Windows 7: Why Moore's Law, not mobility, is killing the PC

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That was a very good article. I'm currently using an 06-07 dell lattidue with Genuine Intel(R) CPU T2400 @ 1.83GHz, 1 GB Ram and 55GB Hard Drive.

I limit the amount of programs installed and keep it pretty clutter free with externals, but the article holds true. I've never had any real problems with it, maybe a lag or two perhaps the drivers need an update, but I use it every day (not a gamer or audio/video editor) but she runs pretty smoothly and accomplishes my tasks. That being said I am going to be building a custom PC near the end of the year, but I'll hold on to this girl as my travel computer for sure.

Well for my money Night Hawk the pc sales have flattened out because of the myriads of younger people being smitten with those awful tablets and iPhones. My son is one of them and he has a $3K build sitting at his place gathering dust. Perhaps I am just an old cynic but I find the need for facebook and all that social crap just plain boring and so depersonalised.

Personally I do like getting inside a machine working out the more unorthodox fixes (usually with hardware) I just find it relaxing and keeps this old brain ticking over. As for the development of ever smaller cores well we all know where that is going and frankly where we are at right now is just fine by me. Having said that I am intrigued by the physics of it.

All in all nothing will kill off the PC for me anyway, and lest face it break one of those new gen devices and it's a throw away job eh? and we are up to our ears in waste as it is.

Great article - thanks for posting it.

The only reason I purchased a new machine last year was becasue my previous machine died. It ran software fine and I could probably upgraded to Windows 7. Otherwise I was happy with a AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-57 / 1.9 GHz dual core and 4 GB of memory.

But, it bit the dust - bad MOBO.

I think you should be able to get 7 to 10 years out of a machine. Businesses run on a 3 to 5 year purchase schedule.

I have two desktops that I use: The i7 machine with Windows 7 that's also in my specs, and a Pentium 4 machine with Windows XP that's been with me since 2008 (the machine itself has been around since 2004!).

The latter P4 machine has been retrofitted with gigabit ethernet, USB2.0, and a GeForce 6200 PCI video card (no AGP slots!) to keep up with modern demands, and it has served very well for my work and lighter/older gaming needs, as well as more basic stuff like serving as an alternative computer to use for IRC, Skype, and surfing the internet. It's also showing absolutely no signs of dying or becoming irrelevant any time soon!

The i7 machine was built in March of last year because my P4 machine was simply hitting its limits as far as decoding h.264/AVC HD video and playing more modern games were concerned, among other needs, and I simply needed a modern cutting-edge workhorse. My i7 machine is now my "main" desktop with my P4 serving as the "sub" desktop, but I find both of them equally useful, reliable, and in-need.

As for the article, it was a very good read indeed! In the quagmire of articles that falsely insist PCs are dying/dead because of smartphones/tablets, this article actually looks scientifically in detail at why PC sales are stagnating compared to earlier times and also why PCs are not dying even though sales may be falling off. Thanks for linking it. (￣▽￣)ノ

P.S. I also have a Pentium III machine from 2001 that's currently sitting quietly waiting for some spare desk space to open up, it's still alive and kicking ass.

I call it the Bic Method. Just like Bic lighters, pens, razors ect.
When it quiets working just throw it away and get another one. Tablets will get cheep enough to do that with out even a second though. Their might even be trade in sales promotions for broken tablets and the like.
It's a new market that companies want to be a big part of. Do remember that this market does not require quality. Make the tablet last a little longer than the warranty of 1 year and then offer a trade in value of the broken tablet towards a new tablet. Perpetual sales until the next new throw away toy comes along. New throw away products will come out when China makes enough counterfeits of existing toys to take the sales and profits out of them. Then a new toy comes out in two new colors, black and silver and the whole process starts all over. I think they call this the new Global Economy.

"Buy as much power as you can afford!" That was the standard shopping advice for computers in the 80's, 90's and even into the 00's. The basic idea: "It will give you a hedge against obsolescence." Nowadays, this ain't so much of an issue. I know lots of folks who use 6 - 8 year old PC's without problems. As long as they don't breakdown, they're good to go.

I see several reasons:

• The PC market is saturated in the "1st World"
• Old PCs are powerful enough to run most of the popular software packages
• A lot of new software offers almost no benefits to the end user (e.g. new versions of Office)
• Most people don't have the time or inclination to use computationally demanding software (e.g. 3D animation)
• A lot of people never really needed a PC in the first place

Gamers and other enthusiasts (animation, coding, photography, video, etc.) are the only "standard" consumers who need "heavy firepower".

The one constant I found through the years until late '00s was that need to get into a cpu that would push the OS faster. besides that the evergrowing need for more ram was satisfied in the last 4-5yrs. roughly with the drastic increase in capacities suddenly thrust onto the market.

Do you actually need a board that can run 16gb, 24gb, 32gb, or more in everyday use? Most will never have the need!

As for the cpus you once ran a single cpu that slumped next to one that was only 200mhz faster! If you upgraded an old Atholon XP3000 2ghz cpu to one faster like an XP3200 or XP3400 model found on OEM machines you suddenly noticed a leap! Once you got past the 3ghz running a dual core or quad cpu however that same 200mhz jump between models basically amounts to a number only as seen when upgrading from a Phenom II X4 965 3.2ghz to the 975 3.4ghz model.

The real difference seen over the last few years besides moving into a quad from a dual core would be ram having taxed the old 4gb system and running out of resources for things like running multiple VMs simultaneously and CAD. You then need that extra to cover things.

On most custom cases they have always lasted a long time until the last case saw both board and supply with the supply likely taking the board with it need replacements. The present case saw the first board cooked by a faulty supply again seeing both replaced. Other then those two setbacks the only other problem now being is with a replacement drive stuck in the old case when the original Vista to 7 beta host drive had to be pulled due to age and wear. The new drive maybe having some problems since attempts to put a fresh copy of Vista by dvd and flash key failed and XP barely got on.

Besides all that however the primary use for the old case set up for a friend was to replace an old XP build where the board or cpu died from age and the case itself literally fell apart! The friend shops online and plays some basic online games like those by the way seen on FaceBook. Nothing demanding where he would need the 8gb of one brand of memory since he is still running the 32bit Windows.
(He is now considering a look at 7 however where the 64bit could be advised.)

For the present 7 case here however the extra was planned out ahead of time to cover the things the last build wasn't able to as well as allowing for other things to come that might need that extra. At the same time the daily tasks are not that demanding except for those times when something new is being tried out. Something that taxes system resources that is.

Yep so right about the throw away comment and I for one think it is disgusting how these cheap and cheerful devices are in are made from what I consider slave labour not only in the manufacturing sites but also those site where the raw materials come from something that most of the apathetic public users are not really concerned about or I would hazard a guess at even caring if they knew.
But I guess this goes on with a lot of the well known brands of merchandise