It?s been said by many tech companies and writers that we are now living in the post PC era. ?Powerful laptops have been around since the late 1990?s but only recently have they become affordable?to the masses. ?Ever increasing WiFi speeds found in home routers pushed people into purchasing laptops faster than the standalone mobile processing. ?Apple helped push aside desktops even faster with the 2007?unveiling?of the iPhone, a smartphone that actually worked the way people wanted. ?Jumping from laptop mobility to handheld mobility made even more sense, and then the tablets took off in 2009 to solidify the fact that to do work or have fun you don?t need to sit around a desktop computer. ?I?d welcome you to the post PC era, but is it really here for you?
Historically, the computer industry has handled the concept of a personal computer with not much more than logic; sure Apple made the iMac look cool and hip in the late 1990?s but most companies from the 1980?s until now have designed very bland looking desktop computers and focused on performance. ?Since the Apple I (the first personal computer system), it?s all been about digital processing and electronics, which back then means all this big stuff must fit into a box not only to protect the precious circuits from the elements but to also provide a way to store the device for the user. ?The basic ATX desktop form factor has not changed since it?s inception in 1995 but even the 1975 Apple I sat inside a rectangle box (that the consumer must provide). ?Perhaps the engineers looked at the case as an unimportant aspect of the overall computer but the user considered it a very limiting aspect from the start. ?Laptops were always wanted by the consumers but fitting all those circuits into a tiny box and putting a monitor inside was just too expensive. ?As the desktops started selling like crazy because the word of the Internet got out, manufactures could invest time and money into the affordable mobile computer ? but trust me, there were many mobile platform failures along the way.
It?s arguable that the early 2000?s started the efficient mobile computing revolution. ?There was enough design research and laptops were a proven money maker. ?Visionary Steve Jobs was needed to push that envelope even further and put a computer you wanted to use in your hand. ?The only issue was that everyone wanted to use iOS and Android powered mobile computers but back in 2007 there wasn?t too much these devices could do. ?They were mostly for play also because Internet content is by far more of an entertainment style than a business one. ?People in companies needed processing power beyond what some laptops could offer so smartphones were out of the question. ?Any company that needed mobility already invested in industry specific devices and Palm Pilot-like devices. ?Being fueled by the typical consumer, mobile computing exploded just as the desktop did decades before. ?Once businesses got wind of ultra fast laptops, fast enough smartphones and now the ?in between? power of tablets they started to adopt them. ?We could be on the verge of complete acceptance of the mobile computer, leaving behind the bulky desktop to the history books but let?s take a look closer.
Processing power rules all when it comes to computers. ?Engineers realized a few years ago that it?s not all about shear CPU clock cycles (remember breaking the 1GHz barrier?) it?s about the speeds between the other parts like RAM and hard drive that matter. ?The software tells a computer processor what to do and it lives in RAM so what?s the point if your processor is working at 3GHz but only talking to the RAM at 500MHz? ?The instructions on what to compute is getting to the processor way too slow so the entire system becomes?bottle-necked. ?At the same time this development was in the works, engineers also kept thinking about power usage. ?Maybe Al Gore and his ?go green? go to them, but it?s more likely that sending electrons down a path creates heat. ?Shortening the pathways and diameter of the paths means less heat is generated and power is used more efficiently. ?The manufacturing technology size becomes important these die sizes are measured in nanometers (nm) so when you see a CPU that says it?s a 65nm that shows how small the electron paths are ? the bigger the number the less power efficient it is. ?When Intel launched the Ivy Bridge CPU series to replace the Sandy Bridge CPUs the biggest performance factor was going from a 45nm process to a 22nm one ? everything else pretty much stayed the same but this means a 3GHz 45nm Sandy Bridge CPU is?noticeably?slower than a 3GHz 22nm Ivy Bridge CPU because the the smaller nm CPU can process more efficiently given the same amount of electricity (and generate less heat). ?This makes handheld mobile computers faster and cooler to the touch given the same size battery. ?Without these technology breakthroughs we wouldn?t be talking about a post PC era right now simply because who cares how much heat is generated inside a desktop case? ?We have fans for that. ?Who cares how much electricity is wasted inside that rectangle box? ?Electricity service is cheap enough. ?Mobility demands cool running, efficient power using technology because it?s using a battery and sits in your hand not pushed under your desk.
Internet functionality is speedy no matter what device you use ? anything slow is all service based. ?Applications determine quite a bit about what type of computer you will use to perform tasks. ?Can you use enough features of Photoshop on your tablet or do you have to sit at your desktop with 12GB RAM to get photos edited correctly? ?Is your favorite video game in the AppStore or Google Play? ?If not your Ultrabook is probably fast enough to play it. ?The latest development in the push the kill the desktop for everyone, forever is Microsoft?s Surface devices. ?Basically a more powerful tablet than we have now but with the familiar Windows operating system and a keyboard option that arguably surpasses all that have come before it. ?On the technical side, this is the first time Microsoft has released Windows to run on the ARM CPU architecture. ?Long story short, ARM is traditionally known for its high processing, low power consumption processors found in PDA?s, smartphones and tablets while the Intel CPU is the traditional desktop and laptop workhorse, consuming large amounts of electricity and pumping vast amounts of performance. ?Why should you care? ?This means there will be two different Surface models, one Intel and one ARM. ?This adds complexity to consumer choice because not only do you have to worry about brands now you have to worry about architecture. ?While there are upset manufactures that think their products may become obsolete, Windows is still the most popular operating system in the world so the leverage Microsoft has in?completing?the transition into the post PC era is very powerful. ?Only time will tell, Surface hits store in October.
The reasons to use a desktop get smaller and smaller but where?s the difference between ?can? and ?want?? ?It may be possible to edit photos and play a video game on a mobile device but is the all-touch interface and system specifications good enough to make you comfortable in doing so? ?You may feel better using the keyboard and mouse or enjoy the lag-less speed of your quad core massive RAM PC. ?If the need arises in your travels to perform a task that is possible on a mobile device but uncomfortable, you can do it but that means you?re not really in the post PC era if you?re at home where the desktop lives, phone in pocket, tablet on couch but you still use the desktop to perform a function. ?The day you find yourself with the ability to use your desktop but you don?t want to because it?s comfortable to work in your mobile device is the day you enter the post PC era.
Trust your technolust ? I?m an IT engineer/administrator professionally and an avid electronics nerd developing everything from robots to rockets. If it?s got logic, I like it.
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