Ron Schenone

Will You Be Buying A New PC This Year?

Posted by on Feb 9, 2009 | 6 Comments

According to an article in the Financial Times,  2009 could see the first decline in PC sales in eight years. This year could also be bad for PC makers as their profit margins shrink as more people purchase netbook computers. The articles also goes on to evaluate how an early release of Windows 7 could also have an impact on sales as well.

In the article it states that:

Evidence has been accumulating since the start of the year that the deterioration has reached unexpected parts of the market, with trouble appearing even in some emerging markets, which had previously been seen as the main source of growth.

Other one-off factors have complicated the outlook and could bring more disruption for the traditional PC industry, analysts say. Microsoft appears to be getting ready for an early launch of the next version of the Windows operating system. The Windows 7 operating system, which some in the industry now expect as early as July, may attract new interest from corporate customers who have avoided buying PCs based on the current Vista system.

The fact that the new Windows has been designed to work on less powerful machines could disrupt the normal pattern of rising demand for ever-more powerful computers, warned David Smith, an analyst at Gartner.

So I have a question for you. Will you be buying a new computer this year? Will you be upgrading to Windows 7 this year?

Comments welcome.

Source

  • Den

    ……Thinkin… I’ll . Wait . FUR . Windows . 8 .

  • http://kajayacht.110mb.com/ Andrew D

    Well, in my experience, your average person usually doesn’t upgrade their OS, they figure “New version of Windows?! I’m gonna buy a new computer so I can have it.”

    Now lots of times, yeah their computer wouldn’t be able to run the new version, but generally, your average person will think that it’s extremely hard to install a new OS.

    With Windows 7 though, it’s an interesting situation because the way things seem to be looking, it’ll have the same requirements (or even lower) than Vista.

    Now usually, I’d probably get a new computer just because it’s an easy way to figure when to get a new computer. But I think I’ll be sticking with my current computers and just upgrading to Windows 7.

  • Bruce

    My wife and I just bought new notebooks in 2008 (her Dell thanks to a $500 coupon pass-on from you!). I build my own desktops and the ones I have more than meet my needs. So, nope, no new computers planned until at least 2011 for us. Of course, never say never…..

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Thanks for the comments. Seems that a lot of folks may be passing on a new PC in 2009.

  • http://www.goretsky.com/ Aryeh Goretsky

    Hello,

    For personal use, I typically build my computers and try to plan out the upgrade path so that I can replace components over time. While I do not think I will "buy" a new computer in 2009, it is likely that many of the components inside it today in February will be in other computers by the time December rolls around.

    Regards,

    Aryeh Goretsky

  • http://wp3.lockergnome.com/nexus/blade/ Ron Schenone

    Hello Aryeh,
    I usually do the same thing. But I found that my gaming rig was aging since it had an AGP video display adapter. I just put together a new system over the week salvaging some parts for the new system.

    Have a good week.