Is the desktop destined for the same fate as the VCR?

[George Tyndall]

The wise and venerable desktop
January 2014
When you think about the computing devices you’ll be using in the future, desktop PCs probably don’t come to mind. Sure, your very first computer was a desktop and they’ve been around forever, but surely the convenience and popularity of tablets, smartphones and notebooks are signalling the desktop’s demise.

Or are they?

Turns out desktop PCs aren’t going the way of the VCR just yet. Yes, smaller devices are more convenient and useful in many situations, but the desktop has its place, too. Instead of replacing desktops as primary computers, many are finding that the smaller, portable devices are more effective when they’re used to supplement a more powerful, stationary desktop. It seems that desktop PCs aren’t going anywhere—but their role is changing.

Share the workload
For employees who travel frequently, there’s no doubt that their tablets and smartphones get a lot more use than their desktops... if they even have desktops. But for those who find themselves needing to get some serious work done and are in the office at least some of the time, a powerful, more capable PC like the EliteDesk 800 can be crucial.

Now, thanks to the cloud, it’s easy to work on multiple devices no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Including a desktop in your arsenal of devices can be extremely advantageous for many reasons.

Powerful partner
When it comes to power, nothing beats a desktop PC. With bigger processors, an unlimited power source and effective cooling systems, PCs like the ProDesk 600 can do more at higher speeds—period. While this kind of power may not be a priority for some people, it’s a huge necessity for anyone who works with demanding programs like Adobe InDesign® or Photoshop ®. Even complex Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets require the clout that only a desktop can provide.

Do more, view more
Another advantage of desktops is that you can use more peripherals at once. If you’re working on a tablet and need a mouse, keyboard, and your headphones—you might be out of luck. But most desktops have many USB ports and other connectivity options that aren’t even available on mobile devices. Plus, desktops also provide added screen real estate, which studies have shown make you more productive [1]. You can even further enhance your multitasking capabilities by connecting multiple monitors, giving you the ability to run several apps simultaneously.

The right price
While you actually get more of everything with a desktop PC compared to other devices (except mobility, of course), they are significantly cheaper. This applies to when you buy them new and when you need to make repairs. Because the components of tablets and notebooks are so small, they are more difficult to work with and cost more. Desktops can often run hundreds of dollars less than some of their notebook counterparts.

It’s true that a professional world without tablets, smartphones and notebooks would be difficult to navigate these days, but as long as desktops provide power and versatility at the right price, it looks like there will always be a place for them in almost every office.

P.S. I wantd to post the link to this, but I couldn't do so without including some personal information, so here it is, with attribution to HP but without the link.

(That's me and my PC, which I never go away without, as I get one free extra checked baggage with my frequent-flier program)

[TreeTopsRanch]

I do everything I ever did on a desktop now on my laptop. Excel, Word, Quickbooks, High Def video editing and on and on. I, however, still have the multiple cords problem. Wires everywhere.

[George Tyndall]

I do everything I ever did on a desktop now on my laptop. Excel, Word, Quickbooks, High Def video editing and on and on. I, however, still have the multiple cords problem. Wires everywhere.

Does your laptop have a second internal HDD, so that if ever your primary C drive crashes (as a number of mine have), you can simply unplug it and then plug in the second internal drive, which is a mirror of the one that crashed?

Does your laptop's motherboard have 8 USB 2.0 and 4 USB 3.0 ports, so that you can easily accomplish all sorts of HDD-intensive tasks smoothly and without dismounting and mounting?

Does your laptop allow you to edit, without ever rendering, a 1-hour PRE timeline on a 52-inch HDTV and then play back the un-rendered PRE file so smoothly that it seems it's already been shared as an MPEG2 1920 x 1080 file?

If the answer to all of the above is "yes," then please share the make and model of your laptop, as I really would prefer to carry my machine on board as a handcarry than to check it in.

[TreeTopsRanch]

You set the standards too high.(for me) My laptop is 5 years old. Yes, to the two drives but the second drive is used for video editing. Backup drive is external. No usb 3 ports. (USB 3 didn't exist when I bought this laptop). I do have firewire which some desktops don't have anymore. I have no problems editing 1080i videos using Vegas Movie Studio. Learned by purchasing Steve's books. Paid $1000.00 for this laptop. Your specs seem to me to be more costly but maybe it can be done at $1000.00 for a desktop.

[Steve Grisetti]

I'll give up my desktop when they can pull it from my cold, arthritic hands!

[_Paz_]

I'll have what George has... next time!

[sidd finch]

I use the PCM slot on my laptop to plug in a usb 3.o card and it works well.

Sidd

[George Tyndall]

I'll give up my desktop when they can pull it from my cold, arthritic hands!

Yes, Charlton Heston, I mean, Steve Grisetti.

[BuddyB]

I second the motion on Steve's statement. I'm normally a decent typist, but on a laptop I'm a gimp, and I'm not in to attaching a bunch peripherals. For me (and that's just me) my desktop much easier to work with.

[Bobby]

We just bought a new all-in-one for my wife's PC. Very limited choices. But her primary motivation for not getting a notebook was screen size. She loves that 23" screen!

[_Paz_]

What is a "all in one", Bobby?

In my doctor's office I noticed that it appeared there was a screen and a keyboard with no external case. The doc said the 'works' were built in behind the screen, which looked pretty thin. Is that an all in one?

My laptop has been back at Lenovo repair for about a week now. Motherboard replacement this time. And keyboard and speakers and optical drive. They should have replaced the speakers last time but since they didn't have any, it stayed on hold for parts for ages and I asked them to just send it back to me. Not sure how much longer it will take. All I can get from their website is "hold for parts" and they have been out of the office due to snow/ice storms.

I have less than 2 years left on my extended warranty and figure it is probably time to begin figuring out components for the next go round, which will need to be a desktop I guess, since Lenovo no longer makes that largest size and at 17" the screen is a bit small for video editing palettes. Besides, if I assemble something myself, if one component goes out I can replace it myself.

I'm intrigued by George's [s]large[/] huge screen size. I'm guessing it takes a very powerful video card to run larger monitors, right? Which cards would be ones to look at?

Any other items I should look at for video editing in particular?

thanks,

Paz

[Bob]

Yes, that's an all-in-one computer. If you google that, you'll find more examples.

George uses the video card's HDMI connection with his HDTV. Any computer with HDMI output could do the same. You don't need a high powered video card to support a large display. You do need a higher end video card if you use high end video games or other applications that rely on using the graphics processing unit on the video card for complex in-parallel computations.

[George Tyndall]

I'm intrigued by George's [s]large[/] huge screen size. I'm guessing it takes a very powerful video card to run larger monitors, right? Which cards would be ones to look at?

Any other items I should look at for video editing in particular?

thanks,

Paz

If I was on the market for a new machine, I would likely purchase one of the below Windows 7 machines, as Win7 works perfectly with all my software.

http://www.shopping.hp.com/en_US/home-office/-/products/Desktops/Desktops?SearchParameter=%26%40QueryTerm%3D*%26ContextCategoryUUID%3DOp0QxXjbaUcAAAE0eehcZzOt%26os_facet_desktops_dte2%3DWindows%2B7%26%40Sort.TieredPricing%3D0&PageSize=15&SortingAttribute=TieredPricing-asc

Only the most-expensive one has the HDMI output on the video card, but I do believe that any of those with the DVI-D output could be make to work with a DVI to HDMI adapter.

Am I correct, Bob?

[Bob]

Yes, the dvi output of the video card can be connected using an appropriate adaptor card or cable to the hdmi input of the hdtv. DVI only carries a video signal, not audio and video like hdmi. If you want the audio to feed to the hdtv also, you will need a separate audio connection.

[George Tyndall]

Yes, the dvi output of the video card can be connected using an appropriate adaptor card or cable to the hdmi input of the hdtv. DVI only carries a video signal, not audio and video like hdmi. If you want the audio to feed to the hdtv also, you will need a separate audio connection.

The machiine in my signature has Optical Audio Out that connects to my Onkyo 8.1 system, and my newer Win7 machine also has it, so it may be that Optical Audio Out is now standard on HP desktops?