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Tablet computer sales will be more than PCs in 2014:

• Could tablet computers replace PCs?

"Come Christmas time, the big battle in the consumer space will be Microsoft versus Apple,
with Google pushed to the side," predicts Stuart Miles of Pocket-lint.

"They lost the high-end to Apple, the low-end is owned by Amazon and
the enterprise market will soon be owned by Microsoft with Windows 8."

• New iPad faces growing competition from tablet rivals

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Some predicted tablets to outsell PCs in 2011. I guess this will be predicted every year until it actually comes true. I do expect it to eventually come true.

I am very interested in seeing the two new tablets that Amazon is rumored to release in the second half of this year. I am glad I did not wait and ordered a Kindle Fire soon after it was released. I love it and it has become invaluable for me. I will definitely be buying one of the new ones. I might go for a 10" one depending on the price.

WOA is rumored not to be released until mid 2013. If true, this will give the x86 Windows 8 tablets the edge, for at least a year. The pricing will be the biggest disadvantage.

I found this very interesting. Laptops dominate UK spending in personal computing kit.

Personally, a tablet could never replace a desktop for me, but a laptop could easily replace a desktop for me.

Kuron wrote:Personally, a tablet could never replace a desktop for me, but a laptop could easily replace a desktop for me.

A Netbook, Notebook, Tablet and so on, can never replace a ergonomic desktop-pc, for people the work with this longer as
3 hours in one time. On a ergonomic workplace, i can never touch a screen.

If little smartphones and small tablets were going to replace the desktop PC, they would have years ago, when the Psion and Pocket PC (etc) existed. All those products failed for a reason. History has spoken. The desktop PC is 100% safe.

MachineCode wrote:If little smartphones and small tablets were going to replace the desktop PC, they would have years ago, when the Psion and Pocket PC (etc) existed. All those products failed for a reason. History has spoken. The desktop PC is 100% safe.

The Psion didn't fail. It was a huge success in the enterprise market, as was the Palm Pilot which was also a huge success in the consumer market. Neither were marketed as or intended to be desktop replacements.

The PocketPC failed, but wasn't this expected? We are talking about Microsoft, after all. Microsoft saw the success of Palm Pilots and wanted a piece of the action. Like always, Microsoft has no understanding of any new market they try and enter. Microsoft can't do mobile, the PocketPC and their 10 years of failure with tablet PCs have proven that.

Kuron wrote:Neither were marketed as or intended to be desktop replacements.

And neither is the smartphone, and to a lesser extent, the iPad. Seriously, do you see people sitting in their offices using a smartphone or iPad to run their companies? Come on, get real. It's never going to happen. Ever.

MachineCode wrote:And neither is the smartphone, and to a lesser extent, the iPad. Seriously, do you see people sitting in their offices using a smartphone or iPad to run their companies? Come on, get real. It's never going to happen. Ever.

This doesn't make sense because nobody ever said that smart phones or ipads would replace computers in the enterprise market. Desktops really don't exist in the enterprise market, usually you have simple workstations that are only slightly more capable than dumb terminals.

That said, I have seen the increased use of tablets in the medical field. But it is not being done to replace workstations, it is just for convenience and to make things easier and more accessible to the patient. It is much easier to bring the scans to the patient instead of making them follow you to a room to view them on a workstation. This is very helpful when you have a patient with impaired mobility.

Those who are predicting (year after year) that tablets will replace desktops are talking about the consumer market and the average home user. The average home user doesn't know their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to computers. All they want to do is use their email, access the Internet, watch videos, listen to music and maybe do some light word processing. The iPad is perfect for all of this, it is what it is designed to do and it does it without the overheard and superfluous nonsense of traditional Windows desktops and laptops.

I could see tablets out selling netbooks and possibly laptops, but I can't see them out selling PCs.
There's just no substitute for a full sized monitor and keyboard with a mouse.

Maybe not, if you add laptops and desktops together. Other other hand, a tab will suit many people just fine where they would have previously gotten a laptop. And those people will often own both a tab and a (desktop or laptop). Heck, I have given up on my desktop--just use a laptop with two docking stations--but I own two tabs; one for the couch, and one for the reading room.

GWarner wrote:There's just no substitute for a full sized monitor and keyboard with a mouse.

They do not necessarily have to be connected to a traditional desktop.

* Announcing the Windows 8 Editions
* Building Windows for the ARM processor architecture
* Scaling to different screens

The Microsoft tablets are a means to spread the Metro 8 UI.
They can't replace laptops only some desktops and other tablets, because the build-in stand needs a surface.

In the future real desktops will become workstations again; like in the 80'

I'm really looking forward to Microsoft's tablet "Surface"... Seems to have some nice unique features and looks great!