Your Next PC Won't Be A MID
With all of the recent hype and buzz surrounding netbooks, Intel's Atom processor, VIA's Nano processor, and mobile computing in general, we decided to put up a poll a little while back asking about your next PC purchase. We asked whether your next PC would be a desktop system, notebook, netbook, MID (mobile internet device), SmartPhone, or another type of computing device.
If you pay attention to recent market trends that show mobile systems outselling desktops, you'd probably surmise that notebooks and netbooks would be the most popular choices, but that didn't turn out to be the case in our poll. In fact, notebooks and netbooks combined received fewer votes than the desktop option. And despite a seemingly never-ending supply of iPhone related stories, SmartPhones were decidedly low on the list as well.
As of the time of this writing, we had received nearly 4000 votes--not an insignificant number. And of those votes, 56% planned to buy a new desktop system, 23% percent a new notebook, 14% a new netbook, and the rest of the field shared the remaining 8% (yes, I know that doesn't add up to exactly 100%; the discrepancy is due to rounding errors in our polling engine).
So, what do these numbers tell us? Well, for one, the PC enthusiast community marches to the beat of their own drum and doesn't necessarily follow the overall market trend. Although notebooks and netbooks are becoming increasingly more popular with general consumers, the majority of PC enthusiasts still plan to buy new desktop systems. Why? We didn't ask, but we suspect performance, upgradeability, and the satisfaction of building their own rigs are large contributors to their decisions.
More surprising than the desktop vs. notebooks comparison, however, are the MID and SmartPhone results. I personally view MIDs and SmartPhones as accessories to a desktop PC and thought many HotHardware readers would as well. Having had firsthand experience with a number of MIDs and SmartPhones, I came to the conclusion that neither would ever replace my PC, but I could definitely see the value in each and plan to purchase a MID at some point to compliment my PC. Personally, I couldn't function normally without my SmartPhone any longer, and suspected they'd be a more popular choice in the poll. For MIDs, the outlook is more bleak. It looks like they won't be selling very well with enthusiasts at all--at least not yet.
What say you? Will the majority of your technology purchases revolve around your desktop PC, or is there another type of device in your future?
