Digital Home Thoughts: Is the End of the Traditional Desktop Near?

"Netbooks are forecast to comprise one-fifth of the 133 million notebooks to be shipped in 2009, and the more than 3.5 million all-in-one desktops shipped in 2008 is expected to double by 2010, according to market research firm DisplaySearch. While all-in-ones are still a small part of the desktop market, it's one of the only desktop form factors that's actually growing."

Say it ain't so! While I am certain that the desktop PC will eventually meet its demise, I think we're still quite a few years away from not being able to find it in stores. Notebooks, netbooks, all-in-ones all exist based on the premise of a computer being something like an appliance, at least when it comes to hardware. It's only been in the past few years that this has really made sense with processor speeds leveling off, and as of this year, low cost, decently performing graphics are available. But desktop PCs still have the edge in expandability, and more importantly, value. For the same cost of a 10" netbook, a 15.4" laptop or a 19" all-in-one, you can get a much more powerful desktop PC and it is much easier to add another hard drive, multiple tv tuner cards or even if you want to leverage what stuff you already have like an LCD monitor or that keyboard you really like, the price goes down even more. Eventually, things will probably become much more of a server/client setup, even for home or the cloud, but until then, those careful to watch their pennies may be ignoring a really viable option if you don't consder a desktop PC.