News - The global PC market shrank 11 percent during Q2 2013

[HEXUS]

IDC and Gartner agree, this is the fifth quarterly decline in a row.

Read more.

[lowers93]

I get the feeling this is happening simply because of the way the industry is treated. So many new technologies just don't warrant the upgrade for a lot of people who don't care about the extra 5 or 10% and so they don't bother for a good few more generations. The majority of people i know only buy a new laptop when the last one dies or is just unusable. Hence, the level of PC sales is not sustainable at the level it was. Notably in the average commercial laptop range which i would say is where most people i know shop nowadays. I haven't seen a significant change is AGES that would be attractive to me or anyone i know for a new laptop. It's just different combinations of old HDD's at ever more completely unnecessary sizes, adequate processing power, average ram, average battery life and poor graphics every single time just with a different design (and often sold at crazy prices for anything even the slightest bit good).

Haswell and maybe even ultrabooks might well change this and i hope it does for the sake of uninformed customers getting the battery life they like and ssd's that will give them noticable and longer lasting speed instead of that classic average bump in performance that has stopped people thinking any new laptop is worth buying.

Does anyone else feel this way?

[NecronomicoN]

You summed that up pretty well Lowers93. The new tricks aren't nearly enough to warrant new machines. And I'd wager that tablets have done more to hurt television sales than they have PCs. Tablets are primarily an entertainment product, with an auxiliary use as vocational aids. PCs are for getting work done. There hasn't been any game-changing progress in PCs since SSDs. And graphics performance is a minority market factor.

I don't see Haswell changing things. It isn't enough. Unless new applications for the PC come into being, sales will continue to fall.

Us who build our own machines (gamers, folders, enthusiasts) account for less than 10% of the market, but I'd like to think that even with so small a percentage, we can keep the platform alive. Big business though, different story.

[kalniel]

Well it's phones innit? Performance hasn't been a reason for the vast majority to buy a new computer for years and years, so I doubt that's anything new. But now people don't need a home computer for email.

[ScoTTisH-GingeR]

PC tech is getting stagnant, anyone with an intel sandybridge has had no reason to upgrade really, AMD tech has been to far behind intel since before the sandybridge and doesn't seem to be catching up anytime soon.

For a general home market pc i find my old 939 setup running fine for general facebook, downloads, hexus visits, etc so why change a whole pc when no need (did upgrade to a small SSD cause you know)

For the business world they lease the equipment most of the time and a core2duo is still the mainstay in a lot of offices i have worked in, short of something that will save them money in the long run like an ARM based workstation to drastically save on power consumption there is no need to change whole PCs when the fastest upgrade you will see a boost from is an SSD.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I know plenty of people who are using AMD CPUs for desktop gaming rigs who have know reason to upgrade TBH. Its not like Intel has a uniform advantage for CPUs under a Core i5 anyway,and there are certainly far more people who don't have Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs TBH. I remember going to a largish LAN and I was surprised how many people had AMD and Intel CPUs under a Core i5. It seems only on tech forums that SB(and newer) Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs are "common" as it certainly is not my experience even with gamers I met.

The same goes with graphics cards,most gamers I met have cards which cost under £200 anyway,with most having cards clustered around the £75 to £150 mark.

Moreover,computer enthusiasts tend to measurebate the most of all gamers I know,so I suppose that might explain it!

[Spreadie]

Moreover,computer enthusiasts tend to measurebate the most of all gamers I know,so I suppose that might explain it!

Not sure what word that's supposed to be but, just in case, I vehemently deny it; despite it being (allegedly) conducive to good colon health.

[BiblicalShower]

I'm actually waiting for an upgrade, but I'm looking more at a form factor change than one to higher end tech. For me the most important development lately is the increasing spec and quality of mini-itx boards. Currently sitting with a Phenom II 955 with 4gb ram in a large-ish atx case isn't as appealing than a decent mid range gaming rig I can build with a sandy or ivy bridge mini itx board in a nicer little box.

[NecronomicoN]

Not sure what word that's supposed to be but, just in case, I vehemently deny it; despite it being (allegedly) conducive to good colon health.

Measurebating leads to nerdgasm. Love of numbers, and bragging about numbers, for epeen's sake.

Thanks Cat The Fifth! New word learned today.

[Top_gun]

I'd like to think more people are building their own PC rather than to buy a PC from the above vendors.

Also, these days most computers are fast enough for office applications so no need for regular upgrades.