Tablets to Top Laptops This Year, All PCs in 2015

It's long been said that tablets will at some point become more popular than laptops, but according to a new forecast from IDC, that shift is poised to occur this year.

The market research firm predicted that tablet shipments will grow 58.7 percent year over year in 2013 to reach 229.3 million units, up from 144.5 million last year. Meanwhile, the "slumping PC market" is expected to see negative growth for a second consecutive year as tablet shipments outpace laptop shipments in 2013, and exceed the entire PC market - including desktops - by 2015.

Source

A Guy
 
Hi there
I really can't see growth of small tablets (Less than 8 ins) taking place in 2015 -- why bother with these when decent smart phones can do all that these devices can do (and more).

If I needed a tablet I'd go for one around 11 ins -- still portable and a large enough screen to be useful. An 8 inch screen doesn't offer anything really significant over a decent SAMSUNG S4 phone (screen approx. 5 ins) which is about the largest practicable pocket size device - before you get into those ridiculous "Phablet" devices --ever seen how idiotic these look when somebody is trying to make a call on one of these in a crowded place.

I think here the forecasters have got it totally wrong --actually in 2015 we might even see a SMALL resurgence of the PC market -- businesses these days are increasingly moving over to BYOD systems (saves then a boodle of dosh and from having to upgrade 1000,000's of old desktop computers) which will drive the market for laptops again.

Tablets of the 11 inch sort of size I'm sure WILL be the most popular option - not pointed out by the article. -- I'm sure loads of people when playing around with a tiny 8 inch (or smaller) tablet will soon get pretty sick of its limitations - especially when they realize that a decent PHONE would be just as good -- and with 4G service increasingly common the phone will have better / faster Wifi than the tablet anyway.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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....and most of them will be running Android....
 

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I love my iPad mini. My full size iPad never gets used anymore. The user experience is much better than that from a phone and it is a very handy size. Easy to hold. If I could get a free iPad, it would be another mini. I have no interest in the larger iPads after using the 7" version.

Smart phones can do what a 7" tablet can do.

A Smart car will get you to the grocery store just like a Camry will but the experience is quite different.
 

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My tablet is, and is used as, a toy.

For anything serious, I want a decent laptop as the minimum.


Wenda.
 

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[h=1]HTC nixes plans for 12-inch Windows RT tablet, report says[/h]
Bloomberg's source disclosed that the tablet would have cost HTC too much and the weak demand for RT tablets meant that the company had to be more selective about the products it brings to the market.
Instead, the focus will be on two 7-inch tablets -- one running RT, and the other Android. Both devices will be launched at the same time in either September or October.

HTC nixes plans for 12-inch Windows RT tablet, report says | Mobile - CNET News

Seems to me phones and tablets are merging in size soon there will be no tablet because the phone will do it all.
 

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My tablet is, and is used as, a toy.

For anything serious, I want a decent laptop as the minimum.


Wenda.
Depends on what you mean by serious. Is therapizing (no it's not a word but I intend to put it in the dictionary) serious business? Is writing up reports about a therapist's patient and keep all the electronic filing in a computing device serious?

A couple years ago, my friend who's a therapist came to me asking what her next device should be. She'd been using a laptop and she didn't like it. She saw people using tablets and she liked how small they were. I hooked her up with the asus transformer and she'd been working with that android hybrid since. Earlier this week she dropped by my place telling me she wanted to upgrade and it should be a windows 8 hybrid this time. She was going to leave for Russia this week so we plan to go out and shop for her upgrade after she gets back.

We're talking about a therapist here. All her work she does with her hybrid device.

I'm a field engineer. All my work are also done on a hybrid device.

Just saying for the majority of professions out there there's no need for a super duper super computer like Colossus: The Forbin Project - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

And for most people, there's even no need for that either. Most people will be perfectly happy with a media consumption tablet.

Regarding the tablet market overtaking the PC market, I believe it. Last night, I went to my niece's middle school graduation. We sat up high in the back. Sitting from the back, I was amazed to see a sea of 7 inch and 10 inch tablets being used to video record. I know we on the internet like to make fun of people shooting videos using their 7 inch and 10 inch tablets, but people out in the real world actually do it. We're talking about soccer moms and businessman dads shooting videos with their tablets here.

Just sayin', what we geeks say on the internet don't necessarily reflect reality.
 

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Check out this little critter:

even if you think the phone capabilities are little more than a daft frivolity, there's no denying the Fonepad packs a hell of punch for a budget tablet. It's good enough, even, to elbow aside the iPad mini at the top of our A-List.



Asus Fonepad review | PC Pro
 

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My tablet is, and is used as, a toy.

For anything serious, I want a decent laptop as the minimum.


Wenda.

Same here!
 

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    4gigs
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I honestly don't know why this is a big surprise. It's simply the next natural evolution in personal computing. As I've been saying for some time, and will continue to say it, we live in a mobile world where mobile computing is a way of life. People simply don't want big anymore when the technology is calling for small and light.

When I started looking to purchase a laptop late last year I quickly moved from wanting a big heavy 17" to a small lightweight 13" ultra book. As tablets get better and better, I suspect that ultra-book will get replaced with one of those.

Yes, there is still a role for a desktop, but that role is dwindling as the work force shifts and become ever more mobile.

Point is the "PC" as we know it is simply being replaced with the PC of the future, just as they will eventually be replaced with something else.

Simply put, technology marches on.
 

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My tablet is, and is used as, a toy.

For anything serious, I want a decent laptop as the minimum.


Wenda.

Exactly. No way I could ever type out an essay on a Tablet.
 

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My tablet is, and is used as, a toy.

For anything serious, I want a decent laptop as the minimum.


Wenda.

Exactly. No way I could ever type out an essay on a Tablet.

You might not be able to do it, but people do it all the time. It's a matter of perspective and how you look at it.
 

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    RAM Speed: 1866MHZ @ 9-10-10-27-2T, 1.5v
My tablet is, and is used as, a toy.

For anything serious, I want a decent laptop as the minimum.


Wenda.

Exactly. No way I could ever type out an essay on a Tablet.

And yet my friend works as a therapist and uses her hybrid device to type out reports of her patients.

When she gets back from Russia, she will be upgrading from an android hybrid to a windows 8 hybrid.
 

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My tablet is, and is used as, a toy.

For anything serious, I want a decent laptop as the minimum.


Wenda.

Exactly. No way I could ever type out an essay on a Tablet.

I can and have done that on my Windows Phone.

Maybe a gap in generations?
 

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Tablets as toys? Please, Acer has a better idea of what a toy should be, and it's a desktop AIO too!
Acer Haswell AIO Android PC Spotted; Reveal Next Week

Most idiotic computing idea I've seen since google glasses. android BARELY just got to the point of being a decent tablet/phablet OS, and yet it hasn't made so much ground on the ipad at all. So what is the best logical response to Windows 8 and slowing PC sales? Slap a smartphone operating system on a 21.5 inch screen, give it an Intel CPU clocked at 3 Ghz because obviously, EVERYONE has SO much production, file management, and content creation to do on android! Wow, give me a break of that Kit Kat bar! :rolleyes: Even better, it only has a gig of RAM, which in retrospect, I think some Samsung GSIIIs actually have more than that.

This is a PRIME example of out of the several reasons why PC sales are going down: OEMs have no idea what they're doing anymore now. They're just throwing crap at the wall over and over and seeing what sticks. android, a smartphone operating system, on a touch AIO device (to call this a PC is like calling a Ford Taurus a BMW 525i) with a 3 GHz Intel processor with one gig of RAM with little to no usable internal storage space. Yeah, that'll sell like hot cakes! Also, a good example of android being what it's not, a smartphone OS nor a PC platform and barely a decent tablet OS.
 

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I think the biggest example of throwing crap all over the wall to see what sticks is MS and metro. They missed the bus on mobile and are making a half assed attempt to get into the game.
 

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Hi there
The only conceivable use I've found for a Small (7 inch) tablet is as an e-reader and it does this job FAR FAR worse than even the cheapest and nastiest e-reader out there today -- an e-reader is easy to read even in direct sunlight - a backlit tiny tablet most decidedly is NOT.

As others have said -- small tablets are just a TOY -- and in any case is a decent small Ultrabook laptop really that much less portable than a proper sized iPad / other 11 inch size tablet once you've added a keyboard / mouse combo.

Some people definitely don't need a PC -- that is pretty obvious but people who think that the PC / laptop market will disappear are definitely backing the wrong horse here. Sales will be lower but won't die -- and please PC makers if you want to sell some decent kit try getting away from the LOW POWERED relatively poor graphic laptops which all seem to have 15.6 inch screens, low power processors and a measly 1366 X 768 built in graphics. Some of these still have ATOM type processors in them too -- in 2013 !!!!! Please.

I3 processor at a minimum, full HD graphics too, 8 GB RAM, a USB 3 slot at least, and a screen size of around 11 inches would ensure maximum use and very good portability - remember these can be connected to large external monitor(s) and docking stations when not being used "On the move". These types of laptops will sell even in this market if they weren't so expensive -- I don't need aluminium / titanium cases or exquisite Italian "Ferrari" type styling -- a standard plastic case is just fine - but the laptops with the sort of spec I'm suggesting all seem to come with this specialized styling and a priced in the Ultrabook range (> 1000 USD).

The current models on offer don't appeal to me -- the lower price models --to big / not portable enough / poor specs, while the portable ones are far too "over Engineered" and stylized and are far too expensive -- so a lot of the problem is in the PC manufacturerer's OWN hands.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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Actually, compared to something like this machine, all tablets are toys.

As for a laptop with an 11" screen, er, no thanks.

I bought this 18.4" screen-equipped laptop for a reason (well, many reasons, actually). Tablets
just aren't in the same galaxy in respect of any of them.


Wenda.
 

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Actually, compared to something like this machine, all tablets are toys.

As for a laptop with an 11" screen, er, no thanks.

I bought this 18.4" screen-equipped laptop for a reason (well, many reasons, actually). Tablets
just aren't in the same galaxy in respect of any of them.

Hi there
Try taking that monster on a plane these days -- it would probably cost MORE than YOUR ticket !!. If an 11 inch screen laptop has a decent video card in it it can easily be connected to a 60 inch / 72 inch huge plasma external monitor at amazing video quality -- that way I have the best of both worlds - a decent portable laptop that doesn't weigh as much as a baby elephant and doesn't need a case the size of a Cello case to carry it yet can operate as a good solid workstation with a HUGE monitor when it's at a fixed location (home / office etc --or even a hotel TV - a lot of these are nice LCD TV's these days which have HDMI input.

Cheers
jimbo
 

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    5 X 1 TB sata
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    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
plc.png

The PC has been available to consumers for over 2 decades now. I think it is amazing that growth was sustained for as long as it was.

I highly doubt the tablet curve will enjoy the same kind of sustained growth. It will peak and it will level off. My '09 2Ghz Core 2 Duo does everything I need it to except for gaming. The Samsung 830 SSD I put in made it faster for day to day use than the 2.4Ghz i5 I was issued with a regular HDD.

My parents are using the PC I built back in 2005 and the computing power vastly outstrips their needs.

I simply cannot justify purchasing a new computer because it would be consuming for the sake of consuming.

I think smartphones have already reached the point of diminishing returns. I progressed from a BB Curve, OG Droid, Thunderbolt (utter POS, ruined HTC forever in my eyes), and my SGS3. There was a clear and tangible increase in performance between each phone..well, the HTC had the performance increase but I would be at 60% after a couple phone calls.

I have zero desire to upgrade my SGS3 to a SGS4 or HTC One or whatever wizbang phone out right now because it does everything I need it to without slowing down. I suspect if phones were not subsidized as it were in the states, sales would not be as robust. The case may be a little different for phones since it sees more daily wear and tear but I don't think Apple or Samsung will be able to maintain their spectacular numbers anywhere near the extent that PCs did.

PCs have simply hit the decline stage of the lifecycle curve as a whole. I don't think tablets will crash and burn like the netbook market did but as of now, it is complementing the PC. I doubt an appreciable portion of tablet owners have it as their sole computing device. Given a choice between one or the other, they would choose the PC the vast majority of the time.

If my tablet breaks, I can wait to replace it, maybe wait around for the Nexus II to come around instead of replacing it with the current generation.

My laptop breaks? It is getting replaced uno pronto. I don't even care if Haswell is right around the corner, it is getting replaced.
 

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