Windows 8 killing PC's market?

zom

Figures show 13.9% drop despite Windows 8 arrival:

http://www.techcentral.ie/21309/pc-shipments-suffer-worst-fall-since-records-began-idc

wexie

That's not Windows 8 killing the PC market, it's just that people had hoped Windows 8 would give the market a bit of a boost. Which seems to not have happened.

Was inevitable though, more and more consumers are getting laptops and tablets and more and more companies are going for things like desktop virtualisation, flexible work places (laptops) and BYOD.

Torqay

Well, many who bought a Windows 7 computer in the last two or three years certainly have no need to buy a new machine with a new OS which doesn't exactly get the greatest reviews but it wouldn't be fair to blame it entirely on Windows 8.

"It's the economy, stupid!" The computers arriving on my workbench getting older and older, their owners begging on their knees to squeeze another year or two out of their old clunkers simply because they can't afford to buy a new one. And that's the harsh reality.

Overheal

A little of it does have to do with bad word of mouth. You know what they say, the happy customer is the quietest customer. Enough people have been unhappy with their new windows experience and have told all of their friends how much they hate it, bla bla bla. In many cases my job involves unmessing the mess that someone else has done by telling someone to simply avoid change. I've seen people return PCs because they just refused to adapt to the changes, or even install Start8 etc. but the problem with that is if you need a new PC your choice is basically Windows 8 for the next few years.

The economy plays into that perception too. People cant afford to drop the same premium on a new PC that they could in the last generation. So on top of a new OS theyre buying inferior laptops. I mean, lets level, these are still computers and Moore still applies, but if I have a '65 Shelby GT 500, and a 2013 Nissan Versa, there are stark differences in quality and performance. Similarly the bad assumption that a new PC will automatically outperform a high end computer bought a few years back. That assumption has always been there, but now consumers dont blame the hardware, they blame the OS. You can see this in the Chromebook market too. ****ing cash strapped eejits for the most part that see $199.00 not $hit.00 and thats why Im sitting on so many open-box chrome units.

Capt'n Midnight

How much of this is people switching to tablets to compliment their computer instead of replacing it ?

For most general consumption of media/internet existing machines are good enough. You can't watch a film/video any faster than you could a few years ago.

Speed is no longer the killer app for most people.

Which would you rather , a laptop with twice the processing power or one with the same power but now the existing battery lasts twice as long ?

Antar Bolaeisk

There's a similar discussion going on over in after hours regarding this.

As mentioned in the other thread I think it just comes down to three things, the economy, the rise of tablets and the power of computers being more than adequate for most home users if they bought anything decent in the last six years or so (ie. C2D (or equivalent) + 4GB RAM).

You could stick Ubuntu on a computer and tell people it's Windows 8 and most of them won't know the difference.