Quote Originally Posted by penagate View Post
Sometimes new markets take over old ones.
Who still has a PDA? Many people... but they're called smartphones now.
Who still has a PDA? Who had a PDA in the first place...?
They were a tremendous flop.

The laptop/desktop market is beyond huge it's global and on top of that their functionality allows them to stay in use for 5+ years. They don't have the technological downside in comparison to tablets that PDA's had to smartphones therefore the progression isn't going to be definitive.

Here's a few reasons tablets, as they currently are, will never replace laptops:

- Laptops have larger screens, if you create a tablet with a 17" screen.. imagine sitting on the tube with that on your lap trying to browse the web, it would be like attempting to prop up a concrete slab.

- Physical keyboard and touchpad. I can't see people preferring to collect all their tablet accessories before heading out, with my laptop I just pick it up and I'm ready to go.

- Performance. Unless tablets get larger, they will never have the same performance. If tablets get larger, they remove their party piece of convenient transportability.

As I said before, tablets are a new market. In fact I take that back, they have expanded the smartphone market. They're used in different situations and as such more than likely won't replace laptops.

What is more likely is that the tablet/laptop market will merge as well as the technologies.