Stop the presses, the desktop ain’t dead
By Erna Mahyuni
Vista-bashing, like bullying the resident class geek, is too easy. But an OS’s failure to live up to its hype does not spell the death of the venerable desktop PC. It just means the OS needs work.
So, my dear CNET columnist, what were you on? If the desktop were to die, it would take half the hardware industry with it. Man could not live by laptop alone. Mobile graphic cards still can’t come close to the performance of high-end NVIDIA or ATI cards. No laptop screen could possibly give you as satisfying an experience as a huge LCD monitor. And when you need to work long hours video-editing, doing graphic design or the like, laptops are not the ergonomically-friendly option.
Vista as an OS is flawed. The reason why XP managed to make up for its early, dismal days is eventually, it got better. And it is, by far, a better option and improvement to Windows 98. The trouble with Vista is, the benefits aren’t as clear-cut. Not to mention the PC-savviness of the average user has increased over the years.
How do you justify to someone that the machine that ran XP without a hitch is buggy and near-comatose with Vista installed? Imagine the possible scenario:
“Well, there are possible hardware issues with Vista on some machines.”
“Will they be resolved anytime soon?”
“We’re working on that.”
“So you’re telling me that you shipped this piece of software without knowing if it’d work fine on all the machines, even if they meet your supposed requirements?|
“Well, sir…” “How soon can you send me my refund?”
The conclusion is: Vista is flawed. So is Ubuntu though it’s a pretty sweet version of Linux. And despite expensive Mac hardware, Leopard looks prettier to the average consumer by the minute. Why? Because when you get it from the Mac store you know it’ll work. Without needing the equivalent of a mini-supercomputer to run flawlessly. And, if you feel masochistic enough, you can run Vista on it. So the desktop isn’t dead. It’s just that running Vista on an inferior machine just might make you wish you were.
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on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 12:41 pm
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Stumble It!
January 1st, 2008
I can plug the majority of the things you mention into my laptop. Most into a USB hub, which means 2 connections, without a need for a docking station. My laptop’s 17″ screen is ok, but I do have a 24″ monitor or 52″ Plasma HDTV I use as well. Decent video cards are starting to appear, expresscard will continue expandability. There are a few situations where a desktop is needed, but the advantages are pretty limited and getting smaller every year. I’m running 100% Linux, which means it kicks a Vista computer’s ass with no antivirus or antispyware needed.