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Notebook Sales Outpace Desktop Sales

Posted by Soulskill on from the year-of-laptop-on-the-desktop dept.

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.'"

6 of 207 comments (clear)

  1. That's good, but. . . by wsidegangstarr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Now just to get some more standards. . .and user-replaceable parts.

    1. Re:That's good, but. . . by nevesis · · Score: 5, Insightful

      You're overlooking the case and all panels, the keyboard, the touchpad, the LCD, the optical drive, the battery, the AC/DC adapter, the AC/DC powerjack (mounted to motherboards), and so on and so forth.

      The sad truth is that the oligopoly of notebook OEMs aren't interested in losing their repair and replacement profit.

    2. Re:That's good, but. . . by nabsltd · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

  2. Wrong Decision by nevesis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The sad part is that many of these people would be better off with desktops. Desktops have a much lower total cost of ownership. (Even for home users.)

    1. Re:Wrong Decision by rogermcdodger · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Notebooks enable a different computing experience that people are willing to pay the extra for. Not being tied to a single location is a big selling point even if the computer will never leave the home.

  3. Re:Desktops....The real sign of a true Geek. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    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.

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News