4 ms·

It's not a surprise as a PC usability-span gets longer the rate of replacement gets lower.

• croon 10y ago
  That is possibly the big one I would say. I can only refer to data like in OP, but I feel (yes, baseless statement) like the PC industry has only gotten bigger in recent years. When I've seen results like this before I've tried to find reports on PC components instead (to no avail). Could it be that casual users can do all their tasks on their phones/tablets now compared to 10 years ago, while the enthusiasts build their PC:s from scratch, thus hollowing out the OEM PC market, leaving only laptops?
  • kbart 10y ago
    "Could it be that casual users can do their all their tasks on their phones/tablets now compared to 10 years ago, while the enthusiasts build their PC:s from scratch, thus hollowing out the OEM PC market, leaving only laptops?" I too think that's exactly the point. Average user doesn't need desktop PC anymore and buys smartphones, tablets, consoles instead, while power users and gamers usually build their rig from srcatch. Also, there's no need to upgrade PC every two years as technologies (maybe except GPUs) doesn't evolve as fast as it was used to. TL;DR it's not PC market that's shrinking, but a branded PC market.
    • hyperpallium 10y ago
      The smartphone factor does suggest a shrinkimg PC market. Further, now even smartphones are more powerful than average users need, so e.g. the iPhone 5s is still selling well.
  • pjmlp 10y ago
    I stopped buying desktops and moved 100% to laptops around 2003, the last desktop lasted from 2003 to 2013. Only the CD-ROM drive got replaced by a DVD one, because it broke down, nothing else was changed. Even the laptops got used until they either died or in one case, got stolen. We are way beyond the need of changing computers every three years.
    • kyriakos 10y ago
      I had the same history as you but I'm about to switch back to desktop. My point is people requirements change, it doesn't mean it's a trend though. Desktops always were easier to upgrade which also means in the past people had less reasons to buy new systems.
      • snarfy 10y ago
        I've owned desktops for the last 25 years and never found I could easily upgrade. It's the promise but not the reality. New video card? Need a new power supply too. More ram? Need a new motherboard. New CPU? Same deal. I'm switching back to a desktop because I rarely use the portability of a laptop.
        • Eridrus 10y ago
          You're not wrong that there are dependencies, but it's nowhere near as expensive as buying a whole new computer. I bought a desktop in 2011, added an SSD a few years ago, then added 16 GB of RAM (second hand, bringing me to 24GB) and replaced my graphics card with a Maxwell Titan X (also second hand) last year. It's a very good system for running state of the art deep learning experiments on now. Cost me ~600 for the upgrades last year. You couldn't even buy a laptop with these specs. I bought a steam link and 2 controllers for ~150 last year to play co-op games with my wife, much cheaper than a console with the added benefit of my existing steam collection and Steam holiday sales! I may have gotten lucky, because I sure as shit don't know what I'm doing picking components, but the fact that I can get lucky probably means there's a way to pick things with headroom intentionally.
          • pjmlp 10y ago
            Depends on the system. For example, recently I got a 2011 PC from someone that didn't want to keep it on its new flat, and I cannot upgrade the GPU to a DX12/Vulkan one, because they all require PCI Express 3.0 and the motherboard only supports v1.0. It is cheaper to get a whole new computer, like a NUC, than starting the cascade of updates.