drall
msg:3832265 | 2:59 pm on Jan 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
This has nothing to do with Vista, this is a direct result of the global financial meltdown. My corp purchased 70% less new pc's last year and are scheduled to keep that pace this year.
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simonuk
msg:3832297 | 3:48 pm on Jan 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
The plus being the PC makers are bending over backwards to sell you a computer. I just bought a new, top of the range laptop for £400 less than their RRP and the service getting it to me was flawless.
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maximillianos
msg:3832298 | 3:48 pm on Jan 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
From my perspective I think many consumers have reached a point where they don't need a new PC every few years. More and more applications are moving to the web and run through browsers. You don't need a quad-core monster machine with 4GB of RAM to run a web browser. You might need it to run a slick background on Vista... ;-) Seriously, this is a trend that will continue. Folks don't need so much horsepower any more... hence old machines will work for many more years for what folks need them for... email and web.
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kaled
msg:3832368 | 5:19 pm on Jan 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
Computer hardware is seriously good these days and has been for a while. Were is not for Windows bloatware and certain new devices, most people could manage happily with a five year old computer, maybe even older. I upgraded my sister's desktop over Christmas, replacing a dead dvd-rom drive with a dual-layer dvd-rewriter and increasing the memory from 256MB to 1280 MB : total cost £43.00 (about $60.00). It has a 2GHz Athlon processor and runs XP Home - it should not need replacing for several years even though it only has a 30GB hard disk. Kaled.
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nealrodriguez
msg:3832375 | 5:29 pm on Jan 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
on a related note, from Reuters [reuters.com] Intel to shut sites and cut up to 6,000 jobs | The announcement comes a day after the world's largest maker of microprocessors used in personal computers slashed prices on a number of its chips and a week after it reported a decline in fourth-quarter revenue. |
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it appears the demand is definitely dropping for that quad core super pc.
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grelmar
msg:3832410 | 6:07 pm on Jan 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
| I upgraded my sister's desktop over Christmas, replacing a dead dvd-rom drive with a dual-layer dvd-rewriter and increasing the memory from 256MB to 1280 MB : total cost £43.00 (about $60.00). It has a 2GHz Athlon processor and runs XP Home - it should not need replacing for several years even though it only has a 30GB hard disk. |
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Change that Athlon spec to a P4 @ 2.4Ghz, and you have the basic spec for "dummy proof" systems I send out to friends and relatives in need. I can put the whole thing together for less than $100 Cdn. Although, I also usually put Linux with a nice desktop theme on it, OpenOffice, etc. That way I never, ever get support calls. The things just run and are pretty much bomb-proof. For a web-surfing, email reading, occasional word processing machine, it really does everything it needs to do. The capabilities of the latest machines far outstrip most people's imaginative uses for the things.
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walkman
msg:3832578 | 9:48 pm on Jan 22, 2009 (gmt 0) |
MY PC is 3 (yes, three) years old and works perfectly for what I do.
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Essex_boy
msg:3844934 | 11:34 am on Feb 8, 2009 (gmt 0) |
don't need a new PC every few years- Yep thats a trend ive noticed to, I used to replace my PC every 12 - 18 months, now its looking like every 3 - 4 years.
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