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It seems everywhere I look, the media is
declaring that the PC is dead. I've read this in
newspapers, online news stories, and have heard
it on television news. With the popularity of
smart phones and tablets constantly growing, you
can actually see why people may believe this.
Even Microsoft has jumped on the bandwagon with
their latest operating system, Windows 8,
mimicking the operations of the new portable
computing devices.
What you do not see or hear from the news
sources is how much people really HATE Windows
8. Nor are they talking about the limitations of
the portable computing devices. Sure, having a
tablet is a major convenience. I personally have
an older Kindle for downloading electronic
books, and love it. I also wouldn't mind having
a more advanced tablet for the portability.
These devices do serve a purpose for the people
who buy them. They may even replace a PC for a
good percentage of the people who buy them. But
the limitations of these devices are huge. Most
mid to large businesses cannot use these devices
for all their processing needs. Data entry,
spreadsheets, databases, and other business
related software will simply not work anywhere
near as effectively as on a PC. And for personal
use, tablets are just too small and limited to
do many things a desktop PC is capable of doing.
Let me cover just a few things I personally use
my PC for that will be impossible to perform on
any tablet existing, or still on the drawing
board.
1) High End Graphics - I use multiple graphics
programs to create and manipulate high
resolution images. Some of the projects I've
worked on required pushing my PC memory to the
maximum RAM. I've even run out of memory and had
to save where I was, then reboot my computer to
clear some more memory to continue. The current
tablets available today don't have enough RAM to
do the same job. Even when the tablets do
increase their RAM, you still have to work from
a small screen. Manipulating graphic files is
far easier with a large monitor and a mouse.
2) Computer Animation - I've long used a 3D
animation program called TrueSpace to create 3D
graphics and animation. Since Microsoft bought
and removed this program from the market, I've
started learning Blender. To create a complex 3D
animation, any of these types of programs
require high RAM capacity, as well as a high end
video card and huge amounts of hard drive space.
Unless the technology changes drastically, there
is no way to fit a video processor into a tablet
that would enable it to come anywhere close to
what can be done with a middle of the road video
card for a PC. Also, screen size makes the idea
of computer animation on a tablet idiotic.
3) Video Editing - Many people shoot videos
with their camcorders and edit them on their PC.
Although the requirements of editing video are
not as intensive as computer animation, it would
still be very hard to make a tablet that can
handle the flow, storage and manipulation of
high resolution video. Again, future tablets may
eventually acquire the memory muscle to do the
job, but screen size is still the tablet's
demise.
4) PC Gaming - This is the big killer of the
tablet. Even though there are console games like
XBox, Playstation and the Wii, many people
prefer to play their games on their PC. Modern
games require a higher level of video cards than
a tablet could ever fit inside their tiny, thin
frame. Also, larger screen sizes gives definite
advantages to online first-person shooter games.
Die-hard gamers would never trade their PCs in
for a tablet.
5) Web Page Design - Although the computing
power of tablets could easily handle this task,
there are still limitation that would adversely
affect using one to do so. I am notorious for
multi-tasking when creating my web pages.
Besides using my Dreamweaver program, I many
times need to open multiple browser windows to
search for required information, many graphics
programs to create images I need, and sometimes
I'll even jump into 3D animation program.
Bouncing back and forth between these programs
is far easier with a larger screen, and an
operating system that gives me fast access with
my mouse. A tablet and its touch-based operating
system would be a huge hindrance.
On top of these limitation, there is one
serious flaw in tablets. They are an entire
computer in one disposable package. This means
that you have to actually buy a completely new
tablet every couple of years to keep up with the
latest technology and software. The same applies
if you have mechanical problems. With a PC, once
you buy a complete one, you can update or repair
as needed. For example, I've used my last PC
monitor for 15 years. If I hadn't decided to
upgrade to a larger wide screen version, I could
probably have kept using it for many more years.
I've also upgraded my PC video card about once
every 4 years or so. When my last motherboard on
my PC started giving me problems, I simply
bought a new one, updating the processor as
well. All in all, the money I've spent on
maintaining/upgrading my PC would be far less
than buying a new tablet every other year, and I
get far better performance.
So, don't believe the hype. Many people may
ditch their PCs for tablets, but a large
percentage won't. Tablets are good for
portability, the casual web surfer, and many
other uses. They may even have some uses for
businesses. They will not, however, totally
replace the PC. Too many of us hard-core users
need them.
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