The imminent death of the PC has been greatly exaggerated, and analysts are telling PC users not to believe the hype issuing from smartphone and tablet cheerleaders. Here, then, is contrarian look at the death of the PC and issues that have been ignored concerning the PC and its journey into the future.

The key to analyzing this issue is to not look at what the PC is today, but what it will become tomorrow. To find the answer, one must look at how technology drives itself.

There’s little doubt that PC sales have been stagnating. In three of the last four years, PC sales have struggled to maintain about four percent growth. Devices such as smartphone and tablets are pushing PCs aside, so how will makers of PCs deal with that reality?

Consumer PCs will evolve away from a machine that provides gigabytes of power to engage in tasks like gaming and video editing and sideline that power in favor of better performance from batteries. Consumers are no longer satisfied with getting two hours of performance from a battery. They want the power to last for a day. The new PC will be a workhorse where a user can get work done using little energy as efficiently as possible.

Get on the Cloud

Storing your data on a hard drive with gigabytes of space will not go the way of the horse and buggy. However, storing data in clouds will allow PC users to access and sync data across different devices. These remote servers, though, are not infallible. Power outages that crash cloud servers are an Achilles heel in the system. Smaller hard drives will be produced to act as a back-up to clouds.

Small is Smart

PCs will become smaller and lighter. Thin is in. Giant desktops that crowd a desk will give way to new and sleek PC models. Components will shrink while power efficiency will need to increase. PCs today need space inside to provide cooling for the GPU and CPU. Power efficiency will shrink these components to create a smaller, thinner and lighter PC.

Connecting Smart

Connecting devices via Bluetooth and WiFi will dominate the new PC. Wires and cords will disappear.

PCs Generate Money

Readers at cnet.com made themselves known when they weighed in on the death of the PC. Many posters commented that the PC is a serious machine that buys food for the table. Quite simply, the PC generates money. If work needs to be done, users want the most powerful tool available to get the task done, and that’s a PC.

PCs Can be Customized

Producers of tablets build obsolescence into their devices. If a user wants the latest toots and whistles, he must buy a new tablet every year or two. That’s not true with a PC. PC hardware lasts for years. New parts allow a user to play new games or create work. The ability to customize a PC can never be duplicated in a tablet. The market will continue to provide select PC machines for serious people who need to work.

Gabriel Lexus has been in the technology industry for many years. Gabriel enjoys writing about computers and give advice to others. Connect with Gabriel on Google+ to learn more about him.