People have different use cases sure, but <1% of them require a desktop computer in 2017

the average person sure but you are directing this at specific people

Storage space isn't even a concern, it's all about cloud storage now so you can consume your gigabytes of porn from any device

I get that people are eager to pretend desktops aren't obsolete, they're a form factor that I personally have fun with, but seriously. There's hardly any workflow on the planet that literally REQUIRES a desktop, certainly nothing anyone on MW is doing.

You can save money by building a desktop instead of buying an equally powerful laptop, sure. That doesn't mean the form factor itself is essential

People have different use cases sure, but <1% of them require a desktop computer in 2017

the average person sure but you are directing this at specific people

If you are a poster on minus world and you think your work requires a desktop then you're wrong

It's really as simple as that

Someone could hook up a couple of monitors to a laptop and you'd get along just fine. Anything you can do with a desktop you can do with a laptop. Most things you can do with a laptop you can do with a tablet

This post was last modified: Jun 13, 2017 at 7:18 PM by Spritanium.

Note that I'm not telling you to stop using a desktop, I'm just saying you don't need one. Hardware is fast enough now that you don't need a giant box to hold it all if you want to do serious work.

Like in 1995 if you wanted to still have a computer the size of your whole room nobody would stop you. It would just be unnecessary regardless of your feelings toward it

FFS I'm using a desktop at this very moment, and I'll keep building them because they're fun, that doesn't make it stop being obsolete just because I like it

If you're a weeaboo with gigabytes upon gigabytes of downloaded anime, manga, and reaction images you're probably gonna need that desktop.

the funny thing is you say this but watching anime and reading manga on phone is surprisingly pleasant

it's doing anything interactive that's a pain in the ass.

Unless you are using highly performance-intensive applications (mostly stuff with 3D) you can get anything you need done on a $500 laptop these days

Ok no fuck that, websites are so badly optimized nowadays you'd be lucky as hell to get 3/4ths of the web to run well on one of those shitty cheap laptops. Now, I do have an $850 laptop that manages pretty well with most things, and I could definitely be all right with that, but laptops are the thing that's becoming irrelevant thanks to phones, it makes more sense to have a phone and a desktop rather than a phone and a laptop.

Websites like Minus World require a high end PC so Spritey's killing himself here.

If you are a poster on minus world and you think your work requires a desktop then you're wrong

It's really as simple as that

Someone could hook up a couple of monitors to a laptop and you'd get along just fine. Anything you can do with a desktop you can do with a laptop. Most things you can do with a laptop you can do with a tablet

idk man if im buying all the peripherals anyway (since yknow i still need dual monitors for my art and game dev, still want a decent keyboard and still want a mouse instead of a trackpad), my tower was cheaper than an equivalent laptop which i'd just be using AS a tower in that situation

what benefit am i getting out of a laptop over a desktop there

This post was last modified: Jun 13, 2017 at 7:20 PM by Spritanium.

@Draku A shitty cheap laptop is more like $250. For $500 you can get some respectable specs if you don't mind going without frills

But this is sort of beyond the point I was trying to make. It's not financially viable for everyone to go out and buy a new laptop, but in terms of pure technological capability, the desktop form factor is obsolete for consumers

hi i unironically follow the PCMR subreddit

PC Master Race has always been seen as a snobbish and hateful group of people who bash console enthusiasts. that's correct, but as with any other group, there will always be bad people and good people. PC has always been my go-to peripheral for playing games, but it's more of a hobby than it is a way of life. for the good people, PCMR is to show the strengths of playing video games on PC, while still respecting consoles for being much simpler machines for quick and easy gaming. in other words, we can see why people prefer consoles, but we just enjoy PC much more.

yes, the name PC Master Race as its own is pretty dumb of a name, but i don't think i know of any other major group that talks about video games and computers at the same time.

Spoiler: Show

4chan does not apply, they dont know shit about video games

@Draku A shitty cheap laptop is more like $250. For $500 you can get some respectable specs if you don't mind going without frills

But this is sort of beyond the point I was trying to make. It's not financially viable for everyone to go out and buy a new laptop, but in terms of pure technological capability, the desktop form factor is obsolete for consumers

>$500

>respectable laptop specs

yeah good one for the Shit Web Designs of 2017 that lag even supercomputers into oblivion

also read yrr's post above, you were talking about hooking up multiple monitors to laptops and shit which basically turns them into a shittier desktop that's more frustrating to use (i know about this from experience, trying to multi-monitor off of a laptop is hilariously bizarre)

I just don't think any of these concerns are end-all-be-all reasons why the desktop form factor itself is still necessary

10 years ago every home needed a desktop. You simply couldn't balance battery life, performance, chassis size, and price to produce a laptop that functioned viably as a desktop replacement.

But today? You can fit a windows PC in a flash drive. Desktop sales are falling all the time because of the simple fact that fewer people need/want them. Like I said before, none of this should stop people from building desktops if that's their personal preference (like it is mine), but that doesn't mean the form factor has any technical reason to exist. People who work on old cars from the 60s don't try to make the case that a newer car wouldn't work for them. They just like old cars

but that doesn't mean the form factor has any technical reason to exist.

except for heavy stationary work on development, video projects, and other such things???

I just don't think any of these concerns are end-all-be-all reasons why the desktop form factor itself is still necessary

"why use a desktop when i can use a laptop as an overpriced desktop with a screen that i don't need and shit specs that i can't reasonably upgrade and with shit connectivity?"

like you can technically use a laptop as a desktop but that's a pretty stupid thing to do, why the fuck would you do that

This post was last modified: Jun 13, 2017 at 7:35 PM by Yrrzy.

as i said its rly just down to what your needs are as a person

i use a pc most of the time, i already gotta have the peripherals i mentioned, so im already investing in a pc

i dont own a tv or games console so if i wanna play video games i can either invest in a tv and console and gamble on what exclusives i'll want, or i can fully invest in a decent pc

and if im investing in a pc its a safer and better use of my money to build rather than buy prebuilt, and if im building, it's just infinitely easier to get a tower instead of a laptop


sure a prebuilt laptop would probably "work" but it'd be way more expensive than the equivalent desktop because gaming laptops are overpriced garbage

yea mustard race memes are pure ideology. made a lot more sense late into last gen but rn it really doesn't matter unless you have a lot more money to spend

but yea i disagree with desktops being completely superficial but tbf i imagine that tablets n shit will get more accommodating when it comes to desktop comforts as desktops themselves phase out. i mean we're already kinda seeing that with all this 2-in-1 shit

This post was last modified: Jun 13, 2017 at 9:04 PM by Bee.

The whole concept of a PC being better has been wrong for years

Games look better on your PC if you spend $2000. Choose more modest parts to run your games in console quality, and you'll still be paying more.

In 2010 this would be a good idea because the average person also needed a desktop for other tasks, so they could spend say $500 on PC parts and have a decent gaming rig that could also be used for work.

In 2017 nobody needs a desktop, save for highly specialized professionals. For people who just want to play games in 1080p, it doesn't make sense to assemble + maintain a desktop PC that will be used for absolutely nothing except games. It makes far more sense to buy a console and never have to worry about upgrading your hardware.

How long does a console last anyway? Like 8 years? After 8 years your motherboard will be a big metal slab of yesterday's technology, which basically means that your upgrade path is done. Because all the software for a console is explicitly designed for a predictable set of hardware, new games will never be sluggish unless there's something psysically wrong with the console. In other words, buying a console is cheaper AND provides more longevity than a PC.

I still prefer PC gaming because I mostly play older games and I like to tinker, but god damn people need to learn to admit when they're beat. A gaming PC is just a shitty choice for the vast majority of people who play games.

A PC will last you about as long or longer than a gaming console.
PC offers a more direct line between you and developers
PC objectively has more exclusives because it gives more power to developers to distribute their game
PC games often cost much less than console
PC games dont charge for online play
the MMO genre as a whole pretty much entirely exists on PC.
the MOBA genre as a whole is purely PC
PCs offer many more features than just gaming, and it allows much more freedom to do non-gaming related tasks
my PC was a hunk of mediocrity 3 years ago and it still holds up just fine, even while running some shitty CPU from a 2005 emachine.
FPS games as a whole are objectively better on PC, due to the more precise aiming input.
if you have to "maintain" a PC youre doing something wrong. I haven't opened my PC in years and the only bugs or issues I have are caused by me trying to tinker around more than i probably should. Any amount of time that i didnt try to customize or tinker with my pc, i never had any issues.
developers have more ability to update and maintain their game on PC because they dont have to go through producers to get their update approved (TF2 is a great example)
you DO have to upgrade your hardware if you run a console. the difference being on a PC you upgrade your graphics card, and with a console you buy a whole new console that probably wont play most or any of the games you already own.
PC in general also allows for users to customize each game's settings and input method for that game. Mario? controller. overwatch? keyboard/mouse. PSO2? controller in left hand and mouse in right hand.
I'd have to do my math again for 2017, but last time I checked a gaming PC costs more up front, but less in the long run when compared to consoles.
PC also offers a complete console experience if you download Steam and press the home button on your controller or click the picture of a controller to launch Big Picture Mode. You can even tell Steam to boot into Big Picture Mode whenever you start your computer. I plug my PC into my TV and sit back on my couch with a PS4 controller and play nice and comfy.

I'm all for saying it's up to preference, but lets not outright lie and say PC isn't worth owning in 2017 because if we're looking at raw features, PC has everything beat.

yeah if you think consoles are cheaper you must be really bad at math. The physical console might be a bit cheaper (they keep going up in price) but you save so much on games (everything goes way down in price in less than a years time pretty much lol) and accessories and storage and shit when you go pc

i guess its a Web Developer thing to only have laptops though lol

> if you have to "maintain" a PC you're doing it wrong