PC Market Shrinks, People Want More Tablets

This is silly. Who buys prebuilts anymore? damn casuals

"It is quite apparent that Apple has found a way to extend its product line with the iPad, which does not affect its own product sales, but apparently hurts traditional PC vendors."

So apple introduced a new iPad, which increased sales somehow? That's crazy talk, Douggy.

Apple sells waymore PCs than a year ago, so... how about comparing Intel/AMD Q1 sales? I refrained from buying a Sandy Bridge Intel 1st because of the USB bug and then decided to wait for Z68

what can i say, people are stupid.
tablets? really? more toys for tech declined errr...

It would be nice if you could install MacOS on a regular PC ala Windows... that way more people can access this OS and put more work into it...

1.1% means nothing. Even though Acer lost a lot of market share we expect them to recover rather quickly as their new tablets are released.

Modern tablets are more for casual use or as toys rather than what they were originally for. One such example of what a tablet should be is the compaq tc1100. Not only it can be a pure slate but also docks with a station for desk work.

"but apparently hurts traditional PC vendors"
I highly doubt people buy an iPad instead of a PC. Just because it's also a computing device doesn't mean it directly affects one another.

No thanks, I'll skip this fad like i did magic cards, yoyo's, pogs(sp?) and 3D (for the 3rd or 4th time).

I guess im a power user. Why use a tablet when i can use a laptop. why use laptop (besides for mobile reasons) when i can use a self built PC?

How many of these "tablets r great" opinion pieces is Doug going to write this week? Netbook sales declined slightly, that does NOT indicate that they're going to disappear completely. Everything has it's market, and netbooks are still far superior to tablets in actual productivity.

Desktops and laptops have lost a lot of ground compared to where they were, however their extra size allows for a lot more hardware, so they will still have a place with gamers and other dedicated people who need the processing power or screen size. Smartphones and tablets, which are just smartphones with larger screens, are good for portable media and web browsing, but the lack of a physical keyboard prevents them from getting serious typing tasks accomplished. Netbooks have lost the sales of browsers and media fans, but they were never really made to handle HD media. You also can't argue with the price, considering netbooks still can hover around 300, whereas tablets hover more around 600.

The market has diversified, but everything still has it's place. The near future has a lot of tablet/netbook hybrids, which blur the lines between these markets further, but the only thing that's really lost it's market space is portable media players. Smartphones and tablets have indeed made such devices obsolete for any reason other than price.

Unfortunately for PC gamers, tablets are all most people need. They're certainly not a replacement for a fully upgraded PC though. What we need to have happen is to get game developers out of this console stagnation their currently in.

Probably over three quarters of the world. Maybe more. The enthusiast market is really a lot smaller than a lot of people make it out to be...

This is what I was thinking. If they added the custom built PC's these numbers would be very different. People who by pre-builts are not real PC users.

usb bug? Me thinks you need to refresh your mind good person. Usb was never an issue.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/c [...] 12108.html

Most Games are made with Consoles in mind or console ports anyway. if they want more people to buy or upgrade, Hardware Companies should invest in game Developers with PC games focus if not PC exclusive titles, the investment could cover the income lost due to piracy
(is there really?), weather a title is legal or not they still need to buy the hardware to run the game anyway.

tablets aren't that bad. theyre small and theyre great for entertainment. if thats what people want that's great.

I agree.

You people do understand that pre-built computers constitute 80%+ of the PC market worldwide right?..lol

Not real PC users? What a dumb statement...unreal.

The finding in the article is really just ridiculous. PC are sold to businesses more than they are to end consumers. So this is more likely to be due to a business trend or occurrence. Shall I point out the Sandy Bridge chipset recall here? I'd have thought the authors at Tom's Hardware understood a bit more about, well, hardware economics perhaps...

people are dumb...they just want to look cool, and give up functionality....i will stick with my desktop and laptop for life

Having a none OEM computer doesn't make you an enthusiast. I built thousands of computers for people for their normal email and web surfing needs that where in the $200 to $400 rang. You likely meant to say the informed people are a lot smaller of the population then most make out. Some people rather save a couple hundred to a few hundred on a computer that doesn't have a crappy dell case or crappy dell software on it. They also might not want to pay $150 for the dell name.

More tablets.....so the human race is getting dumber by the minute.

That's right. Dumb it way down for these people. All most people need is a machine that let's them get to google, email, and facebook, run skype, and play farmville and angry birds. Create a machine that does those six things and sell it for $200. Of course plaster everything with a banner ad for the mindless droves.

The rest of us will continue to have fun with the better equipment.

IMO, Microsoft should resurrect the Courier and get it out. I do want a small tablet like device for note taking and the like in meetings, but I don't want something the size of a iPad/Galaxy/Zoom, and I don't need anything more than a simple WiFi g/n connection (nothing that has to connect to a wireless carrier).

Mobile will never replace PC's. Think of all the software out there that demands high levels of processing power. The world will slow to a crawl if they rely on things like phones and tablets. Not to mention the eye strain from staring at a 2" screen all day. Fun!!

It is not about how silly it cold look, but of course you may have your opinion. This is about what people needs or wants and what the PC industry needs to provide. I need a powerful machine too and I don't see myself using a tablet for production in ten years from now but the fact is desktops are becoming less popular, and more compact computer devices are starting to show its potential to users who need limited processing power.

The big investments in the industry are going to shift to produce these compact computers and although I don't think desktops are easily replaceable in the next decade they may start to cost more, way more. PC cost decreased in recent years, but what is going to happen if this trend gets to establish the pace for mass production?

you underestimate: Self built (or built-for-friend) constitutes something like *2* percent of the market.

Apple generally sets trends, so I'm going to go with option 2. Tablets are more flexible in use than netbooks.

Not that big decline considering the Sandy bridge sata bug that pretty much halted performance PC sales during the quarter, omg the PC is doomed /end sarcasm!

I think tablets are just a flash in the pan. I mean, unless you travel a lot or are a full-time student, what good are they?

If a brand-new iPad fell in my lap right now, I'd be posting it for sale on eBay.