Consumer PC sales growth declines for first time ever: iPad the culprit?

Anyone else notice the chart says Dec '11?

Actually, I'm surprised PC sales haven't gone up due to how easy it is to enter the hackintosh community versus where it was a couple years ago. (In fact, I just *built* my first PC from scratch to create a system that is both faster and cheaper than even Apple's highest end Mac Pro desktops... something I would never have bothered trying for windows or linux.)

It'll be a sad end to an era when hackintosh building is no longer practical, much like it was when we saw companies like Power Computing stop producing Mac clones at the end of the 90's. (Aside from my hackintosh setup, the PowerTower Pro was easily the highest quality system per dollar spent on a Mac OS system I've ever owned...)

i suspect that the slowdown is more likely caused by changes in big corporations' purchasing patterns and changes in IT infrastructure decisions: large companies are breaking the 1.5 yr refresh cycle thru increased penetration of virtualization. where i used to see companies with 100% PC deployment, i'm now seeing virtualized windows beginning to be be deployed to any employee not requiring a power machine. if they use a PC primarily for MS Office, Outlook, and IE they really don't need a real PC anymore. While this trend only appears to be beginning at the biggest multinationals, i expect that the others are attempting to extend their hardware refresh schedule in anticipation.

Individuals no longer need to purchase their personal Windows machines in order to remain compatible with those employers' systems: virtualized office systems work just as well on Macs (since NetBSD was designed specifically to support shared services), and Macs are far sexier than Windows machines.

That's probably far more significant than the availability of ipads.

The ipad isn't causing a PC sales slowdown, If anything, my ipad made me appreciate my laptop MORE. Having a real keyboard and being able to view my screen hands free on my lap was missed with my ipad. Who wants to type on that horrid glass keyboard?

The real problem is that most people use their PC's to write e-mail or use Microsoft Excel/Word. And that's if they even do any real work. You don't need a quad core processor for that.

Face it Bill Gates. You've been trying to get people to create video's and edit photo's for years. 90% of the population finds that to be drudgery slightly less painful than doing their taxes.

The real reason PC sales are declining is because there are so many people outof work, they can't afford a brand new PC everything M$ jacks up the price of Windows and makes 14 versions. Consumers are looking for cheaper alternatives, of which the iPad and Netbooks are the alternatives. Businesses are built around Win XP and XP is still fast and works well for the cube farmers and to upgrade to Win 7 is a licensing nightmare along with thousands in new hardware, just to run Win 7, which businesses are refusing to spend. It's a case of don't fix it if it isn't broken for business. So no, the iPad is NOT the DIRECT cause of PC sales declining.

I think the iPad is one of many factors... mainstream gamers are getting their fix from XBOX, PS3, Wii... and don't want to deal with the hassles of a desktop PC for games... desktop hardware has reached a point of marginal returns for upgrades... Duke Nuke Em at 425fps?... For most people, computers have become 'the internet'... and right now the internet doesn't need a quad-core 8GB ram PC to run... on the flip side, the iPad has enough power for what was a workload for a desktop 2 years ago (Garage Band, iMovie).

A lot of people do 90%+ of their 'internet' on their phone... it's not a giant leap to see tablets pushing this higher

Call me crazy but I think it has alot to do with Macs as well as iPads.

But you need a computer in order to set the iPad up and to back it up and to upgrade the iOS. the iPad is great, but until Apple frees it from iTunes we'll always need a computer.

Instead of asking people who do not have the means to determine the answer, why don't you figure it out for us and REPORT to us what the answer is. That's your job as a journalist isn't it?

I replaced my MBP with an iPad, and I use it much more than I ever did a laptop. The laptop was always my "what if I have to do some work while not at home" device, but the reality is, I hardly ever go anywhere when I have work that needs done. I think I'd be more inclined to find ways to make the iPad work for my needs the few times a year that I may need to work remotely, rather than buying a $2000 laptop that just sits around most of the time.