I agree with the author, although I don't buy the literary ploy that this realization just hit him recently. This has been a development building within the PC

I agree with the author, although I don't buy the literary ploy that this realization just hit him recently. This has been a development building within the PC sphere for years. Not only that, many professional and countless more no-good hobbyist opinion-makers (like myself) have made this point over and over. I'm nobody, but I have opined about this and the insipid taint of Good Enough several times [1]. Like "api" at the top of this comment thread, I feel there are bottlenecks that keep the desktop PC, and the laptop PC to a degree, constrained to the roles that we have presently envisioned for those devices. My opinion is that desktop display technology is ultimately the root of desktop stagnation and, speaking positively, could be the root of a desktop renaissance [2]. I agree that bandwidth progress has slowed and storage capacity progress has slowed [3], but point out that only display technology has actually outright stopped and regressed. In 2001, the IBM T220/221 monitor achieved high-DPI on the desktop (3840x2400 at 22 inches). Since then, we banished high DPI from the desktop and obsessed about a marketing term named "HD" because we allowed the rules that govern our living rooms' displays to take over on our desktop. That we accept 24" desktop monitors with 1080 vertical lines in 2013 is heartbreaking. I agree with api that bandwidth is to blame. But bandwidth hasn't stopped progressing and regressed (well, with one exception: mobile data caps). More importantly, I feel that behind the bandwidth complacency is display complacency. Put a 40" high-DPI desktop monitor on your desktop and I think the demand for ultra-high-definition content, high-clarity user interfaces, bandwidth, computation power, and storage capacity will all increase. Intel sells more processors, HP/Dell/Lenovo sell more PCs, and oh-boy would I be so happy to finally get a real monitor upgrade. [1] http://tiamat.tsotech.com/technology-sucks http://tiamat.tsotech.com/technology-sucks [2] http://tiamat.tsotech.com/displays-are-the-key http://tiamat.tsotech.com/displays-are-the-key [3] http://tiamat.tsotech.com/boring-technology http://tiamat.tsotech.com/boring-technology