We are all enchanted by the newest of smart gadgets – the Tablets, phablets, smartphones, smart watches & so on & so forth. So does anybody remember the humble PC that we often relied on when we couldn’t even think of the existence of smart gadgets.
After the CES commotion died down in January this year, experts claimed that the PCs were a “sleeper hit” of the season. There was a visible pique in the interest of consumers in newer & reasonably priced models of personal computers. Consumers who came to see the smart gadgets & the next big thing in the business were in for a surprise when they realized PC makers have already upped their game.
Yes, yes, we know. According to analyst firm Gartner, worldwide PC shipments experienced their 6th consecutive quarter of PC shipment decline, down by 9.6% from the first quarter of 2015 to 64.8 million units in the first quarter of 2016. But Gartner also predicts that the Windows 10 refresh, expected to start toward the end of 2016, will have a positive impact on worldwide PC shipments, resulting in the PC market reaching its last year of decline before returning to growth in 2017.
Image from Iconfinder
So while we are almost ready to bid a farewell to desktops, let’s think again… are they really on their way out?
First off, the PC buying cycle has only lengthened, not stopped. With the arrival of smartphones & Tablets, people now buy PCs every 2 years 5 years instead of 3. This only means a slower sale, not that the PC market is dead. So let’s just say we live in a PC-plus era, not in a post-PC era.
The ultra-thin laptops & the convertibles that can be twisted & rotated to your liking have made a case in point since they have been around for a couple of years. The recently concluded Computex 2016 – the premier PC industry trade show also added to the proof that the industry is alive, kicking & innovating.
All sorts of PC hardware was showcased at Computex – a mix of pricey processors like Intel’s 10-core Broadwell-E Enthusiast Edition chip, AMD’s Zen processor, VR-ready PCs that you wear on your back left critics & consumers breathless.
Also, off late, there have been quite a few PC-on stick variants of Windows introduced in the market & Intel is leading the line with its own sub-$100 device. Although the hardware is vital if using this device, it sure is useful to all kinds of users, light as well as heavy.
Traditional computer designs are getting total makeovers, case in point being the new Asus laptop with 2 graphics cards, 2 power supplies, & an eye-popping-out water-cooled dock considered to be the stuff of dreams for gamers. Since Microsoft’s Windows 10 is a big step with from the disaster that was Windows 8, it is also begging big on cross-platform playing. Having an Xbox app downloaded with Windows 10 allows the user to chat on Xbox Live on Xbox One consoles, post-game snaps, & even allows a user’s Xbox One to stream games & allow them to be played on the device. This gives an opportunity for game developers to create PC versions of multiplayer games that can be used by the app.
So now tell us… can a Tablet or smartphone do all this?
Bottom line: PCs have their own purpose & smart gadgets have theirs. And no, PCs are not hanging up their drives, not in the near future (or distant), at the least. So, chill.
•Share This•
