PC sales to take a dive in 2009
iSuppli's number crunchers predict the biggest single drop in PC shipments since 2001, with desktop PCs the hardest hit.
Research outfit iSuppli – quoted in an article posted over on Electronista – has stated that earlier predictions of a slight growth in the market were incorrect, and are correcting their estimations to a four percent drop in year-on-year sales.
This marks the biggest single drop in system shipments since 2001, which saw a 5.1 percent dip year-on-year – but could prove worse for the industry, as it comes on the back of an already poor year and with lowered price-per-unit on those few shipments companies were able to make.
iSuppli's principle analyst Matthew Wilkins believes that the poor economy is only partly to blame, with a move away from big-box desktop systems towards netbooks and notebooks – which, freed from the constant upgrade cycle of gaming desktops, tend to be kept around longer than their deskbound cousins – which sees desktop system shipments dropping a massive 18.1 percent while notebook sales rise 11.7 percent year-on-year.
This swing in shipments makes the first year since iSuppli started watching the market that notebook sales – which include sales of tablet PCs and netbooks – have overtaken sales of desktop systems, with the prediction being that by year end notebooks will account for a not-inconsiderable 54 percent of all computers shipped in 2009.
The news isn't all bad for desktop manufacturers, however: the company is predicting a better year ahead, with overall shipments in 2010 predicted to grow 4.7 percent.
Have you been considering ditching your desktop for a nice svelte notebook, or does the lack of upgradability plus built-in obsolescence turn you off? Has the economic slowdown put your upgrade plans on hiatus this year? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
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Discuss in the forums Replyalothouh more than just economic climate can affect that such as everyone being generally happy with their dual core / quad core rigs currently
i would expect huge purchases of Lynnfirld however
But as for pre-built sales it doesn't surprise me one bit, how many people now know a friend or friend of a friend that can build computers? People don't usually charge friends for building them comps and you'd get better more balanced specs + no OEM crap! Seriously who needs bloatware?
Self-Build PC's are lasting longer too. Earlier this year I upgraded my self built PC to have a 260GTX and Q9550 and overclocked them both rather than purchase a whole new PC based on i7 which would have spanked my wallet big time due to new mobo and memory required.
The most demanding game for PC's is still Crysis probably, so if your PC is coping.. why buy a new one.
Haha, nice one :D
Tbh. It's not notebooks fault. They've been around for ages. It's netbooks. Underpowered tiny laptops. where did i read 6 out of 10 dont leave the home...
I think dell needs to die. Their cases are horrible. Keep people like alienware...
They're the same company, just different brands, and when it comes to build quality and price they're just as bad as each other.
Blame it on netbooks and laptops. It seems they're now powerful enough and portable enough for most people to prefer them over a desktop system.
Note that the 4% figure is based on all PC sales, including netbooks/laptops.
Yup! My Mom's case is horrible on both the outside and inside and has just 'died' randomly... Nothing! Go dell. (no bias that I've had to image 20 new dell laptops at work is there?! :D )
I guess people question weather they really 'need' new pc stuffs if their's does the job. I'm running a crappy old one, (pre-built mind) and it's still chugging along off of free upgrades.
Bloomberg News - "Sales will be as much as $8.9 billion in the current quarter, Intel said yesterday (14/07/09). That compares with an average estimate of $7.86 billion in a Bloomberg survey of analysts."
"Intel reported a 12 percent jump in second-quarter sales from the previous three months, the largest sequential increase since 1988."
only if you live somewhere that is not here....
I meant to say that people are asking me to get laptops and netbooks for them as opposed to building them a system.
I'm still using a 939 nF4 board with an Athlon X2 3800+ ^_^; The 8800GT makes most things work well enough though.
I want to upgrade somewhere along the line - definately missed out when Q6600's were around the £100 mark - but right now I can't afford it. It's not really to do with the economy so much as having kids now.
Of course, that logic is flawed since the dawn of netbooks further reduced the already paperthin margins
I doubt it, you are a techie so such things matter to you but 90% of the typical user wont have any idea or clue about the difference between Ion and not nor would they understand it so I doubt that you would see a real difference in sales if that happened overall.
"the desktop I have now is good enough for now I can't wait longer to upgrade"
It's a combination of things.
Hardware has outpaced the typical office/home. There is no need to replace 2 or 3 year old equipment anymore. An old P4 with some memory handles typical office chores just fine, the same applies to home users who just do Ebay and surf the internet. My customers would rather refurb an old XP machine than buy a new machine that will be a hassle (Vista), and not run any faster than their current machines.
As for laptops, the same applies, they are all plenty fast as it is, or they just recently replaced them in the last year or two. Either way, they are not in any hurry to replace them.
..........lol..............classic all the way. Yup, thats me 2. I tell all my customers forget the branded they suk big time, if they only knew. I convince a few but the others just love the Dell package. You know, the 7 in1 for 399.00.....lol