Global PC Shipments Drop, Windows 8 Helps Speed The Decline

IDC: Global PC Shipments Drop 13.9% in First Quarter - WSJ.com

Worldwide shipments of personal computers fell 13.9% in the first quarter, according to market researcher IDC, in the biggest decline since the firm began issuing quarterly numbers in 1994.

The grim estimate of 76.3 million units shipped is the latest sign that consumers are shifting their dollars to smartphones and tablets rather than PCs, while responses such as convertible laptops and Microsoft Corp.'s touch-oriented Windows 8 operating system haven't stemmed the cannibalization.

Indeed, IDC said that Windows 8 hasn't only failed to spur more PC demand but has actually exacerbated the slowdown—confusing consumers with features that don't excel in a tablet mode and compromise the traditional PC experience.

"The reaction to Windows 8 is real," said Jay Chou, an IDC analyst. Business customers are also keeping their distance from Windows 8, Mr. Chou noted

 

Unfortunately, I can't seem to read the article. Paywall, or does WSJ not like ad-blockers?

Coverage from ZDNet: http://www.zdnet.com/idc-global-pc-shipments-plunge-in-worst-drop-in-a-generation-7000013839/. I find this tidbit pretty interesting:

Oh, I don't know.... Maybe a desktop-oriented user interface? That would be a good way to differentiate a PC from a tablet.

 

Everything is fine. ModernUI is the future. The logical next step is to remove the desktop entirely.

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

If you google "Windows 8 hasn't only failed to spur more PC demand but has actually exacerbated the slowdown", and then click on the link in Google, you'll get the full article.

 

Sort of OT but I had a chance to stop by the lone Microsoft Store in Illinois at about noon today. I won't get into the blatant ripping off of Apple (though individual chairs at each computer/tablet is a nice touch), but rather how empty the store was. Not more than 5 customers in the whole place. Contrast that to the Apple Store in the same mall; it was absolutely hopping, packed with people stacked from iPad to MacBook and front door to Genius Bar.

 

Ars Technica, not MS fanboys, had good analysis on why Win8 is more of a convenient scapegoat than a real culprit:

If you make PCs and you’re not Lenovo, you might be in trouble | Ars Technica

Probably no coincidence that Lenovo has embraced the convertible form-factor more than any other OEM out there. They've got basically a full line-up of touchscreen convertible Win 8 devices instead of just one or two.

 

Yep, exactly what I'm saying: Everything is fine with Windows 8. Stay the course.

WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

 

Oh, Windows 8 is definitely a "real culprit". Just not THE "real culprit". There's more than one way to skin a cat, and there's more than one way to torpedo your sales.

 

Isn't comparing another poster to a brutal dictatorship, just because they disagree with you about PC sales (and both you and the other poster have articles backing up your respective positions), a little Godwin-y?

 

I have to say this, but the ability of this poster to interpret anything I say as an attack at him personally is nothing short of stunning. I really do go out of my way to not address this poster in person, yet he still finds reason to take issue. So, for the record, I was not comparing this poster to anything or anybody. Hope that clears things up.

 

Look at post #6 again. You quoted my post, and in response, quoted George Orwell's 1984.

 

I think it was less about you specifically and more about the idea in general that these sales figures do not point to a problem with Windows 8, and that everything is fine, despite evidence to the contrary.

 

Yep, that is how any normal, impartial reader would see it. One may also note that I had used the exact same rhetorical device just a few posts up. Like I said, I will not respond to this poster anymore. Of course, I do reserve the right to comment on the content of his posts, which is a distinction that seems to be lost on this person.

 

I've been eying the Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 ad a mid-high gaming laptop. It comes preloaded with W8 but Lenovo allows you to dial it back to W7. :thumbsup:

 

Most gaming laptops and business-class laptops are still available with the option of Windows 7. That's why the whole "Windows 8 is killing PC sales" doesn't ring true to me. You can go out today and buy a Windows 8 PC, a Windows 7 PC, or an OSX PC. If someone isn't buying a PC at all, the critical issue isn't their feelings about Windows 8.

 

I feel like the main issue is that PCs are getting to be more powerful than most people really need them to be. My T500 satisfies pretty much all my computing needs with ample room to spare, and I know some other people who are still using Core 2 Duo or Arrandale-era computers with no plans to replace them anytime soon. In the meantime, items that people replace much more frequently include tablets and smartphones, where we see much more growth.

 

I've asked my wife if she'd like a new computer to replace her 2008 MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo), and she's not interested at all. There aren't any day-to-day tasks that the C2D struggles with.

 

Hmm, never thought of it that way. I've been using a T60 that I bought in May 2007 with a T7200 C2D and it still runs anything I throw at it and it's built like a rock.

Here's another possibility no one has mentioned......"GAMES". That was the driving force for PC purchases and component upgrades during the 90's the mid late 2008. Home consoles have now taken the place of PC gaming rigs and most new games are tailored for the home console.

Also Tablets have wreaked havoc on the PC market and of course we have a crappy economy where most households might put off a PC purchase for something else especially if their PC is functioning,

 

With games, there was a reason to upgrade last year, with the 28nm die shrinks and new architectures from both Nvidia and AMD. This year, however, there is nothing terribly exciting on the graphics front. And if processors are at a point where they are good enough for most people, then there are not any compelling performance reasons to get a new system for many people. The prospect of new systems coming with a confusing and unfamiliar operating system only compounds the situation.

 

CPU's being good enough is a point I have been pushing for a while. Since Vista we really have not had a need for more CPU cycles to push the OS and hardware. Nothing has come out software wise requiring massive CPUs either. Even most encoding is hardware rather than CPU accelerated.

 

You can manage most general computing tasks with five year old tech no problem, otherwise I don't entirely agree with your statement. Many newer games, and most of encoding, rendering, compression, compiling is sensitive to CPU speed and number of threads. Faster GPU's require faster CPU's to assist with the complex geometries in games these days too.

 

I agree but that's typically true for a game that's been designed first for the PC. Most games today are ports of either the X360 or the PS3 so optimization is hit or miss. Flight sims and race sims would definitely fall into the category you mentioned but a game like GTA IV and LA Noire were basically un-optimized games for the PC. So they typically won't take true advantage of the CPU/GPU strengths.

 

Yup.. My nephew's desktop which was built in 2009 (X3 720 BE + HD 5850) is still solid to play newest games @1600x900 and produce stunning visual at medium-high setting :thumbsup: Even his younger brother just push the machine to play lego games

It makes me smile if i see someone upgrading/replacing their cpus just to reduce his/her typical cpu intensive work for just 1-2 minutes faster

However, i'd love to see typical power of i5 3570K + GTX 660ti + IPS panel in sleek and strong material ultrabook in the future though

 

The 680mx should come close to the 660ti. So we are getting there. 680mx SLI should get you over the 660ti then again with everything you want you are talking lots of money too. Back to on topic this new machine though would be to satisfy primarily gaming and not OS requirements.

Edit;
Back on topic. Even if the OS were not confusing and everyone was 100% on board with it PC sales would still be hurt. This as most machines out there only require an OS upgrade for full Windows 8 functionality. That is unless you want touch screen. Since most users would have opted for the cheap upgrade rather than a new machine this would hurt PC sales as well.

To reinvigorate PC sales we need a software/hardware that makes current hardware obsolete. Now I include hardware as if there were some hardware input method that required a lot of CPU processing this could do it as well.