Oh, wow, I had no idea.  That is amazing.  Does seem a bit generious to me, but I admit I didn't do they financial worked on MS they did.

And Sony's Market cap is only $16.7B today.  :/

I think that is/was HP's plan.  Make higher in hardware and sell it low, that doesn't last, and make it nearly impossible to fix.  So it's cheaper just to buy new.

I have a 2 year old 'Sandy Bridge' Asus laptop that I like.

..And what exactly are you going to do if i dont?

Mammyyammy

the PC buisness as the whole is going down

There is a reason they call it the post PC world now

there are so many operating systems now coming out - ChromeOS,FirefoxOS,AndroidOS,WindowsOS,MacOS,LinuxOS

they can restart a new PC buisness with ChromeOS or AndroidOS in the future and still get the $400-500million they are getting from this deal

If you see the PC numbers,the sales are down all along - DELL,HP,SONY,APPLE MAC,etc

and as people are moving towards unified software ecosystems

MICROSOFT - Windows on Phone,Xbox,PC,Tablet

Apple - OSX and iOS on MAC,AppleTV,iPhone,iPad

Samsung - Upcoming BADA OS for their unified system on Galaxy Phone,Galaxy Tablet,SMART TV and probably computers

Google - Android and CHROME OS on PHONE,TABLET,PC,CHROMECAST

SONY - SONY ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK on PLAYSTATION,BRAVIA,XPERIA PHONE,XPERIA TABLET and probably computers

As a whole? Hardly.
Companies who built their business to target PC gamers are actually doing incredibly well like Corsair.
PC gaming is actually on the rise, you only need to look at the Steam statistics and the incredible user growth rate.

Lenovo is still showing growth at the expense of it's competitors.

Are we in a Post-PC world? Sure, but PC's are still required for business's where you need to do real work and gamers who like to play games on the cheap or with no compromises in the image quality and controls department.

Converesly, PC's still sell around 300 million units a year... If Sony isn't able to capture some of that pie (Which can still be very profitable), then it's not the market that's at fault, but Sony's.

Also doesn't help that historically whenever there has been a recession the PC has always taken a bit of a hit, Europe and the USA being the largest markets tanked and took allot of companies with it.

Gaming is in its own bubble right now so i wouldn't bet on the sales to continue after a few more years

Things like Tablet,Smartphone,Game consoles have seen tremendous rise since 2005.This was only possible because of the credit boom and wealth concentration.The bubble burst in 2008 with the financial crisis but was again propped up by bailouts and quantitative easing.

and if you remember most of todays electronics iphone,ipad,ps3,360,wii,hdtv,smart tv's,call of duty,netflix,internet services had a boom since then.

but all those bailouts and quatitative easing are drying up.

we can see by slowing call of duty,pc,consoles,etc sales

some areas are still showing growth but that is at the expense of other things.

also niche areas like high end gaming PC's don't tell us anything about the market as a whole.The PC market is in decline.I am not talking about hardcore gamers or rich guys buying mac's or enthusiast pc's

but buisnesses closing up and jobs being lost having an impact on demand.

also most of today's computing is done on the web except office stuff.so in the future expect Android,Chome,Firefox and other OS's replacing the Windows thing.

Also gamers account for tiny amount of PC sales.

SONY is at fault but they aren't really a mass computer or electronics brands.SONY is more of a luxury and design related electonics brand.

They sell less amount but at higher prices.In the computer world competing with DELL,HP,LENOVO,etc who concentrate on high quatities and specialized products.They just can't compete.

Have you looked at SONY's product.Leaving APPLE,they are the next best in DESIGN in hardware and probabaly software - if you are ready to pay the price.

As the Electronics world is consolidating into different ecosystems,they need to focus their and not in the PC business by bringing all their brands under one ecosystem.

Xperia will be their next Vita

Search the thread he asked to be permabanned then see his new acc a few comments latter saying he came back just to explain one point.

Will think you didn't mind as much as you say. And congratulate you on your staying... unless you want other users to ask it for you =]