Notebook Sales Outpace Desktop Sales

mikesd81 writes "Eweek reports that notebook sales have surpassed desktop sales for the first time in history. 'In the third quarter of 2008, notebook PC shipments rose almost 40 percent compared with the same period of 2007 to reach 38.6 million units. Conversely, desktop PC shipments declined by 1.3 percent for the same period to 38.5 million units. "Momentum has been building in the notebook market for some time, so it's not a complete surprise that shipments have surpassed those of desktops," said iSuppli principal analyst for computer platforms Matthew Wilkins. "However, this marks a major event in the PC market because it marks the start of the age of the notebook." ... The FBI's National Crime Information Center reported that the number of reported laptop thefts increased almost 48 percent over the last two years, to nearly 109,000 from 73,700.'"

Comments

Steve Jobs Quote.

[Anonymous Coward]

There are some customers which we chose not to serve. We don't know how to make a $500 computer that's not a piece of junk, and our DNA will not let us ship that.

Re:Steve Jobs Quote.

[Anonymous Coward]

Stevie & co. know very damn well how to do it, they just don't like the profit margin that goes with it. Apple is a business, and if they don't want to compete below the $500 line, that's their prerogative.

That's where Asus and Acer -- with their netbooks -- and Toshiba -- with that $400 notebook they introduced this past summer and re-introduced this holiday shopping season -- come in. All proof that a sub-$500 computer doesn't have to be junk and that there's a profit to be made.

Re:Steve Jobs Quote.

[SoupIsGoodFood_42]

Even if Apple products were just as crappy as the cheaper competition, I'd still pay extra to get their "DRM'd" OS, because it's still a better over-all system for me. The moment some makes an open desktop OS that is as good as OS X, I may consider switching.

Re:Steve Jobs Quote.

[LeafOnTheWind]

My Macbook Pro is one of the most sturdy computers I have ever owned. White? No. However, it survived not one, not two, but 3 10 foot falls onto concrete. The case was beaten to hell. Looked as though id have to buy a new one - not so. After prying the twisted metal apart, I saw that every component in the thing was protected like a tank. There were individual aluminum housings and crumple zones all over. In fact, every part seemed fine.

So I took out a pair of pliers, a screwdriver, and putty knife and bent the thing back into what looks like its original form. Screwed it back together - still works perfectly after 3 years. I no longer question Macbook Pro build quality.

Re:That's good, but. . .

[nevesis]

Intel tried to correct that.

The ODMs (ASUS, Quanta, Compal) who manufacture the notebooks were quite interested. It could significantly reduce manufacturing costs.

Alas, the OEMs (Dell, HP, Gateway) who sell the notebooks wanted none of it. Their replacement parts have a very high profit margin.

Last Week...

[Anna Merikin]

I decided to build a more up-to-date computer, for about the eighth time since 1989, when I got my first 8086 PC AT (used.) I priced the parts (mobo, case & psu, cpu, memory, hdd, optical drive) and added the cost of a new wide-screen LCD monitor -- and found I had about $500 worth of parts -- about the same price as a new notebook with similar specs (well, the hdd would be smaller, but I don't really need another terabyte of storage.)

The prices on desktops at Fry's the night before Christmas eve were higher than desktops when a monitor was added. Why would I buy (or build) a bigger, heavier, noisier machine with similar performance and price?

Re:That's good, but. . .

[wsidegangstarr]

True, there are *some* standard parts, but have you ever tried to replace a bad motherboard with an off the shelf model or ordered an upgraded 15.4" LCD from Newegg? I think not. This is where a set of standards is needed.

Re:That's good, but. . .

[nabsltd]

And, the lack of replaceable parts is one other reason why laptop sales are "higher" than desktop sales.

Although businesses most likely purchase pre-built systems that get counted in these sorts of surveys, there are many desktop sales that wouldn't get counted: any machine that is built from parts. No "whitebox" sales from local computer stores would get counted, and obviously people like me (who have purchased a pre-built desktop in 15 years) would also not be represented at all.

Laptops won't have this counting error, as there really aren't any options that allow someone to build their own.

I wonder how they count them

[btharris]

I don't buy "a desktop", but I buy parts, often from different merchants. I doubt a user-assembled desktop counts for these numbers since it's not assembled by a big name OEM. For laptops, notebooks, etc., you have to buy the package deal and buy a machine with a name on it, so buying one would surely be counted as a notebook purchase. Since my desktop wasn't purchased as a whole machine, I wonder if it was counted.

Re:That's good, but. . .

[ShadowBlasko]

(read "Drove a sword through it to keep me from trying to repair it again and wasting my time")

There has to be an interesting story behind this. Or, at least, a good youtube video...

The story is basically the fact that I knew that if I kept the thing around, I would keep working on it.

The unit would operate fine for about an hour or so, then random errors would occur, and finally it would become unusable. After I recovered all the data from the drives, I replaced every "decently educated user serviceable" part inside. Several re-image, re-assemblies, and frustrated screams later I discovered the burned out chassis fan.

The fan was embedded in the magnesium chassis of the machine, and is not replaceable without heroic effort and some extensive modifications.

Since there were many more pressing things to fix, I knew that I would have to make sure the machine could NOT be fixed, or I would keep trying to fix it every time I looked at it.

So I took all the hardware out, broke out my stage combat rapier, and put the damned thing out of my misery forever(p)

Sorry for the lack of video.

Maybe that's because portable devices wear faster

[Animats]

Maybe that's because portable devices are used up faster. They get lost, damaged, stolen, and the batteries die. Desktops have none of those problems.

Re:Wrong Decision

[TheRaven64]

Desktops have a much lower total cost of ownership

Really? Most laptops use a good $50-100/year less electricity than desktops, more if he desktop has a big screen. Spread that over three years, and you've got the cost of a cheap laptop, so unless your desktop costs nothing it's pretty hard to beat in terms of TCO. Now laptops are outselling desktops worldwide (they were in the US earlier in the year, and for Apple machines for about 3 years) the economies of scale that supported desktop parts are going to shift to laptops too.

So, what are you factoring in to your TCO calculations other than the machine and electricity?

Re:Desktops....The real sign of a true Geek.

[TheRaven64]

The badge of a true geek is what you do with your computer, not what kind of computer it is. Adam Dunkels, who wrote a multitasking operating system for the C64 is more of a geek than any of us who write code for multicore processors.

The idea of taking your storage with you is remarkably quaint though, I like it. I'm tempted to bookmark this post and refer you to it in ten years.

Re:Girls and Gays

[Anonymous Coward]

I can hardly believe it when (supposed) geeks claim that laptops are on par with desktops. Where's my quad core laptop with 9TB of disk and dual 1920x1200 displays? How can anyone piddle around on some little laptop with a 15 or 17" screen and 500GB of disk and feel satisfied? I guess laptops are fine if you're computational demands end with twittering and myspacing and all of web 2.0 gayness. They sure don't cut it for me.

I am a atomic/nuclear physicist and do all my work on 17" MBP with 1920x1200 hires screen. Now let's see where you fit in between that and 'twittering and myspacing'.

Re:Girls and Gays

[RedK]

1920x1200 displays ? Real geeks use 80x24 terminals. You're talking about the neo-geeks, the ones that first used a computer with a graphical user interface.