once I did it was fine. I sometimes plug in an external mouse if I feel like it as it somehow feels more pleasurable than using a touchpad. It also has a scrollwheel which I do miss.
I guess the only thing I miss from not having a desktop are a bigger display and a 'proper' keyboard, but these are minor misses. The laptop has everything I need in one compact package.
What leaves me cold are tablets and mobiles. Mobiles are great for surfing the net on the go but does anyone really use them as their primary surfing device at home, with that tiny little screen?
Yeah tablets are cool and all, but for me personally they've never appealed. If I was lying in bed using one I'd have to keep my knees up to get a proper viewing angle. Also using a touchscreen all the time sounds far too much physical effort, not to mention the fact I'd have to keep cleaning the screen to remove fingerprints.
But the main reason I'd never have a tablet would be the lack of a keyboard. A touchscreen works great for my iPod but I don't use my iPod for programming, word processing or playing text adventures. And the thought of using a virtual keyboard with no tactile feedback? Horrible. Worse than a ZX81. Plus I enjoy the physical sensation of typing for it's own sake.
I'm not knocking tablets. I could see they'd be great for the casual user who just wants to surf the web, log in to Facebook and go on YouTube. In fact I'll probably be buying one at some point for my mum to get her on line - ideal. Just not for me, and it winds me up when I hear people say all PCs are now obsolete.
WWW
http://www.edge-online.com/news/valve-backed-xi3-mini-pc-unveiled-is-this-the-steam-box-or-just-the-first-of-many/
Want!!
Have you seen the (rumoured) spec and the price of the thing? If I was dropping the best part of $1000 on a PC, I'd want something with rather more grunt than that, even if I had to go with a tower as the form factor.
I am thinking of replacing the tower that's currently serving as my HTPC with something a little more compact though, probably a mini ITX solution.
Exactly. Rumoured. Nothing has been properly announced yet. It's not going to be $1000, hardly anyone would bother. If they can hit a $300 to $500 or ?200 to ?450 and they can market Steam into the console gamers consciousness (it is much cheaper for games after all) then it has a very good chance of success.
I'm sure it will come with a very decent GFX card (and, yes another 'rumour', but it's apparently upgradeable - also CPU, RAM, etc), so it's most definitely a potential player in the market.
There's someone on here who slated them, can't remember who, but I have an Acer eMachine sitting under my main TV as a HTPC. It's perfectly adequate, is absolutely silent and runs XBMC like a dream. Mine's a crappy old one and the successor Acer Revo's are faster. You can get one pretty cheap from the likes of ebuyer.