"Post-PC Era"?

With the increasing sales of the new tablets and smart phones, where does the personal computer stand in today’s lineup?  Is the pc going to disappear?  There are many people and companies thinking that this will be the case.  However, I would like to present my own opinion, supported by a few facts of course.

First, let’s look at the history of sales of the PC.  The graph shows us that PC sales have been very high, and ever increasing, until 2009.  Millions upon millions of PCs have been purchased, so one can only assume that most households, schools, and businesses have already purchased them and, therefore, no longer need to purchase them at this time.  So, why wouldn't the sales of tablets be higher than PCs in the future?  Tablets are very recent and are the next big thing.  I would be concerned if their sales weren't higher than PCs in the near future. 

So, now that we have the sales taken care of, why don’t we look at the functions of both PCs and tablets?  Both tablets and PCs have remarkable displays and programs that come with them and others that are downloadable/installable, but PCs offer much more than that.  The PC offers much better graphics, a much faster processor, and a massive amount of storage to its users.  Yes, there is the cloud for all of you tablet users (unless you are the poor soul who invested in an iPad), but what happens when the cloud has problems?  Will all of your information and files be recoverable as easily as they are on a physical hard drive that comes with a PC?  According to CNet, many people are frustrated that this has been labeled the “Post-PC era”.  I, too, am upset by this.  The PC can do so much more than a tablet can.  It can run major programs such as full versions of Microsoft Office products, programming applications, and actually read DVDs (although I believe that movies will become all digital and streaming sometime in the near future).  Can your tablet do that?

Now, I’m sure most people are thinking that tablets will win out and replace PCs because of the portability and functionality that the tablets have.  However, that is basically what brought the laptop around.  The laptop was easy to carry around as opposed to the PC.  That didn’t stop the PC from continuing its increasing amount of sales.  So, if you’re really trying to say something is going to die out, I would put my money on the laptop.  Both the laptop and the tablets are portable and very functional; the tablet is just more so on both fields.  So, who is going to win, and who is going to lose big?  

Main Source: CNet

DJ