Lets say for people around ages 10 - 20, do they still use desktop PC’s, or do they only use mobile phones and laptops now? What do you think? Just wondering. 
I’m of the opinion that age has little to do with it. If you need the use of a desktop then you’ll buy a desktop. I know a couple older women (both at least 50+) that have given up their desktop computers in favor of more portable systems with one of them using a mobile phone because it handles all her needs and the other using a laptop.
College students generally have a laptop because many universities require them, but they may have a desktop in addition to that laptop if they have needs beyond the laptop (eg heavy gaming, heavy or long processing tasks). Or they may forego the desktop altogether and use a console for gaming.
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I suspect most of them in that age range use whatever their parents provide them.
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I think doesn’t matter of Gen-X/Y/Z but just depend on their behavior and interesting.
Most people have a computer, mobile, laptop and maybe console at home.
If he/she like outgoing he/she may stick to portable devices more often.
Oppositely he/she may stick to computer/console more often.
In general. Globally. The device that most people sticking to I think is mobile.
I think it’s mostly a combination of passions and life style. Let me explain: with passions I refer to what people like to play, and life style with the kind of life they conduct. Take me as example, I usually spend 300+ days per year in my place, and i like to play all kind of games, for this reason I’ve built my own desktop computer and used just some spare money to buy a laptop I use to give presentations. If I had to travel more, I’d probably only have a powerful laptop, and in the same way, if i was in casual games only I’d probably have a MacBook air and a tablet to play with.
Desktop PCs still serve as an awesome tool for creation regardless of age. While a mobile device (such as a smart phone) is an excellent tool for consuming content, people of all ages realize that a smart phone is not the best tool for creating content.
Some users with creation needs will choose a laptop for portability, but power users will generally choose a desktop PC. Compare the workflow for many creation tasks between a laptop and a multiple monitor desktop PC.
Being able to easily move a computer around is better than not being able to.
Desktops only really make sense if you either need top of the line power, or you want more power per dollar.
Or if you’re going to use so many peripherals that your laptop would stop being so mobile 
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There are far more users using mobile these days then desktop. Desktop sales hasnt really shrunk for some sectors. The difference is that more people are using mobile that would not have been using traditional desktop. However the desktop gaming has shrunk some in favor of consoles and mobile for some genres. Back in 2008 I saw my gaming sites a dominateday by 99% desktop based, today those same sites get 98% mobile traffic.but they get more traffic overall and the number of desktop users dropped about 20%. Hope that helps.
There are many more options…plus, there are laptops that are as good as laptops! I use a desktop as does one of my daughters. Husband and son use high end laptops with nvidia cards that are almost as good as my desktop (they are older laptops so not quite). We just bought a new laptop with a fancy nvidia card that rivals my laptop…mostly for Photoshop and Blender work but it is actually a gaming computer.
The line between laptops and desktops has blurred, with some laptops at a cost of around $1k are now as good as many desktops. The big difference for me is the easy upgradability of my desktop compared to their laptops.
So maybe the split should be more along the lines of GPU and overall performance and memory rather than desktop vs laptop these days.
As for phones and tablets, not everything can be done on these. Kids love their phones but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a gaming laptop or desktop or console that they use as well. Phones are just with you most of the time. Of course, from a developer perspective, it is difficult to make a complex game that makes money on the phone.
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I lump laptops with desktop and consider smartphones and tablets as mobile. For some laptops you can’t even tell the difference between desktop and them these days. Netbooks I still consider desktop, with really weak specs.
My thoughts are most of the people who buy games on Steam are desktop users. And that’s a big percentage of the PC game market. What’s important is: are most of the people who buy PC games desktop users. Probably. Or they are rich and have a gaming laptop.
Those young people you see in Starbucks with their MacBooks probably are not your target market for games. They’re probably too busy writing their latest novel or posting on their fashion blogs.
There is a massive different workflow wise between a laptop and a multiple monitor desktop. A desktop with two or three monitors is more time efficient for many creation related tasks than a laptop. Power users (including young ones) realize that. Anybody that claims their laptop is “as good as a desktop” is not comparing their laptop to a typical power user desktop.
And of course there is also the significant performance difference between a high end desktop and a high end laptop. I realize that some laptops have a decent CPU and decent GPU, but even the best laptops are not as powerful as the best desktops.
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Nothing stopping you from plugging a second monitor into your laptop.
NVIDIA definitely narrowed the gap between good desktop and good laptop with their GeForce 10 series.
Laptops get a lot less mobile once you plug an additional monitor (and/or mouse, keyboard, printer, etc) into them.
Yes, but you don’t always need additional monitors and there are monitors designed to be highly portable.
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-MB169B-1920x1080-Portable-Monitor/dp/B013XFJKGI/
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Not everyone needs their laptop to be mobile in the first place. Most people use them because they take up significantly less space and require less setup than desktop PCs.
Oh thanks for the info and opinions. I was trying to get a sense to see if desktop PC’s might go the way of the dinosaur in about 10 years or so, or not? Because if young people don’t use them, they will eventually get “phased out” I think.
But, it sounds like most people think they are still relevant. Which, to me, is a good thing. Unless laptops or mobile phones can some day equal a desktop PC in terms of power and performance. I don’t think we are there yet though.
Yes. There are people obsessing over “PC Master Race” nonsense. They’ll be using desktops, and a lot of them will be young.
Not sure about 3rd and 4th monitor, though.
If you check steamcommunity, you’ll find plenty of people who are very interested in ensuring that their games run at maximum settings, maximum fidelity and maximum framerate, where maximum framerate is something around 144hz with vsync enabled, sometimes with surround monitor setup. Those guys won’t go anywhere in near (and not so near) future, IMO.
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It’s entirely dependent on the laptop. There are solutions involving USB 3.0 and higher too like that portable I linked earlier.
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Triple-Video-Docking-Station-Laptops/dp/B012VKW900
I have no idea about the graphical performance but they would work for code and documentation monitors.