PC sales still slumping, but more slowly than feared

Why would anyone buy a PC with Windows 8 or Windows 10 on it?

Surely Microsoft has learned from the mobile phone debacle, and the PC slump, that users don't want Metro or universal apps, and actually want a PC that is fast, pretty and functional, not some O/S designed for a 4 inch touchscreen, with flat, 16 colour. Fisher Price blocks all over the screen and animated tiles distracting you for no reason.

MS's New Privacy Dialog Box (for Creator's Update) in 1607 switches data back ON, that was off.

Where is the UK's ICO on this?

FFS. I'm really not sure how a forced prominent dialog box that turns options back ON that already have manually been switched off previously somehow passes the ICO/France's National Data Protection Commission, in terms of Data Retention.

Google's own Privacy Checkup Tool needs an investigation regards it's accessibiity for disabled/partially sighted, I doubt a disabled person could navigate it, to switch off options.

It's impossible to navigate by such people, it's being designed to be a 'tediious' as possible. 30+ clicks/scroll bar movements (requiring a lot of dexterity)/back buttons to switch off what actually boils down to just 5 switches.

In my neck of the woods

Plenty of office workers, gamers, photographers, engineers etc want new PCs.

I give them custom built machines, with higher specs and cheaper than big name brands and they're happy.

I wonder how many other small outfits like mine are doing the same across the globe?

I think a more accurate picture of the true trend of desktop/laptop unit sales could be seen by looking at CPU shipment figures perhaps?

Intel were reporting an 8-9% increase in desktop cpu shipments at a time when the "PC is dead" brigade keep bleating on about declining sales.

I hate fake news.

For a vast majority software doesn't offer compelling reasons to upgrade as it doesn't provide any new features and yesteryears PC can still cope pretty well with current software resource demands. The special case is gamers but they always want the latest and fastest, for everybody else what we've got is good enough and we have smartphones.

I'm glad we're not changing them every five minutes as we used to as it's less landfill and better use of resource, the Planet isn't going to get any bigger.

2007?

Core 2 Duo chips!

Still perfectly fine for office work even today.

As mentioned, the software hasn't moved on far enough to warrant better hardware in many many cases.

KMM

Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor

That's all anybody really wants a desktop PC for. Laptops fill most of that bill but for serious work most people still prefer two large monitors, a good keyboard and a wireless mouse.

I, personally, now have to wear reading glasses which makes using a smartphone an annoyance.

Users not interested in new ways to do old stuff

I've tried to migrate the wife off her 10-year old Win XP machine, but she's not having it.

Also, there's more options. A phone and bluetooth keyboard is just as effective for comms as a laptop and will fit in a pocket. Similarly, if you need a low-powered server, then there's Raspberry Pis etc

"Both analyst firms suggest that rising component prices have led to rising PC prices which has led to falling enthusiasm from buyers, especially consumers. DRAM, LCD panels and solid state disks prices all share some of the blame for the rise, as all are in short supply."

Maybe both firms replace all their staffs' PCs every year and suppose the rest of the world tries to do the same (the "my use case is universal" fallacy).

Let us look at what the latest is in PC's

In the budget price range, have I7 with 4 cored/8 HT? Check

Have USB 3 ports? Check - new standard can be added with expansion card

Have multiple PCI-E 3.0 slots where video card gets at least X16? Check

Sata 3 ports? Check - although I do agree the newest PCIE NVME are great, even a Samsung 850 will be fast enough

Sound? Most motherboards are fine, but furthermore, many wear USB headsets so not an issue.

Gigabit ethernet? Check

I used to upgrade all the time as there WAS a compelling reason to go 8088 - 286 - 386 - 486DX - Pentium - Pentium II - Pentium III, etc. Also, AGP - PCIe, etc also were major improvements. The truth is we have stagnated. I no longer upgrade my machines (I build my own), and for server, I buy 2-3 year old servers (used to build my own, but better value used) at rock bottom prices with 32 cores and 192 GB RAM as new performance again is not that exponentially great (unless you spend $20-$30K.

You will NOT see a major bump until something that really increases the need comes out (NOT VR) such as PCIE 4 (even 5 may come out shortly after 4), or new storage methods, etc. Whatever happened to Hologram storage, fiber CPU's, or quantum computing that was just around the "corner" as those would also be compelling reasons. Heck even a I7-2600 still performs well. This article comes out quite a bit, but the answer remains the same: a saturated market will need a compelling reason to upgrade.

Now since laptops are not easy to upgrade (with a few exceptions), I can see those being purchased more frequently than a desktop - ie you need to go to faster GPU, 4K touch screen, etc., you need to buy a new laptop,

Blah blah blah ..

Meanwhile back in the real world the work which MUST be done on a desktop (as opposed to work which could be done on a desktop but which is with relative ease handled on a machine with a different form factor) has shrivelled to a much greater degree than PC sales. Including in the definition of "PC" that few square inches we hold in one hand (stop sniggering at the back) and which is equivalent to the power of a PC very recently total sales have gone up exponentially and will increase.

Does anyone care about these Olde Worlde statistics apart from the desktop-building dinosaurs who have failed to move on?

I buy used

I buy used computers that are in good shape and put Linux on them. I will never give money to any new stores and computers that have windows on them. windows is a piece of shit and should be abolished. If you buy new go buy a mac otherwise buy used and throw linux on it you will be much happier along with a bigger wallet.

Are You in the Linux or Windows Camp?

As a result of mainly Marketing Microsoft has dominated the PC/Desktop camp although the first GUI desktop was sold by Apple. But Linux desktops like Ubuntu are fighting back. And don't forget the raspberry pi market which is high in numbers but low in cost.

We now have a shifting marketplace where PC desktops and laptops are shifting to Laptops and tablets and smartphones. Apart from Windows operating systems most are Linux-based - either Android or iOS. Raspbian on the Raspberry PI is Linux-based too.

There is some blurring of lines on usage between tablets and smartphones. The majority of people seem to have phones (mainly smartphones) and laptops. Don't forget the computer gaming market too; new PCs come along which are higher performance than the games consoles and battle it out in the retail markets.

So the options will continue to evolve and all must be taken account in the statistics. Don't confuse number of active devices with financial market share. Prices of existing technology drift down as new technology hits the high prices. So watch this space!

Is there a need to upgrade?

My clients run i3 with Windows 7. These range from around 4 years old to present. The older ones are still up to the job of running general office duties and are not much slower than their modern version. Sure HDD and memory speeds have increased, but for pulling files off a network, the speed is academic.

From the Gartner report:

"The Chromebook market has been growing much faster than the overall PC market. Gartner does not include Chromebook shipments within the overall PC market, but it is moderately impacting the PC market. Worldwide Chromebook shipments grew 38 percent in 2016, while the overall PC market declined 6 percent."

With Chromebook sales are on fire, it's not unreasonable to assume that they are a significant factor for the reported "PC" sales drop. Add in Chromebooks, and there may be no drop at all.

I bought a Samsung Chromebook Plus from Best Buy last March, in a promo that offered $50 credit for any "laptop" in working order. I brought in an old Chromebook, and had to argue with the Best Buy salesman, because their database only included Windows laptops.

You can add all the computing power to VR...

...that you want. You'll still look a total twat using it.