Global PC sales declined for eight consecutive quarters, Gartner reports

[froggyboy604]

Although a recent report states consumer satisfaction with desktops and laptops is on the rise, Gartner is now pointing out that shipments of desktops, laptops, and ultra-mobile “premiums” like the Surface devices declined 5.7 percent in the third quarter of 2016. This is a global number and shows sales have continuously gone downhill over the last eight quarters. It is also the longest duration of a decline in the history of the PC, according to Gartner.

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I would buy a new PC if I had more money to buy a more powerful Gaming desktop computer and 4K monitor. But, I do not want to buy another average desktop computer because I want to spend my money on a very powerful gaming computer and 4K monitor.

I think one of the main reasons for the decline in PC sales is because many young people and poorer middle age to seniors people still do not earn enough money where they can afford to buy a faster computer like a Gaming PC which they dream of buying as a gift for themselves and their family to enjoy using to play games, and watch 4K movies on a 4K monitor.

Most people probably rather stick with their current computer than buy another cheap computer which may not be faster or better than their current computer.

In many cases, a new $200 PC is slower and worse than older cheap $500 PC with a Intel 2.9 GHz Celeron G1850 desktop PC with 4GB or less RAM, 300GB storage and a $50 Nvidia or AMD video card. PCs in the past were more expensive, but came with full desktop processors, desktop RAM, and a video card rather than mobile processors with onboard video, and mobile embedded RAM which is more common these days on cheaper $200 computers.

 

[Demon_Skeith]

Everyone is getting a PC, so of course the market would drop slightly.

 

[VirusZero]

I'd say part of the reason for slow PC sales is simply that there really isn't much of a reason to upgrade anymore. I mean systems from even 5 years ago can run Windows 10 with almost no problems. (System specifications haven't changed that much for most programs the average user wants to run.) Couple that with the fact that hardware advancement seems to have slowed down in recent years.

Only really gamers or high intensity program users (like HD video editors) would need to upgrade or go for more power. And if they're going to upgrade, in most cases, they're just going to upgrade a component rather than buy a full system.

 

[froggyboy604]

Everyone is getting a PC, so of course the market would drop slightly.

There are a lot of people who are building computers because they are frustrated with PC companies selling expensive computers which are not worth the high price. Some poorer people may build a working PC from the working parts of a bunch of non-working PCs. Sometimes, you just need to replace the motherboard, power supply, RAM or hard drive, and the computer will work again as long as the other parts work.

There are a lot of books, online video, and blog posts on Building a computer, so more people are building their own PC.