3 ms·

You are forgetting about emerging markets (and pretty much anywhere outside the US/Europe). These places are completely leapfrogging desktop technology and goi

You are forgetting about emerging markets (and pretty much anywhere outside the US/Europe). These places are completely leapfrogging desktop technology and going straight to mobile. It isn't just the case that the end user can't afford desktops: think how much infrastructure is needed (in terms of power, connectivity, etc) for a desktop device versus a smartphone or tablet.

ac29 13y ago
Desktops do need better power infrastructure, though something like a NUC could be powered by a small solar panel. A Rpi or ARM-based chromebox is even lighter on the power needs. Haswell (or ARM) based laptops can do 10 hours on a charge and wouldn't even need a consistent power supply. Not sure what you mean by connectivity -- desktops and mobile devices have the same options: wireless (3/4G, etc), and wired (via wifi for the mobiles). A desktop surely doesn't require buildout of a infrastructure-heavy wired network to have comparable connectivity to a smartphone.
- obeattie 13y ago
  While these technologies can run on this power, they simply aren't consumerised, or even in the rear view mirror of non-HN types right now. You also have to consider the use-cases: a smartphone or tablet can be used to author documents, browse the web etc (even if the experience isn't perfect), whereas a desktop computer cannot practically be carried in the pocket and used as a vital in-the-field communications device. As far as connectivity goes: again, you're talking about a hypothetical. While there's no reason you can't create a low-bandwidth experience on desktop, the fact remains that simply opening my email transfers over .5MB. Opening my Facebook account transfers more than 1MB. Doing this on my phone uses a fraction of this data.
thomasz 13y ago
It may be hard to believe, but people actually want a fridge before they even think about buying a computer or mobile phone

ac29 13y ago

Desktops do need better power infrastructure, though something like a NUC could be powered by a small solar panel. A Rpi or ARM-based chromebox is even lighter on the power needs. Haswell (or ARM) based laptops can do 10 hours on a charge and wouldn't even need a consistent power supply. Not sure what you mean by connectivity -- desktops and mobile devices have the same options: wireless (3/4G, etc), and wired (via wifi for the mobiles). A desktop surely doesn't require buildout of a infrastructure-heavy wired network to have comparable connectivity to a smartphone.

obeattie 13y ago
While these technologies can run on this power, they simply aren't consumerised, or even in the rear view mirror of non-HN types right now. You also have to consider the use-cases: a smartphone or tablet can be used to author documents, browse the web etc (even if the experience isn't perfect), whereas a desktop computer cannot practically be carried in the pocket and used as a vital in-the-field communications device. As far as connectivity goes: again, you're talking about a hypothetical. While there's no reason you can't create a low-bandwidth experience on desktop, the fact remains that simply opening my email transfers over .5MB. Opening my Facebook account transfers more than 1MB. Doing this on my phone uses a fraction of this data.

thomasz 13y ago

It may be hard to believe, but people actually want a fridge before they even think about buying a computer or mobile phone