3 ms·

I'd be curious to see what the industry-wide numbers look like, but I wouldn't be surprised to see PCs skew even higher in favour of laptops. Desktops are incr

by pdpi 2y ago

I'd be curious to see what the industry-wide numbers look like, but I wouldn't be surprised to see PCs skew even higher in favour of laptops. Desktops are increasingly only relevant for specialised workloads like gaming or high-end content creation. Assuming that Apple still holds on to the lion's share of the content creation market, and that content creation as a whole is more common than high-end gaming, Apple would then have a larger share of their sales go to desktops than the industry average.

where-group-by 2y ago
I think the percentage of desktops would be higher for PCs just due to the number of offices outfitted with computers
- wil421 2y ago
  What offices have desktops? I think it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen one at a desk.
  - where-group-by 2y ago
    Any front desks, if they have a computer it will be a desktop. Any cubicle farms, like call centres. University labs, Hospitals.
    - kevinpacheco 2y ago
      Similar to hospitals, I have seen SFF and AIO PCs all over outpatient medical offices.
  - bongodongobob 2y ago
    Manufacturing plants, gas stations, mechanic shops, every single retail store, restaurants, movie theaters, bars, call centers, farms, police stations, prisons, libraries, etc. Basically everywhere my guy. The world isn't just dev shops.
    - dagw 2y ago
      Most of those aren't offices. And many of the computers at places like that either are POS terminals or other specialty hardware. And even at most of the places you listed, I bet you'll find most of the actual office work is still done on laptops. The accountants back at the office for the movie theatre and gas station companies almost certainly have laptops
  - jonathanlydall 2y ago
    I would expect any call centre type operation would have desktops. The employees would never work from home (outside of a pandemic) and work set hours. So if desktops costs less, they will of course be used here since there is nothing to be gained from paying extra. Similarly, these users would not be using pricier Apple products.
    - saratogacx 2y ago
      > The employees would never work from home (outside of a pandemic) and work set hours. This isn't quite true, the call center at my Co. is partially remote for call center staff, they use jabber and other VoIP connected to their PC's to work from home.
  - criddell 2y ago
    I do Windows application development and the company I work for is all desktop machines. Some of the static analysis tools need a lot of RAM and CPU (I have 128 GB and a pretty new Threadripper with a lot of cores). There aren’t good laptop options for this type of development machine, at least not ones I’d like to use (ie minimal fan noise).
- dijit 2y ago
  I think since COVID I haven't seen an office that actively chooses those "SFF" PC's anymore, and those were as anaemic as laptops performance-wise... and weirdly: not much cheaper either. Granted, I don't see a lot of offices, but everywhere that I have seen seems to be choosing docking stations or USB-C enabled displays (Dell has an excellent selection of those) and some kind of business laptop like a Precision or Elitebook. Incidentally, those same screens are used for the staff who have Apple computers, and, largely, those are laptops too. Desktops seem to be practically dead except for workstation-grade ones in the businesses I've been to.
  - usrusr 2y ago
    Where the stationary work PC survives (I think): point of sale like desks that are half way between cash register (not personal at all) and notebook computer (each employee got their own). E.g. the computer feeding the screen at the hotel check-in counter. Not a big market relative to the number of systems existing because they aren't frequently replaced and when they are replaced, very cheaply, but the number existing is huge. And leaning to the PC side a lot, I think? Workstation-grade, I'd say, is extremely limited and shrinking fast. Particularly outside of the tinkerer niche. Think "gamer", even if I suspect that actual gaming isn't half as big in that niche as marketing approaches would suggest. But in any case very much not-Apple.
    - crgwbr 2y ago
      A lot of that market is going to iPads, nowadays, too
- poisonborz 2y ago
  Offices? Company ITs buy laptops with docks. If not, SoC minipcs attached to monitors.
  - swat535 2y ago
    What’s the point of using a laptop with a docking station? You still need an external keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. Is the main reason to save money? Or is it because laptops are now more powerful than desktop PCs? For example, do MacBook Airs paired with external monitors perform better than traditional PCs? If not, are people opting for MacBook Pros with docks instead? And if so, is a top-tier MacBook Pro with an external monitor and keyboard actually cheaper than a Mac Studio setup?
    - raydev 2y ago
      Equally as powerful as a standard full size PC for most tasks but you can take it with you to meeting rooms and you can take it home.
hereonout2 2y ago
Yep this feels like an "and the pope is catholic" type of headline. I really only know a handful of people with desktops and they are all gamers. My office is devoid of them aside a few specialist workstations.
flohofwoe 2y ago
I wouldn't underestimate the number of dedicated gaming PCs, but at the same time I don't have hard numbers to back that up. FWIW re the article, I'm surprised that the share of desktop Macs is so high compared to Mac laptops. I've never seen one in the wild outside shops, but plenty of people using their Mac laptops as desktop (eg connect a keyboard and monitor)
- nukem222 2y ago
  Presumably workstations are not just wandering around outside. Unless you're breaking into peoples' homes and offices i wouldn't expect to see much.
- pdpi 2y ago
  > I've never seen one in the wild outside shops, I think this is down to what I was saying: they're not general purpose machines anymore, they're mostly used for specialised workloads. If you don't spend any time in the sort of environment where those workloads are common, you won't see them. Similarly, many people will go all their lives without ever seeing a gaming PC, even though they're completely mundane in my (and, I assume, your) world.

by pdpi 2y ago

where-group-by 2y ago

I think the percentage of desktops would be higher for PCs just due to the number of offices outfitted with computers

wil421 2y ago
What offices have desktops? I think it’s been quite a while since I’ve seen one at a desk.
- where-group-by 2y ago
  Any front desks, if they have a computer it will be a desktop. Any cubicle farms, like call centres. University labs, Hospitals.
  - kevinpacheco 2y ago
    Similar to hospitals, I have seen SFF and AIO PCs all over outpatient medical offices.
- bongodongobob 2y ago
  Manufacturing plants, gas stations, mechanic shops, every single retail store, restaurants, movie theaters, bars, call centers, farms, police stations, prisons, libraries, etc. Basically everywhere my guy. The world isn't just dev shops.
  - dagw 2y ago
    Most of those aren't offices. And many of the computers at places like that either are POS terminals or other specialty hardware. And even at most of the places you listed, I bet you'll find most of the actual office work is still done on laptops. The accountants back at the office for the movie theatre and gas station companies almost certainly have laptops
- jonathanlydall 2y ago
  I would expect any call centre type operation would have desktops. The employees would never work from home (outside of a pandemic) and work set hours. So if desktops costs less, they will of course be used here since there is nothing to be gained from paying extra. Similarly, these users would not be using pricier Apple products.
  - saratogacx 2y ago
    > The employees would never work from home (outside of a pandemic) and work set hours. This isn't quite true, the call center at my Co. is partially remote for call center staff, they use jabber and other VoIP connected to their PC's to work from home.
- criddell 2y ago
  I do Windows application development and the company I work for is all desktop machines. Some of the static analysis tools need a lot of RAM and CPU (I have 128 GB and a pretty new Threadripper with a lot of cores). There aren’t good laptop options for this type of development machine, at least not ones I’d like to use (ie minimal fan noise).
dijit 2y ago
I think since COVID I haven't seen an office that actively chooses those "SFF" PC's anymore, and those were as anaemic as laptops performance-wise... and weirdly: not much cheaper either. Granted, I don't see a lot of offices, but everywhere that I have seen seems to be choosing docking stations or USB-C enabled displays (Dell has an excellent selection of those) and some kind of business laptop like a Precision or Elitebook. Incidentally, those same screens are used for the staff who have Apple computers, and, largely, those are laptops too. Desktops seem to be practically dead except for workstation-grade ones in the businesses I've been to.
- usrusr 2y ago
  Where the stationary work PC survives (I think): point of sale like desks that are half way between cash register (not personal at all) and notebook computer (each employee got their own). E.g. the computer feeding the screen at the hotel check-in counter. Not a big market relative to the number of systems existing because they aren't frequently replaced and when they are replaced, very cheaply, but the number existing is huge. And leaning to the PC side a lot, I think? Workstation-grade, I'd say, is extremely limited and shrinking fast. Particularly outside of the tinkerer niche. Think "gamer", even if I suspect that actual gaming isn't half as big in that niche as marketing approaches would suggest. But in any case very much not-Apple.
  - crgwbr 2y ago
    A lot of that market is going to iPads, nowadays, too
poisonborz 2y ago
Offices? Company ITs buy laptops with docks. If not, SoC minipcs attached to monitors.
- swat535 2y ago
  What’s the point of using a laptop with a docking station? You still need an external keyboard, mouse, monitor, etc. Is the main reason to save money? Or is it because laptops are now more powerful than desktop PCs? For example, do MacBook Airs paired with external monitors perform better than traditional PCs? If not, are people opting for MacBook Pros with docks instead? And if so, is a top-tier MacBook Pro with an external monitor and keyboard actually cheaper than a Mac Studio setup?
  - raydev 2y ago
    Equally as powerful as a standard full size PC for most tasks but you can take it with you to meeting rooms and you can take it home.

hereonout2 2y ago

Yep this feels like an "and the pope is catholic" type of headline. I really only know a handful of people with desktops and they are all gamers. My office is devoid of them aside a few specialist workstations.

flohofwoe 2y ago

I wouldn't underestimate the number of dedicated gaming PCs, but at the same time I don't have hard numbers to back that up. FWIW re the article, I'm surprised that the share of desktop Macs is so high compared to Mac laptops. I've never seen one in the wild outside shops, but plenty of people using their Mac laptops as desktop (eg connect a keyboard and monitor)

nukem222 2y ago
Presumably workstations are not just wandering around outside. Unless you're breaking into peoples' homes and offices i wouldn't expect to see much.
pdpi 2y ago
> I've never seen one in the wild outside shops, I think this is down to what I was saying: they're not general purpose machines anymore, they're mostly used for specialised workloads. If you don't spend any time in the sort of environment where those workloads are common, you won't see them. Similarly, many people will go all their lives without ever seeing a gaming PC, even though they're completely mundane in my (and, I assume, your) world.