AfterDawn: Tech news

IDC: PC shipments see biggest decline, ever

Written by Andre Yoskowitz @ 10 Apr 2013 7:54 User comments (37)

IDC: PC shipments see biggest decline, ever IDC has released some shocking figures for the PC industry.
According to the research firm, PC shipments fell 14 percent in the Q1, the biggest drop on record.

Global units shipped fell to 76.3 million, almost double the drop IDC was expecting.

For the most part, consumers completely ignored Windows 8, instead opting for smartphones and tablets. Enterprise customers chose to stick with Microsoft's Windows 7 instead of updating, as well. The new user interface of Windows 8 was "disorienting" for users, says IDC, and touch-enabled PCs are still out of favorable price ranges.

The last time the PC market saw a decline this large was the Q3 2001, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

HP remained the top PC maker with 16 percent market share, followed closely by Lenovo at 15 percent. Dell remained in third at 12 percent.



Lenovo, however, was the only company to not see a decline in shipments year-over-year. HP saw a decline of 24 percent, Dell saw shipments decline 11 percent, but Lenovo actually saw growth, most notably in the U.S.

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37 user comments

111.4.2013 02:08

I'm not surprised. Lenovo is IBM's brand as far as I recall and the only one that hasn't stuffed up in my experience. They are getting a bit thin on the ground around here now but in the recent past I sourced at great prices some excellent Lenovo laptops for some people... one I'm still quite jealous of.



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This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 11 Apr 2013 @ 2:36

211.4.2013 03:58

Originally posted by Jemborg:
I'm not surprised. Lenovo is IBM's brand as far as I recall and the only one that hasn't stuffed up in my experience. They are getting a bit thin on the ground around here now but in the recent past I sourced at great prices some excellent Lenovo laptops for some people... one I'm still quite jealous of.

Lenovo is a Chinese company who bought IBM's PC division back in 2005.

311.4.2013 04:59

I'm not surprised.
For my needs on my travels I tried tablets but ended up going for a laptop as I thought they were too limited.
PCs have been very capable for years so why would people just swap to newer ones for the sake of it?

I'll be buying a new PC in the next 2yrs but right now I have a (still) nice & quiet 2007 Dell I've updated along the way.

I know I'm not 'bleeding edge' anymore but seriously, I'm hardly left far behind.

In fact the only real age issue I've encountered is a 3tb limit on internal hard drive space.
This turned out to be no big deal as I can use any number of huge hard drives as external storage.

411.4.2013 05:09

Originally posted by xnonsuchx:
Originally posted by Jemborg:
I'm not surprised. Lenovo is IBM's brand as far as I recall and the only one that hasn't stuffed up in my experience. They are getting a bit thin on the ground around here now but in the recent past I sourced at great prices some excellent Lenovo laptops for some people... one I'm still quite jealous of.

Lenovo is a Chinese company who bought IBM's PC division back in 2005.
My bad. Cheers Xnon.

Regardless, if anyone was buying I'd recommend they check them out.

511.4.2013 12:33

Intel is equally responsible for keeping CPU price artificially high.

611.4.2013 12:45

And Windows 8, as much as I 'tolerate' it.........SUCKS for a "PC".

Pointing a mouse to all four corners just to access the START menu and admin utilities is F'ING RIDICULOUS!!!

Sorry to say that Microsoft is to blame for this one. While Vista was a total failure and flop, Win 8 is hard for 'non-technical' to adapt to and frankly, they don't want to adapt. Can't blame them.

I put 8 on my laptop (non touchscreen) and won't let 8 come within a 100 miles of my desktop......EVER

Worst part is that MS is proactively trying to rid us of the DESKTOP so it may only get worse from here going forward.

711.4.2013 15:12

People didn't "ignore" windows 8...if they had, the drops would be far less. And windows 8 isn't just hard for non technical people...it is also a needless bother for technical people. As for enterprise customers, is it any wonder they don't want an os that requires a virtual pc just to run their existing activex and vm apps???

811.4.2013 17:30

no suprise

912.4.2013 06:54

Well of course there is a tapering down of sorts, we are in a saturation point of the product. Many of us upgraded from 8088, to 286,386, so on and so forth. Now we are talking a few hundred Mhz difference, Many people today do not see the need to buy a computer every couple of years. I have a dual core, that is slow rendering blue-ray video, still can do the job. I cannot see dropping a lot of cash right now, as I have around the house needs.

Win 8 ha good and bad points, I'm not interested at this junction though. Looks nice, somewhat easy to use, but I know my wife would be lost and call me every couple of minutes to see how to do something. Bad enough I went from xp to 7.

I am probably th .00001 percentile, but there are days I miss the old a: or c: for getting around programs, but I surely do not miss the old BBS though. 13k was the fastest I could ever get. Wow, now I feel old.

1012.4.2013 08:41

I bought a PC with Windows 8 on it just to give it a shot. I hate it. I won't buy another PC that runs only Windows 8. So I get that.

I also see where all those people who just use it for email and surfing the web can do the same with a tablet cheaper and with great portability.

1112.4.2013 08:41

IMHO, Once processors clock speed reached 3 Ghz the machines began to plateau. Oh sure there are multiple cores and more dynamic video cards, but the average ever day user just doesn't see the need to upgrade. There just hasn't been any significant changes to the PC architecture lately that people want or need that would justify the cost of a new system. People that simply used their PC to check email, view and store pictures, and browse the internet have found a tablet serves them just as well and is a lot cheaper. I expect the PC market to continue it's decline until some innovative company produces a PC that people simply have to have and then it may surge again.

1212.4.2013 08:46

Originally posted by molsen:
I am probably th .00001 percentile, but there are days I miss the old a: or c: for getting around programs, but I surely do not miss the old BBS though. 13k was the fastest I could ever get. Wow, now I feel old.
I guess I am in the same .00001 percent with you. I miss the old DOS commands myself.

1312.4.2013 10:24

Originally posted by dEwMe:
I bought a PC with Windows 8 on it just to give it a shot. I hate it. I won't buy another PC that runs only Windows 8. So I get that.
Tell me, did you try something like Classic Shell on it? The latest version is meant to be pretty good, even excellent, and it's free (donerware). I know you shouldn't have to but it's worth a go imo. I'd really like to know if it improves the experience for you.


Yeah, the only PCs upgrading are gamers, render workstations and maybe video editing suites.



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This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 12 Apr 2013 @ 10:27

1412.4.2013 11:14

Originally posted by hearme0:


Pointing a mouse to all four corners just to access the START menu and admin utilities is F'ING RIDICULOUS!!!

The start button is still in the lower left hand corner. It is just hidden, and a simple right click gets us geeks access to the tools we want.

Now we get a full screen experience with "apps" instead of the antiquated start menu of old. I'm sorry, but too many people are overly resistant to change. Win8 might not be perfect (I will be the first to say it is flawed) but it is a huge step in the right direction for MS. I fear most of you will eat your words.

Originally posted by hearme0:


I put 8 on my laptop (non touchscreen) and won't let 8 come within a 100 miles of my desktop......EVER

Then your desktop won't get the benefit of hybrid startup.

1512.4.2013 11:32

Originally posted by cart0181:
Originally posted by hearme0:


Pointing a mouse to all four corners just to access the START menu and admin utilities is F'ING RIDICULOUS!!!

The start button is still in the lower left hand corner. It is just hidden, and a simple right click gets us geeks access to the tools we want.

Now we get a full screen experience with "apps" instead of the antiquated start menu of old. I'm sorry, but too many people are overly resistant to change. Win8 might not be perfect (I will be the first to say it is flawed) but it is a huge step in the right direction for MS. I fear most of you will eat your words.

Originally posted by hearme0:


I put 8 on my laptop (non touchscreen) and won't let 8 come within a 100 miles of my desktop......EVER

Then your desktop won't get the benefit of hybrid startup.

I wonder if the first service pack for it will do something radical like XP SP2.

1612.4.2013 12:31

Let's face it we many people said that windows metro was a bad idea, it creates a lot of confusion.
Yesterday I saw it in action, I was out shopping with my brother and we went into Pc World and walked over to the new PC's.
We saw a PC which caught my bothers eye and it had windows 8, he gave it a try. In less then 3 seconds he clicked a tile and it changed screen and well he panic'd , he said there is no back button and walked off fast thinking he broke it.

Tablets on the other hand are doing well, the average user user who just surfs the web and does a few emails or face-book crap will be fine with a tablet, there is no need for a PC in this case.
In fact recently office programs are popping up on tablets and now open source drivers for terga powered tablets allowing full linux OS such as Ubuntu. The age of PC's for the average user user is over.
The king(windows pc) is dead, long live the king(tablet devices)

1712.4.2013 13:37

Ibm always had the best enterprise pc's and it seems Lenovo although Chinese are keeping up the good work but the pc will never die - there is still something a tablet or phone cannot replace and its the keyboard and mouse and a nice big screen not to mention all the home builders like myself who want a custom built machine so the parts makers will still have a market.

Unless the motherboard makers go out of business the home pc will still have a home!

Its just the non-upgradeable , minimal build maximal profit pcs from Dell and HP et al that will suffer!!!

1812.4.2013 13:54

I installed Win8 on a 'beater laptop' if you will, just to see if it was really as bad as people say, and I have to agree that it most certainly is! Mind you, this is coming from an avid tablet user as well who is certainly no stranger to touchscreens, but it just doesn't feel like a good fit for a Windows environment. I can locate and launch apps and navigate my Transformer quite easily, but to say that Win8 is frustrating, even to us "technical people", is an understatement. I'd compare M$'s attempt as being of the very early Android phase and even then the "Big G" was better at it than this mess. I'm sticking to a desktop though because NOWHERE can you get the gameplay and speed of gaming that is found within our precious little black boxes, so you'll be prying mine out of my cold dead fingers to take it away.

As a secondary thought on this, I'm very curious as to whether the price of PC PARTS has seen a similar drop in sales. I'm saying that because using sites like pcpartpicker.com you can very easily upgrade an existing rig gradually or build a new one to your exact specs at very cheap prices. With the advent of numerous YouTube videos detailing how anyone can build a new rig within an hour, I'm wondering if people are going that route instead?

1912.4.2013 14:10

Originally posted by sternrulez:
I installed Win8 on a 'beater laptop' if you will, just to see if it was really as bad as people say, and I have to agree that it most certainly is! Mind you, this is coming from an avid tablet user as well who is certainly no stranger to touchscreens, but it just doesn't feel like a good fit for a Windows environment. I can locate and launch apps and navigate my Transformer quite easily, but to say that Win8 is frustrating, even to us "technical people", is an understatement. I'd compare M$'s attempt as being of the very early Android phase and even then the "Big G" was better at it than this mess. I'm sticking to a desktop though because NOWHERE can you get the gameplay and speed of gaming that is found within our precious little black boxes, so you'll be prying mine out of my cold dead fingers to take it away.

As a secondary thought on this, I'm very curious as to whether the price of PC PARTS has seen a similar drop in sales. I'm saying that because using sites like pcpartpicker.com you can very easily upgrade an existing rig gradually or build a new one to your exact specs at very cheap prices. With the advent of numerous YouTube videos detailing how anyone can build a new rig within an hour, I'm wondering if people are going that route instead?
I'd like to try it but with Classic Shell installed, I hear Win8 is great for gaming on a big rig.



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This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 12 Apr 2013 @ 2:12

2012.4.2013 15:31

Lets be fair - Windoz 8 isnt bad for the average user in the accounts dept doing word processing or other office duties but to someone like myself Network/Systems Admin , a helpdesk guy or other techie its a total no-go - It just takes too many clicks to get where you want to be and the interface whilst snazzy doesnt really make the pc experience a non-frustrating experience as it should be.

As the previous user said using Windows 8 is a truly frustrating retrograde experience for anyone who is used to Linux or Windows 7 or previous Gui - Its just not productive enough going from being able to do a task in 1 second to 3 seconds - all those seconds add up to a longer time to get the job done and thats what makes it irritating in the extreme.

The installation process is much better , the responsiveness even on older pc's is quite good and it has many things going for it - But the critical ones it sadly doesnt and thats where it falls down!

Strictly for the tablet or phone where it fits in well - and why?
No keyboard , no mouse and that nails it in two strokes.

The PC is not dead!

2112.4.2013 16:24

It just means that most non tech people use their phone as their PC and most tech people are happy with the PC they have. There is no real big need for a new PC as software is not pushing for new hardware and vice versa.

2212.4.2013 17:38

Easily fixed by Microsoft. All they need is to add an option in Win8 SP1. "Do you wish to activate Metro Gui?"

Problem fixed. Everyone can now return to using Windows.

This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 12 Apr 2013 @ 5:39

2313.4.2013 00:01

Lenovo is OK they give good value and their help desk for the US is in the US.

Except for games, a 5 yr old computer is huge over kill for surfing the web and word processing. Why in the hell would I buy a new computer and have to contend with a dysfunctional OS? I read an article yesterday claiming Microsoft will be so low on the ladder that they will be inconsequential in 5 yrs. The PC market is going to dwindle while the mobile market continues to boom. They are run by a bunch of losers.

Even Apple is making a comeback walking over Windoz. At least SOME people like their OS.

2413.4.2013 05:07

Originally posted by Mez:
Even Apple is making a comeback walking over Windoz.
I haven't noticed that.

But it is true only some people like their OS as you say... regardless of the impression given in the movies and TV... What? You didn't know that was product placement? :)

Seen this for a laugh (totally unrelated)?:
Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates. Epic Rap Battles of History



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This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Apr 2013 @ 5:23

2513.4.2013 07:00

Of the 3 people I know who bought new computers the past several months w/ Win8 pre-installed, they ALL say they hate it. 1 was able to get the manufacturer to send Win7 install/restore discs since they apparently offer that model w/ either Win7 or Win8.

2613.4.2013 08:16

Jemborg, Apple used to have about 1-2% of the market and now it is doubled! That is a blazing comeback but their market share is insignificant.

I am one of the dopes that still use Microsoft mail. It has been upgraded to Outlook. Microsoft decided blind CC is too advanced for their users. I read up on it and maybe if I put the addresses in parentheses that may make them blind. I have written email apps more competent than the new Outlook.

What kind of joke is that? A bad one I guess. I may be forced to start using gmail more.

2713.4.2013 12:32

Originally posted by Mez:
Jemborg, Apple used to have about 1-2% of the market and now it is doubled! That is a blazing comeback but their market share is insignificant.

I am one of the dopes that still use Microsoft mail. It has been upgraded to Outlook. Microsoft decided blind CC is too advanced for their users. I read up on it and maybe if I put the addresses in parentheses that may make them blind. I have written email apps more competent than the new Outlook.

What kind of joke is that? A bad one I guess. I may be forced to start using gmail more.
The new Outlook.com is the best webmail I have ever seen by far. What would you prefer, gmail? lol

Oh, and you really should distinguish you are not using Outlook 360 or Outlook for desktop, which does support BCC.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Apr 2013 @ 12:33

2813.4.2013 15:17

Originally posted by Mez:
Jemborg, Apple used to have about 1-2% of the market and now it is doubled! That is a blazing comeback but their market share is insignificant.
I guess so. You reckon the tablet market etc will boom (at the expense of desktops) but Apple have really lost headway there... Foxconn's parent company Ho Hai Precision has had a severe loss of earnings:
http://www.afterdawn.com/news/article.c...mand_for_iphone

And even Apple's share price has gone down. Forbes report the iPhone is no longer cool as your grandma wants one... but I can tell you not even your grandma wants one now, she wants a Galaxy Note because of her astigmatism. :D

As to gmail... I use it but I have tracking blockers up the wazoo blah blah and Adblock Plus/Edge preventing any ads from downloading anyway- for privacy and/or peace and to speed up my connection. Trying this one out atm Mez: DoNotTrackMe


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This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Apr 2013 @ 3:18

2913.4.2013 21:07

Originally posted by cart0181:
Originally posted by Mez:

I am one of the dopes that still use Microsoft mail. It has been upgraded to Outlook. Microsoft decided blind CC is too advanced for their users. I read up on it and maybe if I put the addresses in parentheses that may make them blind. I have written email apps more competent than the new Outlook.

What kind of joke is that? A bad one I guess. I may be forced to start using gmail more.


The new Outlook.com is the best webmail I have ever seen by far. What would you prefer, gmail? lol

Oh, and you really should distinguish you are not using Outlook 360 or Outlook for desktop, which does support BCC.
So outlook.com is the best web email ever. What is so good about it? Since I use blind cc far more often than even a regular address it doesn't work for me. Plus the turds left 'blind cc' on the screen. Maybe they meant to have that feature and forgot. If I did something like that at my company I would be out the door.

I use addblock all the time, more for security than anything else.

Yes, the real Outlook is fine. I have no gripes there.
This message has been edited since its posting. Latest edit was made on 13 Apr 2013 @ 9:16

3014.4.2013 02:55

I like the interface. It is very well presented and clean, intuitively easy to use. As I said, it is the best I have seen in terms of webmail options currently. Gmail is pathetic by comparison in my opinion. That being said, I abhor the new "Mail" app in Win8. It wouldn't be so bad if you could create new folders to organize your incoming messages without going back out to the webmail server in a browser to do so. Also, there should have been some sort of support for importing POP messages from another computer. I strongly feel that functionality should be built into a new revamped version of WET. I do agree it is (past) time to phase out POP though.

3114.4.2013 03:12

Originally posted by Mez:
Originally posted by cart0181:
Originally posted by Mez:

I am one of the dopes that still use Microsoft mail. It has been upgraded to Outlook. Microsoft decided blind CC is too advanced for their users. I read up on it and maybe if I put the addresses in parentheses that may make them blind. I have written email apps more competent than the new Outlook.

What kind of joke is that? A bad one I guess. I may be forced to start using gmail more.


The new Outlook.com is the best webmail I have ever seen by far. What would you prefer, gmail? lol

Oh, and you really should distinguish you are not using Outlook 360 or Outlook for desktop, which does support BCC.
So outlook.com is the best web email ever. What is so good about it? Since I use blind cc far more often than even a regular address it doesn't work for me. Plus the turds left 'blind cc' on the screen. Maybe they meant to have that feature and forgot. If I did something like that at my company I would be out the door.

I use addblock all the time, more for security than anything else.

Yes, the real Outlook is fine. I have no gripes there.
Oh, I checked it out and BCC is absolutely there. It was getting "covered up" by the contact list that drops down below the "regular" CC. To make the contact list go away so you can see the BCC field, just click somewhere in the blank space beneath the contact list drop down. Make sense? GLHF

3214.4.2013 11:49

After a second read I got it. It is still a pain in the butt but far less painful than switching. Thanks! For my personnel mail I may average 1 email where I fill in the to a day, I may use cc once a month but will blind cc about 100 addresses a day. I always blind cc jokes and the like.

I do appreciate less crap on the screen. I really only want to use an email app to email and maybe use the calendar but nothing else. With the old hotmail the edit screen might re-size while I am typing an email and once re-sized by the bug it wouldn't re-size manually. It might only happen once a week but it would drive me up a wall because you could only see one line of your email at a time.

3315.4.2013 16:56

For every ONE person praising Win8 I see at least 10 complaining.

If you think it's good just give this a try.
Give a Win 8 computer to someone... Then try to do PHONE tech support with them.
Describe to them the keys and keystrokes needed to, oh, I don't know... Open the Printers folder or an elevated command prompt.

Win 8 is an unmitigated disaster and that disaster will not go away until Microsoft allows the Aero interface back on.


3415.4.2013 17:34

Originally posted by ThePastor:
For every ONE person praising Win8 I see at least 10 complaining.

If you think it's good just give this a try.
Give a Win 8 computer to someone... Then try to do PHONE tech support with them.
Describe to them the keys and keystrokes needed to, oh, I don't know... Open the Printers folder or an elevated command prompt.

Win 8 is an unmitigated disaster and that disaster will not go away until Microsoft allows the Aero interface back on.


Extremely good point actually!
Havent actually seen this mentioned in any review!

Not had a chance to do tech support on Windows 8 - mainly because any company I know have no intention of using Windows 8 or tablets - but its a real deal breaker!

3515.4.2013 17:46

Forget WIn8 I'm trying to run win 7 32 bit without the ramm cap, so far so good.

3629.4.2013 03:31

Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Forget WIn8 I'm trying to run win 7 32 bit without the ramm cap, so far so good.
OK, I'll bite. 4GB cap is inherent to 32-bit. It is not possible to go beyond that without switching to 64-bit.

3729.4.2013 06:28

Originally posted by cart0181:
Originally posted by ZippyDSM:
Forget WIn8 I'm trying to run win 7 32 bit without the ramm cap, so far so good.
OK, I'll bite. 4GB cap is inherent to 32-bit. It is not possible to go beyond that without switching to 64-bit.
Na, a solution has existed for ages and it's easy to do but it's not employed because there are some drivers out there (old ones mainly) that don't take it into account so MS et al have not implemented it. I written about it somewhere else but can't find the links soz.

Anyway, it's why the nextbox will be x86 but have 8gigs.

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