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Entry level PCs costing less than $500 ‘will disappear by 2028’, research firm predicts
(www.videogameschronicle.com)
this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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The new entry-level PC will be a cloud-based thin client subsidized by collecting every bit of data it can about you directly on a Microslop server where you will have zero user choice.
I'm this close to just quitting society and becoming Amish or something. Technology is just getting worse and worse. Maybe I could be Amish but instead of being locked in the 1800s I just stay in like 2007 when technology was fun
Frutiger Amish
Yeah, I think one of the reasons the AI bubble hasn't popped yet is because it's being weaponized to remove consumer hardware from the market entirely. These companies want as much processing done on the cloud as possible so that they can control, monitor and mine data from every user.
They aren't weaponizing anything against consumers. They don't care about consumers anymore, they are irrelevant.
They think if they just spend more money they will win the AGI race and therefore the whole economy forever. Consumers don't factor into it at all.
When you say cloud... I don't think people understand it is just a huge data centers. There are 288 in Canada, and ¼ of them are in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area).
Don't forget the rentseeking.
I will go back to MB of ram from a new company that wants to fill the gap at any cost and will not be surprised if that happens.
I ain't fuckin doin it
Lmao, no.
They don’t want users using this, it would be a mess. M$ would need to provide consumer facing OS support if they ever tried it, which is something they’ve vehemently refused to do for decades. It would also lead to their OS being blamed as the problem when the internet is having issues. Not to mention the consumer market isn’t really where they get their revenue from when it comes to OS sales.
They want enterprise subscriptions. End of story. Enterprise subs mean there’s an enterprise IT team involved, to at least a bare minimum extent.
They aren’t likely to want end users on this pretty much ever. It’s virtually all downside for them.
Unless they outsource their OS support to CoPilot.
We can't even get reliable broadband across the full US yet (Hughesnet still somehow has customers), i don't see consumer-VDI being especially popular any time soon.
They don't care. It's a cost-benefit analysis.
If 5% of users can't access a VDI because of poor internet connectivity but it means the remaining 95% create an extra 10% of annual profit, they will just tell that 5% to get fucked. Individuals don't matter to them; only aggregates do.
They don’t need to stream you a desktop
They just make all their UIs browser based, all the storage cloud based
The own everything, they rent it to you, and you can be cut off if you refuse to be exploited.
Capital’s wet fucking dream
They don't care. They will literally throw people under buses at this point.
Real