Forecasters predict trouble for PC retailers

An article by PCWorld recently documented the recent surge in the laptop sector of the PC market; However, many are saying that very soon we could see sales drop dramatically, due to the large advancements made in computer technology with faster processors, larger hard drives, and cheaper parts…is there hope for a waning computer market?

As technology becomes smaller and less expensive, the advent of WiFi, Blu-tooth and other wireless networking solutions have completely redirected the focus from home-based computing to mobile solutions. It doesn’t come as any surprise that the desktop is becoming obsolete.
However, that doesn’t mean people will abandon their home machines in exchange for a mobile machine; remote desktop clients will undoubtedly thrive as users couple in-home storage capacity with light-weight, multi-faceted portables to get the best of both worlds.

The problem for retailers is actually part of their success; as competition has driven the advancement of modern computing technology to new heights and lower prices, users are finding they no longer need to purchase a new machine each year to really stay with the times.
If users own dual-cored machines with a few hundred gigabytes of storage, a moderate on-board graphics processor and a gig or two of ram, they have more than enough to do nearly everything in the computing realm (excluding high-end graphics editing and game playing.)

To top it off, top notch technology is weighing in at drastically low prices right now. Once users take advantage of the good prices and advanced technology, there will be no necessity for an upgrade in the near future; this puts a serious stint in the computing market’s design of planned obsolescence.
What goes up, most come down; if prices are low and technology is advanced, but retailers aren’t profiting, it seems logical that prices will rise and development will stagnate to resuscitate a dying market.

What’s the moral of the story? Get it while the gettin’s good, because if it is too good to be true, it won’t last for very long.



See TECH>BLORGE's full article here> http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/06/13/forecasters-predict-pc-retailers...

See PC worlds technical opinion here>http://www.pcworld.com/article/132861/pc_shipments_rise_on_notebook_sales.html