How long does “the laptop” have left
One day we might look back at this post and laugh. “Remember when we thought laptops were doomed?” But here in 2025, it’s a fair question:
How long before mobile and desktop operating systems slam into each other like two black holes that have been circling for years? Yes, that’s a bit dramatic. But it’s already happening , and just like in space, when the collision comes, you’re going to feel the shockwaves.
Pocket rockets in tiny cages
Today’s smartphones and tablets are absurdly overpowered. More storage. More CPU pohwaaah. More Ram … More everything… all squeezed into little glass sandwiches that shatter at gravity’s lightest kiss.
But that raw power? It’s trapped. Touch screens and small form factors keep it locked up, unable to stretch its legs. Your phone could run Autocad and let you design the next spaceshuttle while pooping on the toilet. But what would you get ? (hint: hemorrhoids )
Apple’s iPads now run the same chips as their MacBooks , the hardware is ready, the form factor (and the interface) is the bottleneck.
Laptops stealing mobile tricks
On the flip side, laptops are going mobile. ARM processors sip power instead of chugging it, run cool instead of cooking your thighs, and are light enough to fit into those ultra-thin, “look-at-me-I’m-a-sheet-of-paper” designs. The old-school power-hungry CPU? About as welcome in these designs as a campfire in a phone booth.
However: Touchscreen laptops? Tried it. Nope.
I’ve owned a lot of them. Surfaces, Windows laptops, even Linux boxes with touchscreens. The verdict? Unless you have talons sharp enough to tap a 3-pixel-wide button, it’s just not fun. Desktop interfaces were never meant for fingers.
The great tech buffet is open: Mobile eats desktop
The more likely future? Mobile gobbles desktop. (Ohmnomnom) Android runs full Linux apps now. Chromebooks too. Google’s lining up to ditch ChromeOS for Android. And iOS , yes, AAY OOHWW ESSS, has decided mice and keyboards aren’t the devil after all.
Like my desk, right now. Because this post? Being typed on an M4 iPad, hooked up to an external monitor, mouse, and keyboard. It’s still clunky, but surprisingly usable. When I’m done working, I tap the screen and , boom, back in touch mode.
This is Apple’s beta run at merging their worlds. Will a proper desktop OS on the iPad Pro kill MacBook sales? Possibly. But with the iPad Pro + Magic Keyboard costing more than a base MacBook Pro… let’s just say Apple’s not panicking.
We’ve been here before ….
Browsers already made “what OS are you on?” a lot less relevant. This mobile–desktop blend is just the next chapter. And after that? Maybe we stop talking about “computers” altogether , because in the age of AI, the device in front of you is just… the window.
The challenge ahead
It’s going to be exciting, chaotic, and full of “remember when” moments. The trick, as always, is making this evolving tech work for us… not the other way around.