PC Shipments Drop Precipitously in 2013

[J-Mac]

Article by Woody Leonard at InfoWorld shows the Gartner PC shipment numbers for 2013... and it ain't good. Gartner's estimate from a year ago with regard to PC shipments was that it would be a lackluster but tolerable year. But it turns out that PC shipments dropped by 10% in 2013. So I imagine this is a good time to buy your dream PC 'cause it might not be available too much longer. 

http://www.infoworld.com/t/desktop-pcs/pc-shipments-in-2013-dropped-precipitously-and-the-futures-murky-233951?page=0,0

Jim

[wraith808]

I tend to doubt the doom and gloom on the PC front.  It's just that the computer sales and increases was a bubble based on a premise that has changed...  their extraordinary sales numbers and increases were based on the consumer getting into the platform.  And as such, they revved up production scales, driving many of the mom and pop stores that were the basis of the PC market.  The uninformed consumer has moved on to tablets and smartphones now, so the market isn't flush.  If the Dells and such move on, then the small mom and pops will come back.

I speak from experience as I did that at one point, and it became hard to compete with mass produced dells and hps.  The desktop PC might be changing, but I tend to doubt that it's going anywhere in the near future, no matter what the corporates' bottom numbers might tell you.  Their sky is falling, but the sky isn't.

[J-Mac]

Hope you're right. I have an iPad and it gathers much dust. I don’t plan to give up my desktop computer. If Windows keeps turning toward touchpads and if Microsoft keeps going with their SAAS stuff then I guess I'll be learning all about the various Linux distributions.

Thank you.

Jim

[x16wda]

There's a vast group of people who would have bought PCs five years ago, but instead they're buying tablets.  Surfing, email, Facebook and streaming video are all they need, and tablets work just fine for that.  Plus there's the "app factor" - find a new cool app your friends don't have and you get street creds 

[Shades]

By street cred you mean getting kicked out of my door to the curb when you call a tablet a computer for everyone?

Hey, if you say such things loud enough I might even forget to open the door first...

[MilesAhead]

Maybe someone can explain to me, if the PC market is in the toilet, how Mr. Gates is Numero Uno again?  Is it all on tablets and smart phones? Or does he secretly own Papa John's Pizza?