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Opinion: Can You Blame the PC Crash on the iPad?

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No.
The tablet is for people who will use a PC for basically accessing the Internet; they couldn't care less about the specs of a PC.
There are some things that just can't be done with a tablet, so PC's will, most probably, never completely go out.
Same is with the case of upgrading old PCs, when the same system can handle the latest software / games (If it ain't broken, don't fix it!).
 
My mom checks her e-mail, very occasionally checks Facebook (for her grandkids) checks prices of stuff and occasionally surfs online. If that was ALL she did, then a tablet would suit her just fine. I am anti-apple not because of who they are but because of their micro-control of they environment and huge cost of equipment. So I would have her get a nice Android tablet. However she does alot of bookkeeping, Office stuff so her PC is a necessity. So a tablet is what it is, an augmentation of the PC, nothing more. I myself do not own a tablet, sure would love to get one though, but I would never pay 500 for one, 200 yes. Hell I even rooted my GPS just to use the internet on it while on the road... before I got my super nice ANDROID phone :)
 
Another article that's only some (poorly) masked Apple commercial from Gruener.
Growth is not a crash.
PCs that are so stable they do not need to be replaced every 6 months are not a failure.
OP that claims not to be an Apple advocate while comparing apples with oranges is.. an Apple advocate.
Tablets and PCs target different audiences. They both serve different needs (see above apples and oranges).
The ONLY positive thing I can foresee coming from tablet development is that they will increasingly be cloud-reliant, otherwise more and more powerful hardware will be needed, requiring more and more "juice" to power them up. They would become notebooks/laptops, hence PCs, thus negating their portability advantage. This increasing cloud reliance will put some pressure on the DATA providers (cell companies, mostly), and the logical move should be that data access becomes again unlimited and reasonably priced (like it started a few years ago). Companies that will offer capped data packages will go into oblivion, as they deserve.
That would be the day when we in the States join the rest of the civilized world in that respect.
 
Oddly enough, IDC forecasts that even though growth has slowed this year the market will jump again over the next 4 years from 356 million to 535 million in 2015.

THERE
IS
NO
PC
CRASH

DO NOT BELIEVE THE LIES
 
[citation][nom]dickcheney[/nom]I dont think one can call 3.8 percent growth a ''crash''...A slow down of growth? Sure. Everybody and their dog have PCs, its normal that the thing will flatten at some point. Tablets are simply opening NEW markets.[/citation]

Well its doom prophet Wolfgang writing, always take his "journalism" with ten grains of salt like everyone else. He just try to get alot of attention and don't have anything better to do than upset a crowd with the big words backed with absolute nothing. I wouldn't call a growth a crash, especially not if i would been a so called journalist!
 
What have happened to Toms Hardware, really? The journalism quality have gone from pretty darn good to more of a crack-heads quality in just a year. There are still good quality at times like sb-e but then comes articles like this where a so called writer even claims a crash of a market while its indeed growing is scandalous, who paid for this - seriously?
 
[citation][nom]amk-aka-phantom[/nom]We're being trolled again. The whole point is to get us used to the idea expressed in the title. I can count at least 5 articles in the last few weeks which had the same BS in them.[/citation]


VERY OBSERVANT...and as usual correct! This whole method reminds me of the 9/11 terrorist crap....constant repetitive drone from the media of fear, fear, and more fear, very obvious brainwashing techniques. I guess the tech industry is taking a page from the MIC!
 
Saying that a 3+% increase is equivalent to "going down in flames" is typical bullsheizer media "PLEASE READ ME" nonsense.

The PC industry still has a massive market. It's just that there are other styles/form factors that are in the market now. Lots of people still like a super fast PC, even if it is overkill for everyday tasks. Lots of tasks still run a lot easier/more smoothly on PCs.

Media companies/writers that/who write these kinds of phrases really disappoint me.
 
iPad is helping with the downturn but in perhaps miniscule amounts.

The real culprit I suspect are the global recession and the simple fact that almost every household now has several machines.
a) The global recession obviously means most people have less disposable income. The downturn's been especially severe in the US - our (Canadian) news often illustrate the dire situation of the US for that matter. I can't see people buying a new PC if they're lining up around the block to hunt for a job.

b) The overabundance of PCs in most homes mean people don't need to buy it so often. Especially with modern (
 
Don't underestimate the lack of easy credit from Dell, BestBuy et al to people who can't afford a new computer but happily bought one when credit was given away at stores, online or onstreet.
 
I agree with what most are saying. People have what they need, thus the stagnation (though I wouldn't call it a crash). From 3.1 to 95 there were huge hardware requirements (at the time), then again for ever release up until Vista. Then from Vista there was a huge demand for graphics processing as everything went HD capable. But now even new netbooks can do 1080p output on a secondary screen, as well as tablets and phones. All current requirements are met, so now the war will be one of replacement when things die, and gaining that business with efficiency and invisibility of the devices purchased.

What we need on the high end is a new space race to keep innovation coming. And on the consumer end we would need quad HD, but even that wouldn't keep things going for long. Basically until the consumer gurus can come out with the next must have bloat that requires monster processing then things will level off for a bit.
 
PC industry is getting boring let's face it. I frequently visit three website, dpreview for camera, macworld for apple stuff, and tomshardware for PC stuff. The past half year I have felt Toms is getting less and less in the hardcore hardware stuff, like benchmarking, cutting edge powerful stuff you know (I assume a reflection of less and less exciting innovation coming from the PC field). And open any bestbuy flyer and checkout the PC or Laptop section, beside components, anything different from a flyer a year ago? two years ago? nothing!

I think PC industry, if want continued growth, could learn a thing or two from the camera industry. Basically the camera companies is producing self-contained computers to do one thing: taking photo. Take Canon for example, they make their CPU (the sensor), the hardware (the camera body and lens) and software (the camera system). All by themselves, then they can have a lot of play. Apparently every two years or so a new sensor is developed they can put it in a new model of camera and you would want to buy that; but they never make use (I believe they try not to) of the full potential of the sensor for the first gen of that sensor. They tweak the software to lure you to upgrade. They tweak the hardware (giving you bigger screen, flip out LCD, bigger OVF, etc. ) to lure you to upgrade.

Unfortunately PC industry wasn't shaped up this way, PC manufactures really just have one line of business, putting stuff together. everyone is the same using the same components, same OS, same bundled software etc. That's why apple is doing better for now as they at least have a say in their OS, bundled software, and kinda in the hardware (mainly casing I guess but form factor also counts). Imagine each computer manufacture has similar model to Apple, it would be like camera world. Lots of people actually jump ship often or use multiple systems because from gen to gen certain innovation from different camera brands catch their attention. It's easy for camera industry to do as their output are the same and just one thing: a jpg photo (or raw).
 
@ forrestsun: unfortunately, your camera comparison is not underlining your argument. Everyone knows that you keep a good decent camera body and upgrade the lenses. This is pretty much how PCs work: they live from upgrades. As far as your suggestion to where the PC industry should head, that would be a disaster in real world. Imagine a situation where 90% of the people use different software solutions for their needs. These would not be cross-compatible, rendering a file created on one PC unusable on any other PC that does not have the same brand name on it. Creating standards leads to little variability, and that's why you can read a document written somewhere else. There are a few OSes out there that serve as a canvas for a few different programs, but cross-compatibility is a must. That's why PCs are so alike: after years/decades of R&D they have achieved maximum of cross-compatibility (including upgradeability) with minimum expense, i.e. the form-factor is very efficient. You don't want to live in a world where you can't upgrade your PC made by brand A because the peripheral you would like is made by brand B and hence not compatible. Look what happens with the Mac users: they are locked in a world where they pay premiums for 'meh' hardware, and they can not escape that unless they are willing to bend some rules imposed by Apple (including, but not limited to voiding the warranty on their machines).
 
its NOT a "PC crash" its a WINDOWS crash.
afterall macbooks are PC and are selling better each year.
people used windows, beacause they need to use it, since iphone, android, ipad, people finally can live without windows, so windowx its in a free fall, not the pc market.
too bad for hp, dell, etc who sold their souls and brand to microsoft, all associate windows to dell and hp, so i hardly see them survive the WINDOWS CRASH.
 
I blame the PC crash on Windows 7. Windows 7 is fast enough to run in an old Pentium 4 PC for your everyday Internet browsing, emails ... the basics.
 
Being in the business i can tell you no it's not the tablet the low sales are due to market saturation everyone that wants a computer has one , only people that are buying are machines that broke down or damaged due to flood/fire/theft.
It is also the poor economy people are holding on to what they have so far i have not seen anyone in area i live with a tablet.
 
I also think that you have to take into account how powerful computers are and that people are able to hold onto them longer than they were in the past. My amd 955 with 8gigs of ram and a radeon 6800 are not that new and suit my needs as a power user quite nicely (am enjoying a brand new ssd though). The average user can hold onto their computer for four years now and guys like me are wringing two out of our rigs.
 
I don't even need to read this article to tell you that a recession seems more pertinent than the iPad. If you compare iPad sales to PC sales (both Apple PCs and PCs) you will quickly notice how ill-informed your article is.
 
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