Yeah I was just looking at laptops recently. It's a dying market. Netbooks are gone. Windows tablets just aren't there to replace them yet (They're either too crappy or too high end. Plus they're all just expensive). I really wonder who's going to be left standing when its all said and done.

Fully agree. Windows 8 and new consoles coming out soon have delayed my interest in buying a new pc. My 4 year old pc is fine for the occasional pc game I play and for internet browsing I still use an 11 year old xp laptop.

Killer-apps first indeed. Star citizen with Oculus rift will get me back on board. Anyway pointless buying a new pc right before new consoles come out, better wait until a year after before upgrading.

I think the main issue is that people have stopped buying notebook/laptop/netbook computers. Those used to be the big sellers, but now people are buying iPads and Kindle HD's or my favorite Samsung Galaxy Notes.

What will be interesting to see is if Windows 8 Pro tabs catch on. They are the best of both worlds. Run all the same apps from both Windows PC and Windows Mobile. Play Angry Birds and Diablo 3. I want one even though I don't need it.

Unfortunately I think it's going to be a slow burn for MS. Too many people are locked into their iOS or Android app store purchases. MS was late to the party and even though they came with the better product people are still happy with their limited use tablets and have been convinced yet that they need more.

I think business will change this. Tablets are replacing computers in businesses around the world, but businesses still want to use MS Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc. Windows 8 gives you both a tablet and a work computer. At your desk you type a report from a dock and a real keyboard and mouse with a larger desk monitor. At lunch play some Cut the Rope with the touch interface. Away from work you answer emails with a fold out keyboard or teleconference from vacation.

Once people figure out that they do in fact need more than an Angry Birds player with Twitter support I think Windows 8 tablets will start to fly off shelves.

is this just pc or laptops too? if its pc no suprise. if its laptops too I am suprised

The blurb mentions ultrabooks, so it's implied to include laptops. Which is not surprising, a lot of laptop sales would have been netbooks, which have largely been superceded by ubiquitous tablets.

I recently bought an almost netbook which was very, very cheap, to replace my old netbook. The new netbook appears to be on par with my five-year old AM2 PC, which is more than sufficient for light gaming and normal PC tasks.

I guess I'd fall into that yes? I build pcs and if it's portable I use iPad.

What about how easy... and cheaper it is to BUILD it. It's like putting legos together man. I never joined the PC Gaming scene until last year. 

People have been building PCs for decades. In fact, the very first PCs had "some assembly required." It hasn't suddenly, just now, dropped the bottom out of the PC market. Even if it were, people aren't building their own laptops, which have been the growth sector of the PC market for quite some time now. 

Those who are talking about how a five year old PC can run just about anything people want to run are closer. PCs have been over serving the needs of most users for a while now. And what happens when a market gets over served...?

for the same cost as a pre built system you can build a much better speced PC and not have tons of software you'll never use clogging up the minimal HDD space available, even on a budget a self built PC can be more powerful than pretty much any sub $500 PC, people are starting to see around mass manufactured PC's and are building their own.


a few years ago i was looking at alienware thinking is this the only way to get a highend gaming PC, now i currently own a very highend gaming PC that i built my self where as if i had bought alienware it would have cost a heck of a lot more, total spent just over $2400 (http://pcpartpicker.com/p/M9h9) where as for the same spec alienware your would be looking at over $4000, people are getting sick and tired of companies ripping them off and dont think that mac's are getting popular, apple will have to reduce the cost of their hardware or they'll price them selves out of the market.

I think the problem is on the application side of things. There is not much the general public wants that needs enough power to justify regular upgrades.