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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."
Honestly though, I bought an I7 desktop almost two years ago with 12Gb of memory and a pretty good graphics card. I haven't found any reason why that PC isn't still fast enough for about for of anything I use it for today. This compares to ten years ago when a two year old desktop simply cried with the lowest settings of the newest computer games.
We've already all got computers?
Nah, he used it in the modern corporate sense. If sales aren't going up, Up, UP every quarter then they might as well be dead. Smaller players will begin to pull out, big players will see their share prices tank, etc. Tech companies are structured on the basis of ever growing sales and profits so the idea of a nice stable market would be death to them and they probably won't have time to restructure.
Longer term, sales will probably go down. For a long time millions and millions of people who had no business buying a PC were buying them because of the Windows monopoly, to get access to basic things like email, word processing and basic web/media consumption. Those users are going to finally go away and stop demanding that the PC be turned into what they wanted all along, a simple device without confusing options, flexibility or programability.
But people who always needed the power of a PC will continue needing one so they aren't going to go away.
Democrat delenda est
I think people probably found out that you don't need a super computer to watch porn.
Gimme a Laptop Air that runs Windows or hell, Linux, and I'll buy it in a heartbeat...
OK, it's called the Macbook Air, and it runs Windows and Linux. Now off to the Apple Store with you. Bring your credit card.
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
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
I don't know of anyone that's holding out on updating their computers because of Windows 8. Heck, I hardly know anyone that cares at all about Windows 8.
I do know several people who, over the last year or so, decided to buy an iPad to replace their aging computer rather than buy a new computer.
As others have noted, there are a lot of people that own computers but really have no need of one.
#DeleteChrome
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.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
Sorry but this is silly. Comparing a computer to a fridge just is wrong.
Lets try more obvious examples......
Why isn't a computer more like a table saw..... I turn on a table saw and all my wood gets cut! (fingers too if trying to use a table saw the most "users" use computers).
Why isn't a computer more like an automobile, I don't need to get a license to use it. and cars, well you just turn em on and nobody dies of drunk driving accidents.....
Why isn't a computer more like an Oxy-Acetylene Welding torch...
just turn on the valve and wellll I'm getting dizy and tired......
Why isn't a computer more like skydiving... well
Yes computers can and will a lot more auto configuring..... but lets not forget you don't just plug in 'anything' and it works....
Except a fridge..... I plugin my fridge and keep my pets in there, they auto configure............
Any thing can be bad when used wrong...