PC shipments saw their largest decline

[maflynn]

I'm going to go out on a limb and state that when PC sellers decide to charge upwards of 3,000 to 4,000 dollars for a laptop, and GPU makers gouging customers with GPUS well over 1,500 people are just going to make due with what they have.

I can speak for everyone, but I found the cost of living in 2022 to be wildly expensive, where even treating my family to eating out was something that killed my budget

PC shipments saw their largest decline ever last

 

[Queen6]

Economy plain and simple. I now tend to update my hardware at longer intervals. Just to get a few more frames doesn't cut it for the asking price, of the HW.

Have the $$$$, but don't see the utility in it. I like older games and they play really well on my current setup. Should work intervene, then I'll update as that turns coin...

Q-6

 

[velocityg4]

I'm going to go out on a limb and state that when PC sellers decide to charge upwards of 3,000 to 4,000 dollars for a laptop, and GPU makers gouging customers with GPUS well over 1,500 people are just going to make due with what they have.

I can speak for everyone, but I found the cost of living in 2022 to be wildly expensive, where even treating my family to eating out was something that killed my budget

PC shipments saw their largest decline ever last

View attachment 2140811

That’s the big killer. If the high computer prices or phone prices were the only high prices. People would still buy them.

When necessary stuff like groceries, rent and energy are through the roof. People are going to buy fewer luxuries. Especially if those luxuries cost more.

 

[maflynn]

That’s the big killer. If the high computer prices or phone prices were the only high prices. People would still buy them.

Another factor is that during the pandemic, everyone rushed to upgrade their computers to work from home. The demand decreased since people don't need buy over priced computers when their current one is only 2 years old

 

[Queen6]

Another factor is that during the pandemic, everyone rushed to upgrade their computers to work from home. The demand decreased since people don't need buy over priced computers when their current one is only 2 years old

Likely a factor, think ever more have more mounting concerns and for the majority the latest and greatest IT product simply isn't a requirement. The ever presence of diminished repairability & scaling cost may also be a factor for some, either to look to save on future cost upgrades or just to reduce e-waste.

Believe even Apple may see a reduction in the sales of Mac's. What concerns is ever more will force HW upgrades as a function of profit. Admittedly I'd like a new Windows based desktop class notebook, equally unless there's a work imperative today or strong reason in 2023 I don't see the need as what I currently have works for my needs.

I like the AS Mac's a lot being class leading in efficiency, but the inability to run Intel Apps limits their purpose. Own one myself, but the Mac is not as flexible as it once was. I didn't do Boot Camp etc. I created Wrappers x86 apps and they worked. It might come back in time as I know it's being looked at by independent devs.

Q-6

 

[LeeW]

The volume of sales during the Pandemic.
Those figures don't cover the self-build market, it's large.
Remember, I can revive my current PC by changing one of two components not buying a new machine.
Windows laptop owners tend to be more content for longer than Apple users. Although I think with M1/M2 that is changing.

At the next Quarterly report for Apple, I suspect even they are going to see falling numbers. Reduced demand but my last point above is key. Honestly, I think Apple are in a tough place. They have made M1/M2 too good. People really have less reason to upgrade now.

 

[Technerd108]

I'm going to go out on a limb and state that when PC sellers decide to charge upwards of 3,000 to 4,000 dollars for a laptop, and GPU makers gouging customers with GPUS well over 1,500 people are just going to make due with what they have.

I can speak for everyone, but I found the cost of living in 2022 to be wildly expensive, where even treating my family to eating out was something that killed my budget

PC shipments saw their largest decline ever last

View attachment 2140811

I agree about cost of living. Inflation seriously sucks.

That being said it is a kind of odd thing with PC prices right now. It really depends on the device and if you build a desktop certain components are really expensive, cough, Nvidi, cough, but at least in terms of laptops you can find a lot of deals where the price is the same or even less if you monitor sales.

I think the real problem is the economy and inflation has eaten up everyones extra spending just like OP said. If a meal going out to a fast food restaurant costs as much as a fancy restaurant used to cost and groceries cost double what they did a year before. Getting a new car or used car is crazy expensive, bills are all going way up you have nothing left to spend on extra's or even upgrades. If you have something that still works and your budget is really tight why would you buy a big ticket item?

This is why inflation kills the economy and has snowball effects in multiple industries which then hit the consumer in the form of lower pay or lay offs. Covid really started the ball rolling and now it is just gaining more and more speed.

I don't see this trend reversing any time soon either. Unfortunately I think it is only going to get worse for the next year or so.

 

[sracer]

Good reasoning all around already shared in this thread. 👍

I agree there are a bunch of contributing factors to the decline.

The economy certainly is having an impact. In the ChromeOS space, I'm seeing a significant increase in the number of people wanting to do tasks on Chromebooks that are best suited for a desktop OS. Either they needed to buy a laptop and could only afford a chromebook, or they already have a chromebook but want to "make do" with it because they can't justify a Windows laptop (even if they can afford it)... for these folk, Macbooks aren't on their radar.

 

[Technerd108]

Good reasoning all around already shared in this thread. 👍

I agree there are a bunch of contributing factors to the decline.

The economy certainly is having an impact. In the ChromeOS space, I'm seeing a significant increase in the number of people wanting to do tasks on Chromebooks that are best suited for a desktop OS. Either they needed to buy a laptop and could only afford a chromebook, or they already have a chromebook but want to "make do" with it because they can't justify a Windows laptop (even if they can afford it)... for these folk, Macbooks aren't on their radar.

They can always run Linux to accomplish those tasks?

I like Chromebooks but I can get a better spec Windows laptop for less than a comparable Chromebook.

Of course I am not buying a Chromebook with an emmc storage, or Celeron processor of plastic 720p screen.

Acer gaming Chromebook was on sale for $549 with an i5 1240p and 8gb ram and 120hz screen and 256gb ssd one of the few exceptions to my statement above. If I could have afforded it I would have bought it.

But for the same money I have a Windows laptop with better specs and Acer wants $729 MSRP for a Spin 714 with terrible speakers which seems really expensive to me.

We need more Chromebook with better specs for less money than Windows alternative IMHO since as you said you can do more with a full OS.

 

[Queen6]

My older gear runs and it runs well, see no need to pander to likes of Nvidia and their laughable pricing model. As other members have said better to buy a discounted powerful laptop. These companies are just getting too greedy, especially in the current climate...

Over a decade ago Apple was capable of producing a portable that lasted well past the same term. I know as I own one (stock 2011 15"). Today seven years and your done, deliberate and absolute planned obsolescence, but I don't play that game...

My Acer Switch 5 has 8% battery wear, yet it's mostly been run on battery for over six years. The technology clearly exists, but the majority of companies are simply too cheap, too greedy and only seek to serve themselves or the shareholder, having long forgotten the customer. Sooner or later, that's going to bite back hard more so in the coming years...

Q-6

 

[compwiz1202]

This is why inflation kills the economy and has snowball effects in multiple industries which then hit the consumer in the form of lower pay or lay offs. Covid really started the ball rolling and now it is just gaining more and more speed.

This is the worst part. The one time you need more income, they shaft you. They skipped two years and finally gave raises, but that was eaten well before it came by price spikes.

 

[pshufd]

I keep an eye on component prices though I don't watch GPU prices as I'm not a gamer and a six year old midrange card is fine for me. My main metric these days is NVMe storage costs and, right now, a 4 TB 5000 MBPS card is $270 which is a pretty nice price. A 4 TB SATA3 is $240. I spent on a Mac Studio and a 2021 MacBook Pro 16 32/1 and they handle almost all of my computing needs right now. I do need to use my old i7-10700 Windows system from time to time for things that I can't do on macOS.

I would not mind a new build but can't justify it; I'd like the performance but I feel that prices are insane compared to what I paid to build what I currently have.

 

[gpat]

Another factor is that during the pandemic, everyone rushed to upgrade their computers to work from home. The demand decreased since people don't need buy over priced computers when their current one is only 2 years old

I remember outrageous deals on computers during the 2020 lockdown, every inventory was being emptied, notebooks with crappy AMD Carrizo CPUs being bought at full price when you couldn't give them away just 1 month before... printers as well.

Other than that, x86 computers sell less because they just have a longer life, in my household I've been handing down my i5-4250u Macbook and i5-7300u Surface, they work just fine as daily drivers for office use, I can't even think about the usable life of higher powered CPUs like the QM or HQ series.

Of course this excludes the 2016-2019 Macs since they had all kinds of hardware faults...

 

[pshufd]

I think that 2022 marked the year of electric utilities doubling prices (they did Summer 2022 in my area), and people are screaming over $400 - $1,000 power bills during the winter in the Northeast. Computers don't use a huge amount of power but I think that a lot of households have started to look at all of their power consumption and that replacement will be with more efficient parts in the future.