What, exactly, is a computer? Processing power has become so abundant that running shoes can calculate the distance jogged themselves, cars tell drivers where to turn and unsupervised robots quietly trim the garden’s herbaceous borders. So the idea of a personal computer sitting in the house or office as the route to all digital activity seems almost quaint. The direction of software development suggests that a range of devices will soon be able to mesh online. Users will access photos, music and other parts of their digital lives from whatever piece of hardware happens to be closest to hand, perhaps a phone if not a lawn mower.

That technological idyll does not bode well for the makers of computers. Apple, designer of TV boxes and iPhones, does not even refer to itself as a computer manufacturer any more. A decade ago corporate buyers of IT equipment realised that they did not need the highest specification machines for most business uses, which involve moving numbers and words around. Consumers’ needs for speed and functionality were met not long afterwards. That, for the past five years, has made PCs mostly low margin commodity items, as selling prices have come down. It has also left laptops as the main source of growth and profits for computer makers.