PC Sales down 7% in 4Q

[jpiniero]

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2647517

Down 10% for the year. They claim that it's bottoming out, but I doubt it. The one thing that is strange about this report is that they include some tablets but not others. I don't know if that means they included Surface Pro but not any other Windows tablets. Regardless, it's clear that Intel needs to get sales (and profits) from tablets going in 2014.

 

[Lonyo]

The problem is now they are going to have completely random arbitrary divisions between what is a PC and what isn't, and these sorts of things will get more and more meaningless as time progresses.

I would say I have a tablet, but it's also a "PC", it's a convertible Windows 8 tablet with an Ivybridge processor.

Note: Data includes desk-based PCs and mobile PCs, including mini-notebooks but not media tablets such as the iPad. Data is based on the shipments selling into channels.

 

[Techhog]

Why do you doubt that it's bottoming out? The idea that tablets will completely replace laptops and desktops is still beyond flawed.

 

[*kjm]

I think most of the problem is if you are running Sandy/Ivy Bridge why upgrade... heck I'm running a Lynnfield and will be updating to Haswell this weekend just because I got a killer deal on the CPU. At retail I would have never done it.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Whatever. I've found that more and more people are building gaming desktops now more than ever. Steam has played a big part in that IMO.

 

[erunion]

Why do you doubt that it's bottoming out? The idea that tablets will completely replace laptops and desktops is still beyond flawed.

The flaw is in the assumption that tablet means ARM and Apple/Android. Wintel will continue to move towards tablets, which will hasten "the decline of the PC" but not with the result many are expecting(ie the death of Wintel).

 

[*kjm]

Whatever. I've found that more and more people are building gaming desktops now more than ever. Steam has played a big part in that IMO.

Maybe but I lot are buying used.... for example I will put my I7-870 with MB on the for sale forums here for dirt cheap why buy new for 80% of people?

 

[Cerb]

XP boxes that won't die are still abound. Sadly, I've even repaired and reloaded some, recently. I am guilty, having kept my base PC for around 6 years, even as a gamer!

It's a bad time to be in the cut-throat business of desktop PCs, but the sales are still to high to get out, as well.

 

[Phynaz]

I can see sales being at the bottom. Enterprises have been holding off on refreshes for a long time. They are going to have to do large scale replacements very soon.

 

[DeeeV]

Consoles taking over the gaming market?.

 

[Cerb]

Consoles taking over the gaming market?.

They've had nearly 30 years, and still haven't come close. They still coexist well, much as they have in the past.

 

[shady28]

I can see sales being at the bottom. Enterprises have been holding off on refreshes for a long time. They are going to have to do large scale replacements very soon.

Why? I mean, I see a lot of Optiplex 960s where I work and those are ~5 years old. They're C2D E8400s with 4GB RAM. That is more than functional for an office environment. Pretty much any dual core is up to the tasks of a typical office.

Maybe some companies are on P4s still, but then we're talking about an 8 year old box.

 

[Phynaz]

Why? I mean, I see a lot of Optiplex 960s where I work and those are ~5 years old. They're C2D E8400s with 4GB RAM. That is more than functional for an office environment. Pretty much any dual core is up to the tasks of a typical office.

Maybe some companies are on P4s still, but then we're talking about an 8 year old box.

Failure rates, especially on laptops start to skyrocket after three years. Many enterprises have done lease extensions into four and five years. The cost of maintaining those machines is becoming prohibitive.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Failure rates, especially on laptops start to skyrocket after three years. Many enterprises have done lease extensions into four and five years. The cost of maintaining those machines is becoming prohibitive.

When a corporation "leases" an Optiplex from Dell (or is it a third-party?), how is the maint. and repair handled? If the the company has a problem with the unit, don't they just call Dell (or the leasing company) to fix it?

Or by "cost of maintaining those machines", do you really mean the cost of downtime when a PC fails, and has to be replaced and re-imaged?

 

[jpiniero]

Why do you doubt that it's bottoming out? The idea that tablets will completely replace laptops and desktops is still beyond flawed.

Maybe not completely but things are going to continue to get smaller... and that means tablets, 2-in-ones, smartphones, and utilitarian devices like Chromebooks. Right now, Intel is starting to move the default laptop processor to 17W; and I could see that going lower as time goes on.

 

[blastingcap]

SteamOS can easily buck the trend.

 

[ShintaiDK]

Consoles taking over the gaming market?.

Its the other way around. Steam for example now got a record 75 million users with a very fast growth rate.

 

[ShintaiDK]

I can see sales being at the bottom. Enterprises have been holding off on refreshes for a long time. They are going to have to do large scale replacements very soon.

Yep. And the doubleflop with Win8 and Win8.1 havent helped either.

 

[lefty2]

Gartner and IDC predictions for PC decline don't tally with the actual unit sales from AMD and Intel. For instance in 3Q Gartner say PC sales declined 9%, but sales figures from AMD and Intel show it to be 5% and it's pretty much the same for 1Q and 2Q.

 

[Abwx]

Gartner and IDC predictions for PC decline don't tally with the actual unit sales from AMD and Intel. For instance in 3Q Gartner say PC sales declined 9%, but sales figures from AMD and Intel show it to be 5% and it's pretty much the same for 1Q and 2Q.

People or even shops who do builds are not counted....

 

[Nothingness]

Gartner and IDC predictions for PC decline don't tally with the actual unit sales from AMD and Intel. For instance in 3Q Gartner say PC sales declined 9%, but sales figures from AMD and Intel show it to be 5% and it's pretty much the same for 1Q and 2Q.

Do both count units? Or is one counting revenues? If the latter, you can't compare what AMD/Intel report with what IDC/Gartner report.

 

[lefty2]

Do both count units? Or is one counting revenues? If the latter, you can't compare what AMD/Intel report with what IDC/Gartner report.

No, I'm using unit sales figures for both

 

[Imouto]

Steam is topping 7 million concurrent users and that's a drop in the bucket whatever the scale you want to use.

Everyone is posting bad numbers for Intel, AMD, Nvidia and assemblers. Trying to make them up with such low figures from Steam is wishful thinking.

 

[Ajay]

Not a good trend, but still a huge market:

Grand Total....................315,967,516 Shipments

I wouldn't be surprised if the PC market does bottom out soon and then eventually start rising (as the world economy grows). PCs and Laptops are still very important for productivity, content production and engineering applications. Ultra-mobile will dominate consumer purchases and hence continue to grow for some time - one doesn't need a PC anymore for email, chat, viewing photos or watching videos. As smartphones/tablets get cheaper and better, they will become more and more prevalent in China and India - two, obviously, huge markets.

 

[Qwertilot]

Well steam relates to the size of the (gaming active portion) net installed user base.

That's hugely different from net sales. Is anyone tracking if we're losing net computers or are just experiencing much longer refresh cycles?

Probably losing some net installed computers because houses with multiple people only really need/want one desk/laptop with a bunch of smaller things to buzz around it.
(some may well not have anything.).