I haven’t thought about it in a while but the premise of the article rings true. Desktops are overall disposable. Gpu generations are only really significant with new cpu generations. CPUs are the same with real performance needed a new chipset and motherboard. At that point you are replacing the whole system.
Is there a platform that challenges that trend?
Edit Good points were made. There is a lot to disagree with in the article, especially when focused on gaming.
Storage For the love of your data : storage is a WEAR component. Especially with HDD. Up until recently storage was so cheap it was crazy not to get new drives every few years.
Power Supplies Just because the computer still boots doesn’t mean the power supply is still good. A PSU will continue to shove power into your system long past the ability to provide clean power. Scope and test an older PSU before you put it on a new build.
Personally I still prefer the desktop because I can choose exactly where I prefer performance, and where I can make some tradeoffs. Also, parts are easier to replace when they fail, making them more sustainable. You don’t have that choice with a laptop since it’s all prebuilt.
Desktops also offer better heat dissipation and peripheral replacements extending the life of the unit. It can be difficult for most folks to replace a laptop display or even battery nowadays frankly.
Everything is disposable. I don’t think you or the author who wrote that article has a clue. It’s a matter of getting things that’ll last longer than others do and making financially wise choices and purchasing decisions based on the needs of the moment.
Like, I’m not spending $5 on a toothbrush when you need to replace it every 30 days, I buy the cheapest toothbrush I can afford to replace it with since they’re all equally made. I will spend some more money on a computer component if I feel it will have a positive increment on my entire system. Replacing my entire system would just set me back big and it would make me waste the components that are already inside that are still good. Plus, if I decide to sell the old system, I’m not going to get a good value back.
The only thing I’ve yet to replace is the case. Why? Because it’s still serviceable to me.
I just don’t get this stupid logic where you have to replace the entire system. For what? just to be with the in-crowd of current technology trends? No thanks, I’ll build my PC based on what I want out of it.
Exactly HOW much more do you have to spend on a system that is upgradable like that? It’s goddamn significant.
You are now cleanly in the enterprise space.
You upgrade the whole system because the piecemeal upgrades don’t make a significant impact and the larger upgrade is basically a whole system.
It great to work on systems as a hobby, I do it. If I take an older system and swap in a 5090 for a 1080 it’s because I can, not because it makes a difference.
The improvements have drastically slowed. No longer will a 1 generation bump be a worthwhile improvement. Once you get to 2 generations enough stuff changes that it’s not as meaningful to upgrade.
Sorry bruh, but I don’t think you’ve taken a closer look at where the RAM prices have gone. Do you truly believe people have that much disposable income to continually upgrade entire machines on a regular basis?
People will ultimately build a system if it will suit their needs and purposes within budget. I don’t get what is there about that to get so complicated over.
The idea of the article is that by the time you go to upgrade , beyond the minor ones, your desktop you are most likely replacing the whole thing.
AMD challenges that trend, but the article writer dismisses them because of Intel’s market share.
Terrible article.
I don’t agree with this article. Everyone I know usually upgrades their GPU until the CPU is bottlenecking it heavily and that is only the case after a few GPU upgrades.
Laptop CPUs are crippled garbage compared to desktop CPUs of the same generation. So there’s that.
Let’s say that you’ve just significantly upgraded your GPU. If you were getting the most out of your CPU with your previous GPU, there’s a good chance that your new GPU will be held back by that older component. So now, you need a new CPU or some percentage of your new GPU’s performance is wasted. Except, getting a new CPU that’s worth the upgrade usually means getting a new motherboard, which might also require new RAM, and so on.
This guy’s friends should keep him away from computers and just give him an iPad to play with.
Technology moves on. The highest spec iPads blow away older workstation class pc’s for non-gpu loads. It would only be the OS holding that back, not the hardware.
CPUs are the same with real performance needed a new chipset and motherboard. At that point you are replacing the whole system.
I find the quoted statement untrue. You still have all peripherals, including the screen, the PSU, and the case.
You can replace components as and when it becomes necessary.
You can add up hard drives, instead of replacing a smaller one with a larger one.
Desktop mobos are usually more upgradeable with RAM than laptops.
There’s probably more arguments that speak against the gist of this article.
All of the peripherals will carry on to any new system. With usb-c basically all you need to run in your case is a gpu and nvme.
Throw in thunderbolt and networking as well as hdd based das won’t be bottlenecked.
Yeah desktops can have more ram than laptops and that is the one case where a desktop can really shine. Even then there is usually a pretty big ram limit you need to pass.
I disagree that you need to upgrade your CPU and GPU inline. I almost always stagger those upgrades. Sure, I might have some degree of bottleneck but it’s pretty minimal tbh.
I also think it’s a bit funny the article mentions upgrading every generation. I’ve never done that, I don’t know a single person who does. Maybe I’m just too poor to hang with the rich fucks, but the idea of upgrading every generation was always stupid.
Repairability is a big deal too. It also means that if my GPU dies I can just replace that one card rather than buy an entire new laptop since they tend to just solder things down for laptops.
Everything in this post is wrong, actually. But if you buy shit parts to build your desktop, you’ll have a shitty desktop.
Simple answer is at the motherboard level - you look at your motherboard’s future expansion capability and if you started with a good foundation you can do years of upgrades. Also your computer case needs to be big enough to fit extra stuff, full ATX motherboard size is great.
For example I have a VR gaming rig that runs VR games well on DDR3 RAM and a Sandy Bridge CPU, because it has a decent modern GPU and enough CPU cores + RAM.
The manufacturing of consent to move your machine to the cloud has begun. We had a good run lads.
You are literally the only person saying that out this this whole exchange.
"This persistent narrative in the media trying to talk consumers out of desktops as being viable options kind of sneakily ties into the greater “you will own nothing and you will be happy” narrative being pushed by big tech.
It’s really obvious and it needs to be consistently called out for what it is."
Literally the most upvoted comment in the linked article.
I guess some frogs are just to stupid to figure out they’re being slow boiled and it’s up to us to carry the dead weight out of the pan…
Honestly most people just upgrade the GPU and ssd, after 10-15 years they buy a new desktop. Also one of the biggest reasons to get a desktop is that it is cheaper than laptops, last longer, and you can change any part that breaks. I had many laptops with one component basically making the entire device useless, if it was a desktop it could easily be fixed, for example soldered RAM.
This isn’t against desktops. It’s against idea that a desktop is significantly more future proof than another form factor.
The previous comment gives a pretty clear argument for why desktops are more future proof, I think. Being more repairable is a pretty big deal for the longevity of the whole system.
Not sure what “future proof” means, but my PC still has its original case from Windows Vista times, has seen 2 mobo replacements, 1 PSU replacement, and I don’t even know how many hard drive / SSD additions / swaps. RAM extensions too. Used to have a GPU but after the 2nd mobo/CPU replacement I dropped it.
Different screens, keyboards, and mice.
None of this would have easily been possible on a laptop.
In a world where hardware is getting more expensive again you are really sending the wrong message here.
Not to speak of environmental impact & consumerism.
Your history sounds exactly like the spiral of component replacement that is being discussed. it sounds like your replaced everything multiple times, but just kept the case.
The title of this article just doesn’t match reality. It really only (maybe) applies to very high end systems that are already pushing the limits of all components. Most people don’t have the money to waste on that and have plenty of room to upgrade their hardware for a looong time.
If you don’t need much (e.g. no gaming, 3D rendering, etc.), especially if you don’t need a dedicated gpu, then you can upgrade for at least a decade before running into issues. To be fair, a laptop should last a decade as well in that case, but at a higher prices and while being less repairable.
Yes, desktop PCs challenge that trend. If you’re not chasing the newest of the new, you can keep using your old stuff till it dies. I’ve done one CPU upgrade, and a GPU upgrade, to my desktop in the eight years I’ve owned it, and it handles all of my games fine.
If you’re changing the motherboard, you’ll usually need a new CPU, and sometimes RAM. As long as your MOBO has a PCI/PCIE slot you can shove your old graphics card in there. Unless there’s a new RAM version, you don’t need to replace the RAM, and SATA’s been the standard storage connector for how long now?
Unless you’re going above your current PSU’s rating that thing’s good until it’s dead.
I just don’t see how this argument holds up. If your motherboard is old enough that they no longer make your CPU/RAM socket, and you’re looking to upgrade, chances are very good that thing’s lived far longer than most laptops would be expected to. But like. When I built my current desktop 8 years ago, it had 8gb of RAM and a… I don’t remember the graphics card, I know the processor was a pentium G something, and like 1tb of storage. It has an i7 (don’t remember the generation off hand), and an R9 290, and 32gb of RAM, and 7tb of storage now. Same motherboard. If I replace it I will need a new processor, and new RAM (the RAM is actively dying, so I haven’t been using it much), but these parts are all nearly a decade old, with the exception of the RAM. Well. One RAM stick is 8 years old, but that’s beside the point.
This just doesn’t line up with my own personal experience?
Unless you’re going above your current PSU’s rating that thing’s good until it’s dead.
Power supplies will work well past the point of providing clean in spec power on each rail. Lots of parts in a power supply can stop working properly before it physically no longer passes power.
Unless the PSU is relatively new it’s not a great idea to put it into a new build with testing that it is still in spec on each voltage rail under a load.
I wasn’t talking about a new build at any point in my comment.
This post is about new builds, upgrades and using old parts with new ones.
This post, to my reading, is about how desktop PCs are disposable, and my comment is providing evidence to the contrary
This has been true for a long time, CPU sockets don’t last long enough to make upgrades worth it, unless you are constantly upgrading. Whenever i’ve built a “futureproof” desktop with a mid-high end GPU, by the time I hit performance problems I needed a new motherboard to fit the new CPU anyway. Only really upgradable components are storage and ram, but you can do that in your laptop too.
The main advantage of Desktops is still that you get much more performance for your money and can decide where it goes if you build it yourself.
Depends on what you use the computer for, for gaming, maybe you’re right, idk. I personally use the computer for 3D modeling which mostly relies on the GPU.
I’ve recently built a computer with the latest gen GPU and got a nice 12 gen i7 as platform for it, the GPU is from 2025, but the CPU is like 4 years old.
The thing is, I could have gotten a much older CPU haven’t I found the 12th gen for the same price. If I could just upgrade the GPU and ram on my old laptop I wouldn’t have bought a whole computer.
Besides, buying a laptop with 16GB of vram would have been much more expensive than a desktop.
