PC Shipments Expected to Decline For First Time in 11 Years
Market research firm IHS said that the high hopes for a rebound year for the PC have faded.
The company has revised its forecast for 2012 and now believes that only 348.7 million PCs will be sold this year - down 1.2 percent from 352.8 million. The last time the industry declined was in 2001, the year when the dotcom bust came crashing down on the PC industry.
Sobering outlooks posted by Intel and AMD appear to be the main drivers for the revised forecast. The back-to-school season has not jump-started things, ultrabook shipments are behind analyst's expectations, and there are questions about just how much impact Windows 8 will have on the PC industry. Analysts are also watching the performance of tablets and smartphones and whether they will negatively impact PC sales in the fourth quarter.
IHS said that there is now hope that 2013 will be a rebound year for the PC. This hope is resting on ultrabooks and ultracompact systems, as well as Windows 8. "Whether a newly configured PC space could then stand up to the powerful smartphone and tablet markets, however, remains to be seen," IHS said.
Once you hit Quad Core plus SSD, have enough archival storage space and a GPU that can play Google Earth well, you are pretty much set...
Only on Wall Street is anything less than record positive numbers considered failure.
Once you hit Quad Core plus SSD, have enough archival storage space and a GPU that can play Google Earth well, you are pretty much set...
PCs, at this point in the CONSUMER MARKET, is a niche product.
Workstations are something else. Still, a niche product for people who need desktop power. Most people in the business world are happy with laptop offerings...
For people who only use their PCs for browsing, banking, Netflix, etc., the ~$75 stick-size ARM/Android platforms that plug directly into the display's HDMI port often get the job done. Same goes with smart-TVs, modern game consoles, smartphones, tablets, etc.
The only thing missing for more low-cost Android heavy-lifting in diminutive form factors is ARM64 to support 4+GB RAM and full-size applications.
Same logic applies to cars as well. Think about it.
Even a 5 year old mobile dual core is still enough to do anything a normal user would want. A new computer is just a waste of money for most people.
Only 2 ways forward:
a) new form factors
b) new software. Like in the early 1980s, when excess processing power was used to make graphical user interfaces.
I don't think so, people will either skip Win8 altogether, or just upgrade their current computer to Win8. With Win8 being a Little more resource friendly than Win7, people are more inclined to just upgrade their current system rather then spending money on a whole new system when upgrading is a lot cheaper.
Only on Wall Street is anything less than record positive numbers considered failure.
IMO tablet != PC