Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Freefall, PC, Market, Shipments | Themes: Laptops and Notebooks, Desktop Computers, Business
Although consumers are still pinching pennies, the sudden drop in PC shipments is beginning to subside.
Here's a bit of good news to get your morning started right: the PC market is showing signs of recovery. George Shiffler, principal analyst at Gartner, said that the freefall of PC shipments is "skidding to a halt" thanks to a continued interest in netbooks and competitive PC prices. Unfortunately, because of the continued effects of the global recession, PC shipments will still decline, but at a much slower rate than originally expected: 6-percent in 2009 compared to 6.6-percent projected earlier.
While that may not sound entirely positive, Shiffler said that the concluded freefall would set the stage for a healthy market recovery in 2010, as PC shipments are expected to actually grow by 10.3-percent next year. With a strong first quarter, the PC market has actually stabilized according to Gartner. The analyst group expects to see a strong fourth quarter as well, as the new forecast predicts that the global economy will be on the recovery path by the end of the year.
As for the current freefall slowdown, Shiffler said that consumers are responding really well to the falling prices of PCs. "We've pierced new price points for laptops, and not surprisingly, people are responding to that," Shiffler told Computerworld. He explained that netbooks have triggered new lows in laptop prices--under $300 in fact--that is now affecting the mainstream laptop market, pressuring resellers to push lower prices into the $500 price range, even $400 in some cases. Unfortunately, with netbooks getting larger with wider screens, larger keyboards, and more mainstream-like features, the line between netbook and laptop is beginning to blur.
Shiffler also added that Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 operating system will not be a factor in the market recovery during Q4 2009. In fact, he said that consumers are not going to buy new PCs simply because of the heralded OS. He suggested that Microsoft counter the market slowdown by advertising what new features Windows 7 will offer to PCs, however that may not convince consumers to spend big bucks on the new OS. Shiffler also added that enterprise users will not upgrade to Windows 7 for at least a year after its initial release so that Microsoft can work out any initial problems.
On a whole, the news puts a positive spin on current economic conditions, and paints a bright future for the PC market in 2010.
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Sweet
MS should advertise Windows like this "Hey, sorry we blew it with Vista... but here's Windows 7. It's much better, now give us money."
Let's face it. People upgrade PC's only because of games. How many cores do you need to run Firefox or IE8? Please.
If PC makers want us to buy machines, have them takeover the screwballs at EA and reverse this insane trend of console-only games.
I can't be the only one who's noticed that there's absolute s*it out there on the horizon. The next big PC game is Modern Warfare 2 and that's coming out in November. Where are the next Cryses or even Far Cry's? I'm bored out of my skull here with my quad core and Radeon 4850 going to waste.
as soon as i get my job in july i'll be saving up for a prebuilt one off newegg. and JWL3 you're right. it's for gaming. this AMD FX-60 + 9800GT is showing starting to show its age.
if you're bored, why would you mention far cry. unless you like driving for 15 minutes to get anywhere.
im wait for battlefield 3 then ill upgrade
duckmanx88
HAHA. You're right. There are a ton of flaws in that game, some of which are 1) guardposts respawning immediately after leaving an area you just cleared out. 2) driving all across the map to do the same crappy missions.
But when I first started playing it, it was pretty awesome - the graphics were great and the freedom of going everywhere and doing a mission your way was like Grand Theft Auto.
Heh, I have been hired to "oversee" the building of 5 workstation PCs at a local office where a friend is the manager. What this means is that I order the parts and build the thing and an overpaid and under educated "tech" gets to do the grunt work by installing the software.
I have to pick out and build a $800 gaming rig by next week and I am building a $400 basic system for some neighbors. I usually get a build once a month, but upgrade the components in people's PCs a lot, but things are getting busy.
Looks like freelance work is up as well.
As for Far Cry 2, the major things I hated was the insanely fast voice acting and the fact that my vehicle was constantly rammed by other vehicles which makes no strategic sense whatsoever.
oh man I played that game (FC2) for about an hour and that was it, I couldn't take it anymore. I looked on in awe when a zebra ran into my parked vehicle, and the "road-kill" animation kicked in....that's right, it just ran into the front of the car and it died. I would have assumed that such programming was perfected 10 years ago, I guess not. It was pretty funny actually but it just completely ruined the mood.
Heh, I have been hired to "oversee" the building of 5 workstation PCs at a local office where a friend is the manager. What this means is that I order the parts and build the thing and an overpaid and under educated "tech" gets to do the grunt work by installing the software.I have to pick out and build a $800 gaming rig by next week and I am building a $400 basic system for some neighbors. I usually get a build once a month, but upgrade the components in people's PCs a lot, but things are getting busy.Looks like freelance work is up as well.As for Far Cry 2, the major things I hated was the insanely fast voice acting and the fact that my vehicle was constantly rammed by other vehicles which makes no strategic sense whatsoever.
I wish I knew people with cash, so I can get more building experience
looks like we got some FC2 fans here. go ahead with the thumbs down. you must love the instant respawn of enemies you killed one minute before, driving/walking around forever, and an jumbled story.