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PC Sales Are Flat-Lining
DavidGilbert99 writes "Gartner has released figures showing that PC shipments globally declined 0.1 percent in the last three months, making it the seventh consecutive month of little-to-no growth in the PC market. This was despite the launch a number of new Ultrabooks, the much-vaunted slim-and-light platform promoted by Intel. The decline has been put down to the poor economic situation around the globe, increased spending on tablets and smartphones instead of PCs as well as the imminent launch of Windows 8, making people hold out on updating their PCs."
We've already all got computers?
Heck, I've got a 6 year old Core2 and I don't see a reason to upgrade. I'm not a heavy gamer, so I don't require a fast machine, and everything seems to be running fine.
PC speed improvements just aren't that noticeable these days. They are also much more reliable than they were 15-20 years ago.
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
I think people probably found out that you don't need a super computer to watch porn.
The results are hardly surprising. Ultrabooks cost more and weigh more than a Macbook Air. They're noisier, hotter, less durable, and don't look as good. If PC makers want to compete with Apple then they need to do so with a product that improves on the Air in some way. All they can offer is faster performance, which is NOT what this market segment is looking for. I want a good ultrabook very badly. I own no Apple computers and have no plans to get one, but neither am I eager to buy a PC which is so markedly inferior to what Apple offers.
> A brand new machine is hardly better than a 5 years old one, so why replace them before they break completely?
If that is your attitude you probably are one of those people I was talking about who needed a tablet all along.
A PC built today is actually a lot better than one from five years ago, especially if you spend the same money. But if all you are doing is running Firefox on it you won't see much advantage. Or for that matter, if you are running Office you won't see a difference. But if you are pushing the edge you will. From a developer to a gamer, from 3d modeling to hi-def video editing to even sound mixing, a new machine will still improve productivity. And a new machine for a serious user now would almost certainly be equipped with multiple displays while five years ago that was still fairly uncommon.
Democrat delenda est
Nah, flat-line only means dead in the medical industry. Everywhere else flatline means exactly how he used it -- there is neither advancement nor decline.
So what you are saying is maybe 10% of users have a use for all that power that modern PC's have and the rest basically need a dumb terminal from 1997 that can run the internet browser of their choice and office application?
Me I go about every 5 years between new machines mainly because i buy laptops and something goes and after 5 years it is better to buy new.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
Me I go about every 5 years between new machines mainly because i buy laptops
I'm hanging on to my laptop from 2006, and will do so for the forseeable future. You can't buy UXGA(1600x1200) laptops anymore, and WUXGA laptops are grossly overpriced, if you can even find one that's less than 17".
CPU and RAM have advanced to the state that it really doesn't matter what you get. The only component that actually matters is the display, and we have worse displays now than we did 6 years ago.
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