Death of the Desktop PC: A Completely Exaggerated Rumor?

Despite the rumors of the death of the desktop PC being “exaggerated” since the start of 2012, when was the last time you saw your computer savvy pal replacing the video-card of his tablet computer?

By: Ringo Bones

Despite of the 2012 CES Las Vegas unleashing products designed to consign the supposedly “dated” desktop PC to the dustbin of history, it seems that the rumors of the death of the desktop personal computer had been completely exaggerated for little over a year now. The latest – i.e. 2012 era – tablet computers, internet-capable smart-phones and razor-thin laptops may be the hippest must own products for every self-respecting computer-savvy “technocrat” for the whole of 2012, but have you ever seen any “computer-savvy-technocrat” replace the video-card of his or her tablet computer, razor-thin laptop or internet-connected smart-phone PC after his or her attempt at computer animation kept crashing his or her latest ultra-thin portable PC type device that he or she bought last year? Does the bigger bits – i.e. active and passive electronic components - of the old-fashioned desktop PC the “very bit” that makes it infinitely upgradable by DIY computer enthusiasts?

The last time I visit our local computer shop just 4 days before the Christmas of 2012, video-cards, the latest 2to 3-gigahertz capable multi-core central processing unit boards – in a size/dimension that can comfortably fit inside the housing of a traditional desktop PC – are still available and selling like hotcakes to prospective computer / desktop PC do-it-yourselfers. And try as I might, I never managed to find user-insert-able / user replaceable CPU boards and video boards for any 2012-era razor thin tablet and laptop PCs, never mind those for internet-connected smart-phones. Inexplicably, our local shop doesn’t even carry those external solar-photovoltaic battery chargers allegedly used by the US Navy’s SEAL Team VI’s tablet computers / smart-phones that they use during their clandestine missions even though similar solar-photovoltaic chargers where exhibited during the 2012 CES in Las Vegas.

While waiting for any of the latest computer-tech bulletins of the upcoming 2013 CES in Las Vegas, I do wonder what the top personal computer manufacturers’ roll-out this time to “allegedly” once and for all consign those good old desktop personal computers to the technological dustbin of history. If the wares they rollout are just a bit better vaporware versions of 2012’s offerings, the traditional desktop PC could get another reprieve from being consigned to the technological dustbin of history. Unless these top manufacturers manage to design nano-machines that can speed up post-manufactured tablet computers and smart-phones already in the field.