News Dell to Layoff 6,650 Employees Amid PC Industry Slump

[Admin]

Dell's latest round of job cuts will result in its lowest global employee footprint over the past six years.

Dell to Layoff 6,650 Employees Amid PC Industry Slump : Read more

 

[10tacle]

I'd like to see a breakdown of these cuts from divisions/departments. For example, years ago Dell bought out the storage data storage and E-prise management company I worked for for many years, EMC. They have a new industry name for it now APEX I believe. Say for example, how many layoffs are between the personal computer/business workstation divisions and the service and management division(s) like the aforementioned?

 

[Baywoof]

No doubt the inflationary cost of components has an impact in sales of new hardware. Another reason for the slower sales is software. Where is that killer app that makes one want to upgrade their computer? Right now, it doesn't exist. Perhaps an artificial intelligence app could make a difference but unlikely. Also, computers have become appliances and most don't change their appliances until they breakdown and need to be replaced.

 

[Deleted member 14196]

PCs have become commodity. There’s still the enthusiast crowd but they’re niche.

I buy a new computer maybe every 10 years based solely on what I need to work and nothing more so I don’t have any concerns about video cards or any other expensive stuff

as a society in the west, we buy too much stuff, especially stuff We don’t need. And other countries suffer because of it—literally surrounded by a sea of garbage.

in the words of Dave Mason, “you shouldn’t have took more than you gave”

View: https://youtu.be/3tsyXWIBGgQ

 

[PlaneInTheSky]

3 factors explain crashing hardware sales imo

1. People who needed to work from home already bought a PC during the pandemic.
2. PC are good enough, there is very little reason to upgrade unless you are a gamer playing at 4k or editing 4k video.
3. PC hardware has become very expensive, which puts pressure on sales. TSMC and Samsung's duopoly are driving up prices of GPU.

 

[TechieTwo]

It's not just the tech industry cutting jobs. The banking industry, auto industry and many more industries are eliminating thousands of jobs weekly.

 

[Rokinamerica]

Yeah, many factors here. Many, like me, bought or, as I did, built a pc when WFH became the thing.

I no longer need anything for my setup. So tech companies, just as any other company, needs to cut labor when revenues start to drop.

 

[RE Photos]

I am a photographer and sales person at a real estate brokerage. My PC at home is 2012 vintage with some inexpensive upgrades. Works fine. My graphics PC at work is a 2015 vintage with some inexpensive upgrades. The home machine probably will go another 2 years. The machine at work will probably replace it. It will be replaced with a friend 2021 vintage machine with minor updates. My broker and I think alike. We are not in business to make PC companies wealthy. If is still sufficient, why replace it? Likewise my camera is a few years old. A Canon 90D DSLR. People ask why I still use the same camera 3+ years? Why did I not go mirrorless in 10/19 when I bought it? We have a substantial investment in lenses. Many are 10+ years old. They outlived the the 60D that was stolen from my trunk. The 70D that replaced it is still used, but not often. Sometimes my broker uses it. That camera is close to 10 years old. Works fine, just needed 4k video.

 

[bit_user]

3. PC hardware has become very expensive, which puts pressure on sales.

My team at work just replaced our desktop machines that we bought in 2017.

The old spec:

• i7-6700
• 32 GB memory
• 512 GB NVMe SSD
• 4 TB HDD
• iGPU graphics
• Price: somewhere between $2100 and $2200 (I don't remember exactly, but definitely in this range)

The new spec:

• i9-12900
• 64 GB ECC memory
• 1 TB NVMe SSD
• 4 TB SATA SSD*
• iGPU graphics
• Price: $1890 + $329* = $2219

Both machines were Dell Precision branded business machines. The 4 TB SSD* was purchased from a separate online store, since Dell adds such a big markup for these things and I'm not sure they even offered a 4 TB SATA SSD option for it.

But, I guess that probably says more about Dell's margins eroding than hardware prices, since we know at least the cost of the CPU and motherboard have gone up.

 

[bit_user]

My current personal laptop is a Lenovo, which I bought (back in 2017) because the Thinkpad brand had a strong reputation for Linux support and I got a sweet deal on an open-box "new" machine.

After Dell's recent announcement that they're transitioning their supply chain away from China, I plan to replace it with a Dell. Unfortunately for Dell, I have no immediate need to replace that machine.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/dell-plans-to-phase-out-chinese-chips-from-pcs-by-2024

 

[bit_user]

Works fine, just needed 4k video.

Ah, and you might find that breaks you. Good image stabilization, autofocus, HDR, modern codecs, and fast transcoding... reasons you might at least need a newer GPU. Maybe a storage upgrades, also.

Anyway, good luck.

 

[KyaraM]

Yeah, I have long-ish upgrade cycles, too. And even then, older machines are usually still used or handed off to family after they truly are no use tk me anymore. Last system was running unchanged as my primary machine from 2017 to 2022. So about 5 years. It was recently upgraded with a 12100 (which trounces the old i5... it's kinda sad) and B660 mainboard, faster RAM and newer NVMEs and will run this or a similar configuration for another couple years. My current system should run another 7 years or so, probably with a GPU upgrade later on, at which point the current GPU goes into the old system for even more longevity.

So, yeah, I think the days of annual system upgrades are over for many people, especially at times like this. Sucks for the people who were laid off, though. Hope they find somwthing new quick.

 

[bit_user]

I think the days of annual system upgrades are over for many people,

It's funny that you would say this, given how rapidly CPU performance has been improving over the past 5 years, compared with the 7 years prior. It's like, now that regular, double-digit generation improvements in CPUs are back, people are now bored with that.

FWIW, I've never in my life done yearly upgrades. I've tended to go 6 or 8 years between wholesale upgrades. I'm just about to pull the trigger on another one.

 

[KyaraM]

It's funny that you would say this, given how rapidly CPU performance has been improving over the past 5 years, compared with the 7 years prior. It's like, now that regular, double-digit generation improvements in CPUs are back, people are now bored with that.

FWIW, I've never in my life done yearly upgrades. I've tended to go 6 or 8 years between wholesale upgrades. I'm just about to pull the trigger on another one.

I think bored is the wrong word, honestly. Unable to beqr the cost is more fitting, with the inflation, mass lay-offs, and high prices everywhere. I personally like following tech developments, but even though it does scratch that "must have" itch, I still reign myself in because I know it might come back to bite me later. I got a very decent main system now, with the 12700K as a base. That will stay high in the rankigs for years to come.

Besides. With some very rare exceptions, 5 year old hardware will still let you play most games reasonably well, and most work machines don't need an i9 if all they do is office. So it doesn't really mean much that CPU performance shot up so much. If it's enough for what you do, why change? It seems like more people made that realization recently. And for most people, what they have now is enough already. That doesn't even factor in the boom of 2020/2021.

 

[Sleepy_Hollowed]

The real aim of all this is to rob tech workers of their new found bargaining motivation and power, and to lower salaries, they'll be using shady language and "we have to do it" for the massive layoffs that will continue from 2022:

https://www.latimes.com/business/te...bring-workers-to-heel?utm_source=pocket_saves

 

[bit_user]

The real aim of all this is to rob tech workers of their new found bargaining motivation and power, and to lower salaries, they'll be using shady language and "we have to do it" for the massive layoffs that will continue from 2022:

I disagree that there's anything unusually nefarious going on. Industry is always looking to keep headcount down and salaries at a minimum. There are a few additional reasons prompting cuts, during lean times:

1. For workers that deal directly with customers or orders, you simply don't need as many people when business is down.
2. Any business unit that no longer has rosy prospects or isn't core to the company's strategy and is making little or no profit is an easy place to cut costs.
3. Anyone working on longer-range projects that aren't strategically vital, or activities that indirectly add value to the business, those are also tempting targets for cost-cutting.

It's also a tempting time to gamble on off-shoring more jobs. Now that remote work has such proven viability, the temptation is probably greater than ever to find cheaper labor, abroad.

Whatever the case, I don't believe there's spite or malice behind it. At least, not beyond the usual internal politics.