It is always funny reading articles trying to gaze into the future of computing especially when they start trying to figure out the form factor of future computers. The “desktop is dead, long live the laptop”, the sudden emergence and roaring success of the netbook, the gradual improvement in specification and increase in price of the netbook to encroach on laptop territory.
And of course the “new thing” – the slate (I refuse to call it the silly name that Applie chose).
Everything we read leads us to believe that this is going to beat that and there is no market for this other thing. The truth of the matter is that there is no reason why there should not be a reasonable market for all the different form factors.
For instance, I own and use :-
- Two desktop machines (one dedicated to server duty)
- A work-provided laptop for heavy duty work on the move.
- A netbook for a portal “toolbox”.
- An ‘all-in-one’ that sits on my coffee table and serves as a web browser for in front of the TV. Quite possibly to be replaced with a slate once decent 10″ Android slates start appearing.
Now I’m an extreme example, and it is unlikely that normal people would want all that. But it is quite possible the average family might, or even more.
But even more importantly, someone who has a desktop machine at home (and work) probably doesn’t need a powerful laptop, but may find a netbook useful. Or someone with a powerful laptop may not want a netbook, but may find a slate useful for random bits in front of the TV.
Different people have different preferred ways of interacting with computers. And the market is now large enough to provide different environments. So whilst the slate may eat away at the market share of netbooks, as indeed laptops have taken market share from desktops, there is no ‘death of the netbook’ coming anytime soon.