Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 15th Apr 2009 22:53 UTC
With a volatile economy, a lot of people are keeping close tabs on computer shipments to see if maybe, just maybe, they've finally hit rock bottom. IDC published its latest quarterly worldwide PC shipments tracker, and while PC shipments still shrunk, it wasn't as bad as forecast. Paul Otellini, Intel's CEO, believes the bottom has been hit.
Thread beginning with comment 358768
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
To view parent comment, click here.
To read all comments associated with this story, please click here.
Recent Original Stories
Recent Comments
Headlines
Random Comments
Random Stories
Random OS Link
Member since:
2005-07-06
You've raised some valid issues and I've been wondering whether we're going to hit a performance plateau where computers will get to a speed where the 'need' to upgrade becomes less and less to the point that we see a plummet in sales. I would have been sceptical that this is the plateau but given the move by Microsoft to make Windows 7 more efficient - the usual motivation for hardware upgrades (Windows and OEM - the symbiotic relationship) is no longer going work and hardware performance has gotten to a point where the vast majority of end users are pretty much happy once they get a Core 2 (or even a Core 'Classic' or Atom is more than enough).
I don't think things are going to pick up any time soon as there is a move to cheaper Atom based hardware and Windows 7 improves in efficiency - so we might see another round of consolidation in the OEM marketplace as shipments drop and margins decrease.
As for Apple, Apple is pretty much immune from the swings in the PC cycle because their hardware is different enough in regards to EFI and being able to run Mac OS X to make it subject to other factors besides hardware plateau and operating system releases.