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PC Shipments Saw 10-12% Decline in Q1 2020 Due To Coronavirus (venturebeat.com) 28

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
After years of bad news, PC shipments saw growth in 2019. Now the coronavirus crisis is cutting the celebration short. From a report: The PC market fell between 9.8% and 12.3% in Q1 2020, according to research firms Gartner and IDC. Gartner's numbers indicate the drop was the "sharpest decline since 2013, due to the COVID-19 outbreak," while IDC said the "stark decline" was the result of "reduced supply due to the outbreak of COVID-19 in China, the world's largest supplier of PCs." The PC market saw six years of quarterly PC shipment declines, followed by mixed quarters in 2018 and 2019. Last year was more good than bad: Q1 was negative, while Q2, Q3, and Q4 were positive.
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PC Shipments Saw 10-12% Decline in Q1 2020 Due To Coronavirus More

PC Shipments Saw 10-12% Decline in Q1 2020 Due To Coronavirus

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  • Something isn't adding up (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Voyager529 ( 1363959 ) <voyager529@yahoo.cUMLAUTom minus punct> on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @11:56AM (#59945936)

    Once the shelter-in-place orders hit, it was impossible to find a laptop at Staples, Best Buy, or Microcenter. Ordering from our Dell sales rep at work, we were getting 4-8 week lead times for Optiplex orders, even for just a handful of machines. It seemed that the entire free world was coming to the realization that they couldn't work from home using their iPads and cell phones, and were replacing their aging desktops and laptops all at once.

    So, I figure it two ways: either this report is coming from higher up in the supply chain (and Q2 is going to spike), or a whole lot of people are looking for writeoffs.

    • Re:Something isn't adding up (Score:5, Informative)

      by alvinrod ( 889928 ) on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:11PM (#59945972)
      Most of the PC manufacturers try to keep a pretty tight supply line and limit the product in the distribution channel to a few weeks or a month at most because they don't want months worth of old products that they'd need to discount in order to move piled up at retailers. So the reality is that even though everything was getting bought out, it only represented maybe 3 weeks worth of supply and if the manufacturers are themselves constrained they're making fewer laptops themselves.
    • Never report good numbers when there are bailouts to be had.

    • Once the shelter-in-place orders hit, it was impossible to find a laptop at Staples, Best Buy, or Microcenter.

      I wanted to get better monitors, they were sold out at multiple places. I suspected it was due to demand from newly remote workers.

      That said, maybe the declines are due to reduced corporate purchasing

    • Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:22PM (#59946044)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • And it's not just the workforce. The schoolroom is being replaced by the screen. Here, Google Classroom is replacing the Little Red Schoolhouse.Public monies fund the schools (to varying degrees of adequacy), but I haven't heard of any schoolboard declaring that PCs and internet connectivity are entitlements for everybody under 18.

      As someone who's done a bit of adult ed and course development, I'm skeptical aboiut how well this will work out. Teachers can ride herd over students when they can watch them. Th

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Once the shelter-in-place orders hit, it was impossible to find a laptop at Staples, Best Buy, or Microcenter. Ordering from our Dell sales rep at work, we were getting 4-8 week lead times for Optiplex orders, even for just a handful of machines. It seemed that the entire free world was coming to the realization that they couldn't work from home using their iPads and cell phones, and were replacing their aging desktops and laptops all at once.

      So, I figure it two ways: either this report is coming from higher up in the supply chain (and Q2 is going to spike), or a whole lot of people are looking for writeoffs.

      As somebody who works for a company that makes money every time 90% of the worlds desktops, laptops, and servers are sold I can tell you right now that March was a record month for units sold in ~40 years of company history. We are having a record year. My personal experience in trying to buy a new computer during this time coincides with this - you can't get a laptop right now without a wait.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Dell (and I assume others too) operate via just-in-time inventory. So once their supply chains dry up, their inventory is quick to follow.
    • plus Dell having a shortage of business laptops. Newegg's got plenty of laptops to sell you. And there's still no shortage of refurbs out there off lease from businesses. Meanwhile a lot of the demand was probably coming from new businesses, a lot of which are on hold right now.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Once the shelter-in-place orders hit, it was impossible to find a laptop at Staples, Best Buy, or Microcenter. Ordering from our Dell sales rep at work, we were getting 4-8 week lead times for Optiplex orders, even for just a handful of machines. It seemed that the entire free world was coming to the realization that they couldn't work from home using their iPads and cell phones, and were replacing their aging desktops and laptops all at once.

      So, I figure it two ways: either this report is coming from highe

  • I call BS (Score:5, Interesting)

    by bitbiter ( 632065 ) on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:11PM (#59945976)
    I work at a local PC shop, we've seen better sales so far this year. It's been better than the last couple of christmas seasons, better than the back to school or tax rushes of the last couple of years.
  • Weird. I would expect a rise - all those people finding out that the kids cannot do their "remote" homework on a tablet.

    I had to assemble two more rigs out of spare parts for various "special" cases like some of their activities which are now online.

    • Re:That's weird (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Junta ( 36770 ) on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:27PM (#59946082)

      Two issues:
      -Corporate demand pretty much flatlining. Most companies just paused purchasing to wait this thing out.
      -Factories shut down. Even if there is demand, lots of the usual factories had to shut down, so stores sold out but could not be restocked.

  • Running out of Windows 7 users to upgrade (Score:3)

    by xack ( 5304745 ) on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:19PM (#59946022)
    Most organizations who wanted to upgrade already have and the rest don't care about the lack of support or are paying for ESUs. Plus intel is stuck on 14nm so there is no perceivable performance increase with newer CPUs on Windows 10 machines.

  • I'm the only person (Score:3)

    by maxrate ( 886773 ) on Tuesday April 14, 2020 @12:40PM (#59946144)
    When I read these articles on /. about the "decline of the PC" - I feel like I'm old an obsolete for using a desktop. I find notebook computers physically awkward. I like my big displays and a dedicated work desk with a full size mouse and keyboard. I have an iPad, and notebook computers that are high end - but I always gravitate to the desktop. How is this going the way of the dinosaur? I've tried working on the couch with the notebook - it sucks.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      When I read these articles on /. about the "decline of the PC" - I feel like I'm old an obsolete for using a desktop. I find notebook computers physically awkward. I like my big displays and a dedicated work desk with a full size mouse and keyboard. I have an iPad, and notebook computers that are high end - but I always gravitate to the desktop. How is this going the way of the dinosaur? I've tried working on the couch with the notebook - it sucks.

      What you said and a laptop are not mutually exclusive. A lot

      • I would still say the desktop PC is cheaper. If you build it yourself, you can get quality parts for about the same price as a laptop, and it's much easier to upgrade things. Sure if you get a prebuilt machine you will end up with a bad power supply, but if you get a basic laptop you will end up with something you will have to junk in 4 years. I bought my last desktop 5 years ago and it's still going strong and it only cost me $600. Nothing has broken on it, but even if something did, I could replace th

      • Not saying there aren't crappy desktops. I've found the cheap laptops to be really shoddily made. Especially if you intend to use them as a portable device, they fall apart really quickly. Power connectors, hinges, and keyboards are weak spots. Plus if you have to type on them, the built-in keyboards are almost always terrible.

        If you need a cheap computer for general office work, some of the mini desktops from Dell and Lenovo seem hard to beat. They are basically laptop parts in a small form factor and

    • I don't feel awkward using what works ergonomically. I have no respect for the herd (and after seeing who it elects to office no one else should either).
      The articles are clickbait.

    • First of all, docking stations.

      But for real work (defined as work requiring a proper setup?), you are correct, a proper setup cannot be beat. (For me that's a docking station, a kvm, dual monitor, a desktop, and other standard kit - keyboard mice light etc.

  • I mean I work from home with the laptop that I got as soon as I started which I bet is what a lot of people are doing. However I was planning on buying a new desktop and I'm pushing that off.(Since I might need the money for my mortgage.) I won't be surprised if plans to upgrade laptops at my work also got pushed off to the future.

  • and not sales in the US. Sure there was a recent up-tick in sales due to people working from home. But the article is talking about shipments out of China which were reduced in Q1 due to the corona virus.

  • Anyone with a work computer/laptop pre-COVID was able to work from home anyway.

    Anyone who PC games already has their rig.

    No one is going to buy a new PC when the economy is shut down and household income threatened, even with a stimulus.

    But I'd wager that more people would be buying a new phone/tablet to weather the quarantine.

  • there are lots of reasons to NOT buy a WinTel device. ARM CPU getting as powerful as Intel? AMD chipsets have more PCIe lanes and more cores than Intel? Windows 10 is not what consumers or IT asked for?

    Maybe they all purchased iPad Pro's and have no need for another desktop or WinTel device. VMware showed us that we have has so much CPU power since Nehalem that we can run a virtual desktop fast enough that users can't tell the difference between VDI and a Fat Desktop. AMD was the vendor that brought so

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