PC Shipments Grew for the First Time in Six Years

[Megalith]

According to Gartner, worldwide PC shipments grew for the first time in six years during the second quarter of 2018. This was driven purely by the business market and the Windows 10 upgrade cycle, not consumers, many of whom have switched to smartphones for daily tasks. Analysts warn that the market will weaken again in two years.

This is the first quarter of year-over-year global PC shipment growth since the first quarter of 2012. All regions experienced some growth compared with a year ago. While the results are a positive result for the PC industry, Gartner analysts said this sign of market stability is not enough to declare a PC industry recovery just yet.

 

[SixFootDuo]

It's easier now than ever before to build out great indie games.

I welcome at any time when the PC becomes a niche product. Not that that will happen anytime soon. Kinda wish it was now.

I lived with the Amiga when the Amiga was dead here in the US and there was still plenty to do and see with new stuff coming out and that market was absolutely minuscule compared to anything.

It's a terrible terrible thought to think all these new kids on their phones will grow up with BS casual games never touching a PC. Imagine growing up thinking you had to buy coins, or gems or vbucks or whatever to play a game? .............. yikes

 

[steakman1971]

I used to get hit up all the time about people asking what computer they should buy. Remember when AOL was big? Everyone was buying a PC to get access to email and internet.
The smart phone replaced all of that. I can't think the last time someone asked me advice on a computer for their house. (I actually don't mind...it was annoying.)

 

[Azhar]

Diminishing returns. My rig's a 3rd-gen Core i5, 8gb RAM and a Geforce 420 (I think it's called, lol), and with a Samsung SSD it's still a pretty fast machine. I still have no plans to upgrade in the next few years. The last games I've played was WoW and Counter-Strike and it's been about 5 years since I played. I have a Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga S1 with a 6th-gen Core i7, but it feels like it's the same speed as my Core i5 because all I do is tech support and run SharePoint and Microsoft Office on it.

 

[trparky]

My rig's a 3rd-gen Core i5, 8gb RAM and a Geforce 420 (I think it's called, lol), and with a Samsung SSD it's still a pretty fast machine.

I recently upgraded to a Core i7 8700K from an older Core i5 3570K and let me tell you, in every way imaginable this new machine is faster than than my older system. This new system laughs off loads that my old 3570K system struggled with. This can be seen especially when I have a web browser open with many... many tabs open.

 

[Azhar]

I recently upgraded to a Core i7 8700K from an older Core i5 3570K and let me tell you, in every way imaginable this new machine is faster than than my older system. This new system laughs off loads that my old 3570K system struggled with. This can be seen especially when I have a web browser open with many... many tabs open.

I'm in IT and I make a living with browsers and many tabs. My Core i5 makes no difference to me than my Core i7. I'm sure there's a difference if you run benchmarks, or hell, even by simply noticing it, but in a "who gives a damn" point of view, it makes no difference. I'm not in a hurry to finish one work and begin another anyways, lol.

 

[tetris42]

It's easier now than ever before to build out great indie games.

I welcome at any time when the PC becomes a niche product. Not that that will happen anytime soon. Kinda wish it was now.

I lived with the Amiga when the Amiga was dead here in the US and there was still plenty to do and see with new stuff coming out and that market was absolutely minuscule compared to anything.

It's a terrible terrible thought to think all these new kids on their phones will grow up with BS casual games never touching a PC. Imagine growing up thinking you had to buy coins, or gems or vbucks or whatever to play a game? .............. yikes

Gaming PCs were actually growing the entire time PCs as a whole were in decline. As for wishing PCs to become a niche product, what? Isn't more people on the platform a good thing? Are you actually complaining it's not hipster enough?

 

[trparky]

even by simply noticing it

And notice it I do. Applications launch faster, there's less hesitation, and overall the new system feels faster in every way.

 

[heatlesssun]

Gaming PCs were actually growing the entire time PCs as a whole were in decline. As for wishing PCs to become a niche product, what? Isn't more people on the platform a good thing? Are you actually complaining it's not hipster enough?

Two consumer PC segments are currently growing, gaming PCs and 2 in 1s though their combined growth is more than offset by the overall decline in the consumer PC market. Current PC growth according to this survey is being driven from businesses that are in a hardware upgrade cycle due to Windows 7 to Windows 10 migrations. I get that Windows 10 has hate around here but this is very standard and typical by the book PC growth as a popular version of Windows goes into decline. Windows 10 haters, don't freak out over this statement. It's just the history of how Windows upgrades and spikes in PC growth have always worked. Period.

 

[Kdawg]

i have a smartphone. I never use it to check email and shit.

I still use a pc for most things. I just hate a small phone screen

 

[SamuraiInBlack]

Smartphones lack the screen size for me, and I'm dependent on app support for virtually everything I can do on one. Also the tiny virtual keyboard is about 80% of the reason why I want to throw my phone at things or use it for a hammer.

Tablets are just tiny app-driven grandma-PC's and not every grandma can read what's on the screen.

Having an actual PC for me still proves its necessity. Keyboard and mouse work wonderfully, there is minimal concern for whether or not there is software available for something I want to do on one, and making one noticeably fast is as simple as making sure it has an SSD for a primary drive in most cases today.

 

[SixFootDuo]

Gaming PCs were actually growing the entire time PCs as a whole were in decline. As for wishing PCs to become a niche product, what? Isn't more people on the platform a good thing? Are you actually complaining it's not hipster enough?

Yup. I just get tired of hearing the PC is growing or, the PC is dying. The news outlets don't know half the story. They need a story, find one and publish without any real in-depth knowledge.

 

[heatlesssun]

Yup. I just get tired of hearing the PC is growing or, the PC is dying. The news outlets don't know half the story. They need a story, find one and publish without any real in-depth knowledge.

Mainstream tech journalism loves zero sum thinking. Everyone has smartphones so why would anyone want or need a PC? While both devices have a lot of overlap neither even to this day comes close to replacing the strengths of the other. Different devices for different needs. That's not going to change anytime soon. But smartphones are the new PCs and the PC is something of a mainframe. The PC is past its glory days in terms of market share and sales but those who want and need PCs will use them for ever more complex and powerful tasks that are beyond mobile devices.

 

[jordan12]

I love my android tablet, and I love my android phone. But there is no physical way that I would ever get rid of my windows desktop.

No way at all.

 

[dgingeri]

Whoever the dumbass who thinks the PC market will cool off again in 2 years needs to get his head examined. It was lagging because Intel stood unopposed and processor tech lagged behind. With AMD back in the game, things will continue to get better, and competition will drive things far better than magazine journalists would ever think.

 

[heatlesssun]

Whoever the dumbass who thinks the PC market will cool off again in 2 years needs to get his head examined. It was lagging because Intel stood unopposed and processor tech lagged behind. With AMD back in the game, things will continue to get better, and competition will drive things far better than magazine journalists would ever think.

The survey is saying that the current uptick in PC sales is being driven entirely by business demand and Windows 10 migration efforts which should die down in a couple of years. As for the consumer market, I don't see that picking up overall though I think gaming and 2 in 1 demand will remain strong but not enough to offset the average PC market.

 

[jardows]

I can see this, though not necessarily a cooldown. As a business, I want to make sure I have the right tools for the job, and a PC is a much better tool for most of these business computing jobs than tablets, not to mention cheaper. As a business I have to weigh the break-down chances and lost productivity along with repair costs, vs. less breakdown and warranty repairs. Where I am currently working is on a 4-year cycle for replacement (we purchase 4-year warranties for computers that we can) and we replace thousands of computers every year for these reasons exactly.

For myself in the home? Different story. As much as I would love to trade in my Ivy Bridge Xeon E3 (3770 equivalent) for a new Ryzen, I just can't justify the cost against the benefit I would gain. My computer has been rock solid, and shows no signs of degredation, and with a fairly recent video card and SSD upgrades, feels nice and snappy in what I do. Though I want to, I probably won't be replacing my main computer for another couple of years.

 

[doublejack]

I recently upgraded to a Core i7 8700K from an older Core i5 3570K and let me tell you, in every way imaginable this new machine is faster than than my older system. This new system laughs off loads that my old 3570K system struggled with. This can be seen especially when I have a web browser open with many... many tabs open.

I disagree. Don't get me wrong, I do love my ryzen and it is fast. However, the only reason I'm not still using an i5 2500k is because the motherboard burned up, literally. The 2500k was more than fast enough for any game I wanted to play. It booted up faster than my ryzen rig does (largely a bios issue). Web browsing, starting apps, etc are not noticeably faster on the ryzen. Maybe it is because I had high end components in the 2500k build and 32GB of memory, but it held up incredibly well. The only area I see obvious improvement is in highly multi-threaded activity, such as encoding. I rarely do that kind of work.

Oh, btw my wife's pc is still an i5 2500k, and we play a ton of the same games, often co-op. She has an RX 480 8GB. We both game at 1080p. We use the same settings, which is almost always everything maxed. She has no ryzen envy, because there's really no reason for her to be envious.

For the vast majority of users, if they have a computer that is six-ish years old or newer they are not going to benefit much from a brand new computer. Smaller things like adding some memory or upgrading to a SSD, that's all they really need in many cases. This is a large part of why PC sales have tanked in recent history. The returns have been small from one generation to the next, and the need for more power is generally nonexistent. For proof just look at the windows 10 minimum requirements.

 

[dgingeri]

The survey is saying that the current uptick in PC sales is being driven entirely by business demand and Windows 10 migration efforts which should die down in a couple of years. As for the consumer market, I don't see that picking up overall though I think gaming and 2 in 1 demand will remain strong but not enough to offset the average PC market.

No, it's a whole lot more than that. There are a lot of people out there who are now looking at new PCs now who weren't buying them before because it was too expensive for no upgrade from what they already had. I personally know 5 of them. (I don't know a whole lot of people, so that's a pretty high percentage.) Business demand isn't the big demand here lately. There are people who are seeing "Oh, we're finally seeing more than 4 cores!" and buying new systems again.

 

[heatlesssun]

No, it's a whole lot more than that. There are a lot of people out there who are now looking at new PCs now who weren't buying them before because it was too expensive for no upgrade from what they already had. I personally know 5 of them. (I don't know a whole lot of people, so that's a pretty high percentage.) Business demand isn't the big demand here lately. There are people who are seeing "Oh, we're finally seeing more than 4 cores!" and buying new systems again.

I think the PC market is becoming a higher end computing market as smartphones and other less powerful devices have become ubiquitous in the case of smartphones or cheap and easy in the case things like mobile OS based tablets and Chromebooks. Average people no longer need a PC do the basics like web surfing, email, video and music streaming, etc. If you're looking for a high core count x86 CPU you're not going to be looking as smartphones and Chromebooks. But the growth in these more demanding users I doubt will offset the decline of more average users.

 

[dgingeri]

I think the PC market is becoming a higher end computing market as smartphones and other less powerful devices have become ubiquitous in the case of smartphones or cheap and easy in the case things like mobile OS based tablets and Chromebooks. Average people no longer need a PC do the basics like web surfing, email, video and music streaming, etc. If you're looking for a high core count x86 CPU you're not going to be looking as smartphones and Chromebooks. But the growth in these more demanding users I doubt will offset the decline of more average users.

A great many people want to do more than just web surfing and email. Even my parents, in their 70s, have tablets and mostly FB or email from those, but prefer a full PC for other tasks, and even much of their FB activity. By "full PC", I am meaning a fairly lightweight device, but more complex than a tablet. My dad has a dual core 15" laptop and my mom has a dual core mini desktop. The big thing they cite for their want on that is screen size and speed. They don't like reading FB on a tablet because the screen is so small. My dad's laptop is hooked to his 22" screen most of the time, and my mom has a 24" screen. They aren't huge, but they're far bigger than a 8" or 10" tablet screen. However, my dad also uses a low level home and lawn layout program to arrange furniture and plan sprinkler systems, as well as photo editing, enhancement, and albums from their travels. My mom creates custom cards for holidays and birthdays. Both print things to a color laser printer hooked to the network. They also love to video call their grandkids, as many of them live too far away to visit very often. Sure, the video calls could be done from a tablet, but they both complain that they can't both be in the call if they use the tablet. Both of their systems have issues with running all those things, though, and many times it is processor power that is limiting them, especially the photo editing and the mini-drafting program my dad uses.

People disregard many things that PCs can do, and claim tablets and smartphones replace them, but that is just missing a LOT of life with a PC. I don't think the currently narrow minded millenials will continue to just use their phones for everything as they grow up and have more complex needs. Couple that with the growing want for the more abstract interfaces, and mobile processors won't be able to keep up.

 

[heatlesssun]

People disregard many things that PCs can do, and claim tablets and smartphones replace them, but that is just missing a LOT of life with a PC.

I basically agree with what you're saying and the above has never been my opinion of it. This isn't a zero sum game. Smartphones and PCs are often complimentary devices. As smartphones have developed they are able to replace PCs for many basic needs but as you point out there will always be those that want and need the capabilities of a PC. I'm just not certain that these users offset of the ones that don't want or need PCs. Again I see the average PC user becoming a "power user", they'll acquire PCs not just because but because smartphones and tablets can't meet their needs.