back to article Europe's PC mountain barely dented in price slash bloodbath

Tit-for-tat price-cutting from notebook vendors pummelled the value of the PC market in Europe during July but failed to make more than a dent in inventory levels that have been building up since the Christmas quarter last year. And August, which heralds the Back to School season for the channel, is also looking conspicuously …

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  1. Arrrggghh-otron

    Surprise?

    These kind of announcements are starting to get really annoying. Is anyone surprised? The economy is in the toilet, prices of essentials continue to climb, pay rises are almost non existent (for us peons who seem to be getting the shitty end of a really shitty stick) so who is going to rush out and buy new kit?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What price cutting?

    I don't know where the idea of this price war comes from because to me it seems current prices are a lot higher than last year or the year before. Maybe a lot of this can be put down to bad exchange rates but at the end of the day IT equipment all looks very expensive to the consumer.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Trollface

    Tough time, but at least some bright spots...

    ...at least the stock that was looted can be written off and replaced by something more relevant.

  4. DrXym
    Stop

    Where are these bargains

    I haven't seen any conspicuous price cuts. Someone care to point out where they're happening?

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Where...

    ...can one buy these discounted products then? I'd love a wee notebook, but the only ones that are in the shops with even a semi-decent spec are well North of £350.

    1. ravenviz Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Yes, where

      I've seen a few around at £250 but that's still way over the odds since most people are going to use a notebook for internet browsing and email. I'm waiting for a sub £100, or just get one second hand.

      eBay: http://tinyurl.com/3glhn76

  6. M7S
    Meh

    I'm still waiting for all those Acer's to show up

    the "overstock" ones that cost at least one senior suit his jobs IIRC.

    Until they show up, and all the prices come down in reaction, I'm not really interested in buying.

  7. Jacqui

    I bought an AMD64 lappie for 220 at tesco

    earlier this year. Same machine is now 300+ and marked as a special offer!

    I dont see how anyone can call this price cutting.

    Jacqui

    1. elderlybloke
      Linux

      Jacqui - She is called

      a Spin Doctor.

  8. Captain Scarlet Silver badge

    Price cuts

    Due to the strength of the pound the price cuts havent happened, but if I am honest everyone probably has a laptop or pc nowadays anyway.

    1. Solomon Grundy

      Nail on the head

      You've pointed out the biggest issue in mass market retailing! How many computers do manufacturers think they can sell to a given person? Most five year old computers get people to their porn and email and that's pretty much all they are used for. Spending hundreds of dollars for no improving experience is not what people do when they don't have a lot of extra money to spend.

  9. Graham Bartlett

    Hardly surprising

    iPad is great for playing, surfing and portability. Not as useful for *real* work though. You know, actually writing stuff. It's also no more powerful than your average netbook.

    So if you need a proper keyboard, it's not the tool for the job. If you need a proper screen, it's not the tool for the job. If you don't need portability, it's not the tool for the job. If you need a cheap PC, it's not the tool for the job. If you need any significant number-crunching power, it's not the tool for the job. If you need compatibility with a wide range of Windows-only software, including MS Office, it's not the tool for the job. (Yes I'm aware of LibreOffice - I use it myself at home. Don't tell me it's 100% MS-compatible until MS Office macros work on LibreOffice.) Oh, and if you might want to see (or write) a Flash website, it's not the tool for the job.

    Netbooks at least are running Windows. But for the price of a grotesquely underpowered netbook with a crappy small screen and horrible keyboard, you can get a perfectly decent desktop with an OK screen and keyboard. So again, cost-effectiveness ain't their strong point.

    1. ravenviz Silver badge

      Re: Hardly surprising

      Yes, all fine with a desktop, but one of the advantages of a netbook is its portability, just bung it in a bag and go. And yes, it has a proper keyboard for proper typing.

  10. Paul RND*1000

    Figures, really

    I wouldn't want to try doing my job using a phone or tablet, so there's a large PC with multiple monitors and scads of memory and storage at my desk.

    On the other hand, outside of photo editing which I sit down at a desk and (easily upgradeable) desktop PC for, most of the day-to-day computing stuff I do at home is based on the couch where a phone or tablet would be a much better choice than the big ugly laptop I use now.

    Most average consumers could survive without any sort of "PC as we know it" at all. Maybe that's what the figures are showing.

  11. Downside

    in other news.. the Titanic sank

    If I need a PC, I've got my works laptop, a sweet I-5 number.

    If I had the cash for a gadget, it would be an iPad.

    I've got an XBOX and a PS3 so that's gaming sorted.

    My iPhone gives me mobile data....

    So, what do I need a home PC for? I need petrol and food instead.

    No wonder those online PC bits and pieces vendors are getting nervous and sending me discount codes; they haven't heard from me for a good long while

  12. Kevin Reader
    Facepalm

    As others have implied... Its not really like that at all.

    I suspect the "price reductions" have happened at the wholesaler, or just to the actual or notional RRP that these PCs (well laptops mainly with that manufacturer list) have.

    Any reduction in the actual wholesale price has clearly not been passed on to the consumer. Also we are still suffering from the "netbook plague". Initially this kicked the pricepoint (and profit) out from under the notebook market until the netbook prices were bumped up to compensate.

    The thing is Joe Consumer is led by the marketing and so will buy what is hitting headlines. In recent years this has been a netbook; 90% of which can't show him iPlayer which leads to consumer disappointment and even less buying in future. Had Joe bought a notebook then for similar money it would have been a do anything machine!

    Now the "new thing" is indeed the fondle slab. This does at least provide a new physical footprint and smartphones show that for a lot of casual (or everyday) tasks the keyboard can be dispensed with. Thus we finally catchup with both Captain Kirk and John from the (original!) Tomorrow People. This is also where the marketing budgets are being spent. All marketing departments are incapable of promoting anything other than "the new thing" or two things at once. So the fondle slab gets the consumer spend.

    As others have said there is also this kind of _recession_ thingy going on. Thus if one looks at the loss of revenue figures quoted in the article the loss follows the typical price of the product. Thus Toshiba and Sony suffer most, Asus next, and Acer which is usually cheap (if nothing else) suffers the least. The ONLY interesting figure is Samsung who appear to be defying this rule. So it appears that the consumer is avoiding expensive purchases and may be spending what money they do risk with Samsung or Acer.

    1. Snapper
      Thumb Down

      Wrong

      "The ONLY interesting figure is Samsung who appear to be defying this rule."

      And Apple! Their laptop figures are well up.

      Maybe people are finally realizing it's not worth buying Windows.

  13. Graham Bartlett

    @ravenviz

    If you want portability then great, get a netbook. If you don't need portability, you don't need it. Spend the same money and get something distinctly more capable instead.

    Most netbooks and most laptops have awful keyboards. Very little travel and horrible feel for most of them. Sure there are good ones, but they're rare. And the screens are all far too small for any real work.

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