PC Market Continues To Decline Ahead Of Windows 10 Release

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According to the International Data Corporation Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, the PC market continues to decline as the launch of Windows 10 draws near.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 66.1 million units in the second quarter of 2015 (2Q15), according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker. This represented a year-on-year decline of -11.8%, about one percent below projections for the quarter. The slow PC shipments were largely anticipated as a result of stronger year-ago shipments relating to end of support for windows XP as well as channels reducing inventory ahead of the release of Windows 10. In addition, weaker or changing exchange rates for foreign currencies have effectively increased PC prices in many markets, thereby reducing purchasing power and also complicating investment planning.
 
Could this be because Win10 is a free upgrade to existing users? And the requirements are so low why buy a new PC.
 
Could this be because Win10 is a free upgrade to existing users? And the requirements are so low why buy a new PC.

I doesn't have anything to do with W10 IMO. Most people upgrade, not for a new OS, but because their machine becomes slow and unusable. In general, computers from even a 4-5 years ago are powerful enough for most people today. Add to that, the increased usability/functionality of smart phones and tablets... many people that used to upgrade every few years have less and less reason to do so.


awesome handle BTW
 
I doesn't have anything to do with W10 IMO. Most people upgrade, not for a new OS, but because their machine becomes slow and unusable. In general, computers from even a 4-5 years ago are powerful enough for most people today. Add to that, the increased usability/functionality of smart phones and tablets... many people that used to upgrade every few years have less and less reason to do so.


awesome handle BTW

Fully agree, people upgrade because they have not more often than want to. And at this point the upgrade in hardware isn't going to be as huge for the average user as it was say 10 or 20 years ago.
 
I doesn't have anything to do with W10 IMO. Most people upgrade, not for a new OS, but because their machine becomes slow and unusable. In general, computers from even a 4-5 years ago are powerful enough for most people today. Add to that, the increased usability/functionality of smart phones and tablets... many people that used to upgrade every few years have less and less reason to do so.

Yep. There is none of that 'planned obsolescence' that they had in the past. The PC's from 4-5 years ago are still fast, still reliable, and still going strong. Plus, like you said - tablets and phones. With a handheld connection to the internet, a lot of people just use that. Computers aren't on the desk of every household anymore, they are in their pocket or bag. For offices, it's the usual rotation, but they may be cutting back due to the lack of large performance increase, costs, etc..
 
intel/amd/nvidia hasn't come out with a reason to buy a new pc, and for that matter game makers haven't come out with the too tough to run game that requires an upgrade.
The PC sales market really has nothing to do with the viability of the PC market for software.
 
They need to figure out a way to make software that brings systems to their knees again or to turn PCs into a disposable commodity (like phones and tablets) that is updated on a regular basis ... without that both consumers and enterprise will continue to keep their PCs for many years before upgrading (which affects sales negatively) ... the PC is a mature and stable technology so unless they can shake it up it will have slower sales than it did when the technology was new and expanding ... PCs still have significantly more revenue than tablets and phones though (so there will be a market for manufacturers to keep making them as long as there is reasonable profit there also)
 
Yep. There is none of that 'planned obsolescence' that they had in the past. The PC's from 4-5 years ago are still fast, still reliable, and still going strong.
Mostly to due with planned market segregation. Laptops that are around $200-$300 are with Celerons and Pentiums. Then you have your i3's, i5's, i7's and don't forget AMD. It's a huge mess that offers very little in an upgrade over something like a Core2Duo.

Bad enough they're pushing for these 2-in-1 laptops hybrid tablets. These things are so bad cause they thermal throttle like crazy cause they have no room for a heatsink.

Windows 8 made things worse but not entirely it's fault.

Plus, like you said - tablets and phones. With a handheld connection to the internet, a lot of people just use that. Computers aren't on the desk of every household anymore, they are in their pocket or bag.
Not really. Using a tablet to surf the internet drives me up the wall cause you're either stuck using touchscreen controls or websites aren't full desktop. Luckily most tablets have SD Cards or OTG so at least you can expand their storage but the recent trend in phones is disappointing with no SD Card. But iOS and Android are still limited in what they can do anyway so.

The laptop and tablet/phone market are painting themselves into the corner of a wall without anyway to get out except to step all over their paint. They're too busy trying to corral people into products they want you to have that it's the reason why sales are so bad. At some point they'll have to dump some CPUs and 2-in-1 laptop design. Manufacturers are too busy making slower more power efficient chips that I'm not even sure that a modern Celeron is an upgrade over my first generation i3. Probably not. These tablet thin designs can't last forever without massive thermal throttle issues, which makes it even harder to justify buying a newer product.
 
I'm upgrading my computer for the first time in 2 years (getting a new monitor and video card for GTV5!). I used to upgrade far more often but I have not had a need to do so recently. It is not so much that the PC market is in decline but rather it is becoming a mature technology and the upgrade cycles are slowing.
 
C2D still rules for 85% of folks needs.

Game over after that point.
 
The problem is, unless you are gaming or doing some very specific style of work, you probably don't need a new PC.

The majority of PC's are used for typical office work.

You are going to email, use MS Office, and some web browsing/ web apps, and that's about it.

If you've bought a computer in the last 10-15 years or so, it is probably still going to be able to do this just fine.

Previously, year after year there were new capabilities changing the way we do things, and requiring newer and better computers on a regular basis. Today - due to stagnation - a computer simply lasts MUCH longer than it used to, for how most people use them.
 
My 3770K setup is exactly 3 years old and still runs phenomenal. Although I use it primarily as a file server I will use it to batch encode stuff if I am doing something with the 4790K like gaming.

I have an HP laptop from 2009 that still performs great, although I did put 8GB ram and an SSD in it last year to modernize it.
 
awesome handle BTW

Showing your age, man.

There just isn't a reason to buy new PCs, if you've got something in the 3-4 year old range... especially for office work. Many of ours are hitting the five year mark, and I'm replacing them with new Dells, but it's more for maintenance than speed.
 
I doesn't have anything to do with W10 IMO. Most people upgrade, not for a new OS, but because their machine becomes slow and unusable. In general, computers from even a 4-5 years ago are powerful enough for most people today. Add to that, the increased usability/functionality of smart phones and tablets... many people that used to upgrade every few years have less and less reason to do so.


awesome handle BTW

My wife still uses a Q8400 w/4gb RAM and it's plenty fast for her needs. She recently commented that, "I don't get it - the old computer you made me is so much faster than the new ones at my school (teacher)". Most people don't need the latest I7, they need well planned upgrades like SSDs (which was the upgrade to her C2Q system BTW).
 
When Star Citizen releases (hopefully Squadron 42 this year), I, with countless others, will build a new super rig.

Intel, AMD, and Nvidia need to invest in Chris Roberts' vision, think of it as a long term investment. ;)
 
When Star Citizen releases (hopefully Squadron 42 this year), I, with countless others, will build a new super rig.

Intel, AMD, and Nvidia need to invest in Chris Roberts' vision, think of it as a long term investment. ;)

I'm afraid to play that game.

I have a job and a family. I can't afford to become a full time space pilot :p

That being said, people who build high end gaming rigs are such a minor part of the market, that we really don't matter. It's a volume business. PC gaming could go away completely tomorrow, and apart from a slight decrease in top end parts, AMD, Intel and Nvidia would barely notice.
 
My employer just got bought out by another company ... if they don't stiff us on our year end bonus or lay me off I plan to upgrade at the end of the year ... still running an E8400 based system (although I have upgraded video cards 2-3 times since I bought it)
 
"I have a PC built in 2013 and this is my personal story"
 
Yep. There is none of that 'planned obsolescence' that they had in the past. The PC's from 4-5 years ago are still fast, still reliable, and still going strong.

My company generally replaces the high end users laptops every 3 years.
I'm fining it harder to justify replacing them, as the new laptops are barely any faster. Actually the clock speeds are slightly lower, but the cpu's are slightly more efficient, resulting in maybe a 5% gain due to the faster memory.

I have 6 year old laptops that are almost as fast, and would still be usable for these users except they are limited to only 8GB ram (we need 16 GB due to the VM's we run).

The only improvement has been the more affordable SSD's. I'm looking at upgrading the old laptops with SSD's and redeploying them to other users that don't travel as much. Only reason I have for replacing a 3 year old laptop, is reliability and the 3 year warranty service if they run into a problem while traveling.
 
A few months ago I still had some Athlon X2 4200+ machines running just fine. I sold them, so they are still doing work somewhere.
 
didnt we just have a report last month stating that sales were up? I know I read that here. Pretty sure Steve posted the news article for it. Up is down and left is right :rolleyes:
 
Could this be because Win10 is a free upgrade to existing users? And the requirements are so low why buy a new PC.

No, more likely, the home consumer is waiting for the release of Windows 10 before they purchase a new computer. Although the upgrade is free, a lot of folks would prefer to just have Windows 10 installed right out of the box.
 
No, more likely, the home consumer is waiting for the release of Windows 10 before they purchase a new computer. Although the upgrade is free, a lot of folks would prefer to just have Windows 10 installed right out of the box.

I think you are giving the typical home consumer a little too much credit.


I would argue that the typical home consumer probably has heard nothing about Windows 10, has no idea it is coming, and does not even know to ask about it, and won't until all the computers on display at the store have little Win10 stickers on them.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041723233 said:
I think you are giving the typical home consumer a little too much credit.


I would argue that the typical home consumer probably has heard nothing about Windows 10, has no idea it is coming, and does not even know to ask about it, and won't until all the computers on display at the store have little Win10 stickers on them.

Personally, I do not think you are giving the typical home user enough credit. Over the last almost 3 years, they have been hearing how terrible Windows 8 is so a lot have decided to wait until the next Windows comes out, which I am sure they have heard comes with a real start menu.

Of course, they will wait until it is on the computers in the store they shop at before they buy it. Most folks I have worked with are a bit better than they give themselves credit for.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041722791 said:
That being said, people who build high end gaming rigs are such a minor part of the market, that we really don't matter. It's a volume business. PC gaming could go away completely tomorrow, and apart from a slight decrease in top end parts, AMD, Intel and Nvidia would barely notice.
Pretty much, the last time PC sales were declining, gaming PC sales were actually on the rise.
 
My rig is 5 years old, and I struggle to justify upgrading it at all.

Partly lazy - I have a 1 TB SSD sitting here waiting for me to swap it out, but the time involved in backup and restore keeps me from doing it.

In reality, the system still does all I need just fine. Next step will be when 40" 4K becomes almost mainstream and the vid cards to run it for midrange games are about $300.

Unless you're editing video, using pchop on very large layered files, doing large multipart
CAD operations, or playing the latest games in QHD or UHD, you just don't need a desktop.

My miix 2 11 performs just as well as a PC for all everyday computing tasks. Just don't put photoshop on it.

BB
 
My rig is 5 years old, and I struggle to justify upgrading it at all.

Partly lazy - I have a 1 TB SSD sitting here waiting for me to swap it out, but the time involved in backup and restore keeps me from doing it.

In reality, the system still does all I need just fine. Next step will be when 40" 4K becomes almost mainstream and the vid cards to run it for midrange games are about $300.

Unless you're editing video, using pchop on very large layered files, doing large multipart
CAD operations, or playing the latest games in QHD or UHD, you just don't need a desktop.

My miix 2 11 performs just as well as a PC for all everyday computing tasks. Just don't put photoshop on it.

BB


I got my x79 motherboard and 3930k in late 2011 when it launched. They are still going strong, no need to upgrade.

Can't say the same for my fans and case though. Have new fans and a new case coming soon :p
 
Shheeeit, my couple FX's were fine, even for moderate gaming, let alone better Intel stuff even from years ago. Really isn't much need to upgrade for most folks. Can't wait to see what the industry comes up with to make it happen. And they will, or move on.

Ricky: What??..
Bubbles: Steve French pooped on your seat....
 
C2D still rules for 85% of folks needs.

Game over after that point.

this is it right here. i'm STILL running an e8400 and gaming. overclocked to the moon sure, but it says something. i'm only just now getting to the point where i need to upgrade for newer games. i think witcher 3 is the only game currently that my system will not run. i want to play it, but its no rush for me. i can wait ;)
 
A solid PC u bought five years ago performs pretty close to one you get today, why upgrade? I guess it's good and bad, but PCs these days just don't get obsolete as quickly as they used to.
 
Like a lot of other people, I think the decline in PC sales has a lot more to do with computers finally being well ahead of the average person's needs for quite a few years. The computers I use the most are a pair of netbooks with an Atom n270 and an Atom n470 (Linux and Win7 respectively) and both are more than enough to do anything I really *need* to do with a computer plus most of the games I'd consider playing. Upgrades are just like at whatever-levels of pointless these days.
 
Zarathustra[H];1041722791 said:
I'm afraid to play that game.

I have a job and a family. I can't afford to become a full time space pilot :p

That being said, people who build high end gaming rigs are such a minor part of the market, that we really don't matter. It's a volume business. PC gaming could go away completely tomorrow, and apart from a slight decrease in top end parts, AMD, Intel and Nvidia would barely notice.

Xbox One has sold around 10 million consoles, PS4 has sold around 20 million consoles. There are 125 million people that use steam , thats alot more PC gamers than console users. Even if half of those users only use steam as a messenger, thats still 60 million gamers.
Steam users are just the tip of the iceberg too. Current estimates from Nvidia and AMD is that there are about 800 million GPUs installed in PC out there capable of playing modern games.
 
"high end gaming rig" and "capable of playing modern games" are a mighty long way away from each other. My PC I had in like 2011 was capable of playing modern games. Not really great and not on the settings or resolution any of us would want, but it could. Didn't Steam say most of their users were on integrated graphics still? I know the data is goofy and incomplete but still.
 
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