Shopping for PCs? This is what you'll be offered in 2016 The personal computer market has been in the doldrums for years, with global sales falling under 300 million a year, slipping nine per cent in 2015 alone. But there are also some rays of light in the market, as Intel's predictions of a sales rebound were confirmed by a nice little bump in sales over Christmas, due in part to …
Interesting one - I'd only ever heard that expressed as the Ship of Theseus, and thought that the "grandfather's axe" thing was from The Fifth Elephant, but I've just googled it and seen that it is a commonly-used variant. Nice little thing to learn at the start of the day.
Sorry, but the last time I built a PC was a long time ago.
In work, I just order 100 of whatever the cheapest model is that meets minimum spec. They arrive, we unbox, we image (don't even boot one up to look at the existing config), we test, we roll-out.
Nobody really cares any more. And for every home PC, I guarantee there are one or even two business PC's (probably more to account for those struggling along on old gear, or upgrading rather than replacing), so the market is there.
And yet, even a site-wide RAM upgrade would suck up so much time that I would have to justify it to "those above". It's probably quicker and easier to just skip a RAM upgrade one year, and buy all new PC's next year, in fact. Less time and effort, and then you can shift the old PC's down to other uses or flog them off to a PC refurbisher.
I honestly can't even remember the last time I had to look up what processors fit in what socket. Buy pre-made, slap it in, even if you end up slapping it in an old case. The problems of homebrew PC's are far more, in business, than just ordering in new kit. And it's less expensive in the long-run. God knows what it would cost to upgrade RAM, processor, motherboard, PSU, all the driver hassles, imaging, testing, etc. compared to just sitting a new one alongside it and moving a hard drive over (which is the SLOW way, I'd just reimage onto the new and switch a couple of PC's around in AD).
Nobody with a brain hand-builds PC's on any kind of scale, nor sits and makes up network patch leads, nor installs software on each PC individually, nor deals with MAK activation keys on an individual basis. Except possibly my predecessor. Who is my predecessor because his lost his job over related issues (spent all the time pontificating over having perfect cables in the cabinets, but forgot to backup or do anything about the failing RAID array in time).
"And yet, even a site-wide RAM upgrade would suck up so much time that I would have to justify it to "those above". It's probably quicker and easier to just skip a RAM upgrade one year, and buy all new PC's next year, in fact. Less time and effort, and then you can shift the old PC's down to other uses or flog them off to a PC refurbisher."
And this one of the primary reasons for the downturn in PC sales. They stay current for longer because the workload is no longer increasing and neither is the PC power. Pretty much any PC bought 4 years ago will very likely still run for at least another year for most office use. The most likely reason for replacing a fleet of PCs now is because their age means the failure rate is on an upward trend. Most of our customers are buying with the 5 year on-site warranty now and even after that, a fair number go into non-essential/occasional user roles where it gets replaced by another old one when it breaks.
"And this one of the primary reasons for the downturn in PC sales. They stay current for longer because the workload is no longer increasing and neither is the PC power. "
Unless of course the main supplier of desktop OS's and the apps that uses t hem rolls out a new monster resource gobbler while shutting down earlier versions.
But why would they do such a thing?
The problems of homebrew PC's are far more, in business, than just ordering in new kit. And it's less expensive in the long-run. God knows what it would cost to upgrade RAM, processor, motherboard, PSU, all the driver hassles, imaging, testing, etc. compared to just sitting a new one alongside it and moving a hard drive over
I think you are confusing two related by different things. The build and deployment, and the in-situ maintenance/upgrade.
To my mind if you are really thinking of deploying a large number of 'homebrew' PC's then you contact a local system builder and get them do the build; its what they are good at. One of the advantages of the 'homebrew' approach, if done well, is that your systems will use standard components, potentially making them easier and cheaper to maintain, or cannibalise for spares. Hence are probably a better investment if you are intending to run them for an extended period of time.
As for the in-situ upgrade/maintenance, there isn't really any significant cost difference between the two approaches and I agree with the strategies you advise to reduce the man-effort involved in keeping systems runnings.
Good luck in building your all-in-one, laptop or convertible... DIY PCs are very good of our basements, but no way most business will rely on them but the smaller or meaner ones, and even then they will rely on PCs build by someone else. Most business want a warranty, and on-site maintenance with spare parts delivery. Also they like uniformity for easier management - and management features.
The computer that is custom assembled (we don't build them) is generally much better than the name-brand you buy. When assembling a machine more control is exercised over the choice of the components. Selecting items that are built to last means cutting through the marketing BS, which can be a time-consuming task. Motherboards that can handle 32 GB or RAM, that use solid capacitors and a larger less-densly populated surface area (no built-in graphics or Audio) generate less heat and better dissipate what it does generate. Cases with good airflow management instead of good "bling" management. Cooling fans with quality bearings that won't fail in place of LEDs that do nothing to add to performance. A power supply with low-ripple in the output voltages, fast RAM, a kick butt CPU (8 cores or better) etc. Enterprise class HDDs (spinning rust) in RAID for data storage, SSD for booting (with a backup image of the SSD stored on the RAID).
If a business wants (or needs, in the case of specialized applications) to spend the money for licensing then by all means do so. I'll install your proprietary software and even manage your licenses and implement an audit program to ensure you adhere to their terms, all for a fee of course. I will not compromise on hardware.
To true Windows 10 is expensive junk and not fit for use. No doubt MS will end support for 10 in the next 2 years and rip off the dumb with Windows 11.
Having recently setup a 10-inch Win10 tablet, I can't agree more - Win10 on a tablet is no competition to iOS or Android - other than in conning people out of their money, because it's UI (on a tablet) is worse than Win8, even the much toted "mobile office" is not particularly finger friendly.
So MS will need to announce a new edition of Windows, for exactly the same reasons it decided to announce 10, namely to distance the new release from Win8/10.
>I'm looking forward to AMDs new line up. Did no one talk about that?
Anandtech have twenty pages about AMD's lineup:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10000/who-controls-user-experience-amd-carrizo-thoroughly-tested
While the major OEMs, such as Dell, HP, Lenovo and ASUS will happily produce several models to fill the gap and maintain relationships with AMD, none of them will actively market a high-profile AMD based device due to the scope of previous AMD silicon and public expectation. If a mid-to-high end device is put in play, numbers are limited, distribution is narrow and advertising is minimal.
Performance per Watt is still on Intel's side.
OEM's only put out AMD at Intel's request to stave off monopoly claims.
OEM's don't want AMD gear anymore. Hence why when you look for a AMD based laptop you'll find the single A10 one hobbled with single channel ram, a 5400rpm HDD, 1366x768 TN screen and yours for £650.00.
All my customers have heard of Intel (the jingle at the end of every Currys ad helps) but none of them know jack about AMD...so they can't be as good can they? Yes AMD, marketing does help!
I'm an old AMD fan but to be honest they are now useless. When a firm knows what's wrong but cant change course even after 10 years, then their time is past.
For laptops, the AMD Carrizo (A-8000) CPU would be my first, second, and third choice. On a laptop, I really don't care about performance per watt. I won't be encoding any audio or video on it. What the Carrizo does that Intel cannot is full H.265 decoding. I want my laptop to be good enough for casual gaming and watching movies when I'm on the go.
For my desktop ... I am excited about the new video cards coming from AMD and NVidia.
"On a laptop, I really don't care about performance per watt."
Unfortunately for AMD, most people actually do care about performance per watt on a laptop as it's tied to the battery life. And where 2h battery wife might be acceptable to some, nowadays people tend to expect full working day of 8+ hours on battery charge for office load.
Performance per watt is different than actual wattage. Yes, I care about the wattage. But on a laptop, I have more things I care about than the performance. The tasks I do on my desktop are different than on my laptop, so I don't need the extra performance of Intel CPU's on my laptop. My desktop will be Intel. Unless AMD Zen is a game changer.
However, what I worry about most is lack of competition.
However, what I worry about most is lack of competition.
Yes, I worry too. I worry that AMD hasn't tendered a competitive processor since the mid-noughts.
Intel Core M chips draw 4.5 watts, max, and comfortably outperform AMD's 15 watt competitors in most computing benchmarks.
Granted, the AMD chips cost half as much. But as RAM and SSD eat up an ever larger portion of the total cost of a PC, the AMD cost advantage is diminished.
I loved AMD back when they were the technically superior chip maker. But they havent just fallen behind; AMD is mowing the grass alongside the track.
Because they are so far behind in x86-64, have not even lifted a finger on mobile and are so horrifically in debt, I believe they will soon be dead, without even the hope pf becoming the target of acquisition. AMD's few valuable patents will sold at pennies to the winds. Done. No more AMD.
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So, it's time to upgrade to the next version of Adobe's somewhat less than slimline Lightroom. I am still living in the back of beyond where the download speed is neither barely registering or I am forced to use my 15GB/month 3-Network dongle.
And they say that no-one needs to load software from disc?
I find it's useful sometimes to have the discs handy for one's paid for applications. It's nice to know that there is a more mechanical backup, i.e. the orginals, nearby.
It's precisely that approach which has me looking out over parkland this week with pheasants wandering through the topiary, last week towards Glastonbury Tor, before that somewhere in Cornwall, before that over the sea, the moors, woodlands, the Brecon Beacons, Snowdonia, etc., etc..
And the best bit: no Cloud computing!
Oh, and does your car have a cocktail cabinet the size of a tea chest? :)
> I am living, travelling and working on my motorhome with my own network on board
It's possible that you may not be the target market of large OEMs line Dell or Lenovo. Dropping the DVD drive let's them bring the per unit costs down by £20. Less to screw in, less SATA cables, less power cables as well. They can then either drop the price or bump the CPU or RAM or a slightly larger monitor over their competition.
Then again, perhaps the strategy of chasing the motorhoming system administrator market may go someway in explainiy HP's profit figures?
It's possible that you may not be the target market of large OEMs line Dell or Lenovo.
Yes, but as long as someone is, Sharwood's "nobody needs" is at best hyperbole, if not an obnoxious generalization. I know I get tired of having industry writers tell me what I do or do not want or need.
I re-purposed my SATA DVD connector in my desktop, to add an additional SSD, as I was short of cables at the time. Figuring once I'd got hold of a few more SATA cables, I'd hook the DVD back up.
Must have been 10 months before I remembered the DVD still wasn't connected to anything inside the case, and that was only as I was trying to rip an audio CD! Press eject button, nothing, me "Huh?", 3, 2, 1, brain engages, "Ah...".
I just plugged in a USB DVD writer/Blu-ray reader I'd bought a while back for use on an old ION PC that for some reason didn't like installing an OS from USB.
Still haven't bothered hooking the SATA drive up, don't think I ever will now.
Even if they work, 64Bit unsigned Vista/7/8/8.1 drivers are a pain in Windows 10,
To use them you need to hold down shift while selecting restart.
On reboot, select Troubleshoot, Advanced Options, Start-up Settings.
Then Restart again,
Then select F7 - Disable driver signature enforcement. (Even though confusingly its marked as 7), so for most people they select the key 7 and nothing happens, its F7/Function Key 7, which may also need enabling via your keyboard, before you can use)
Yep, nice and easy Microsoft. Holding F8 on boot was a lot, lot easier.
It would be nice to disable enforcement for certain drivers, not all, as is the case.
Its basically a botch job. Even 'lock-down' Apple is easier in this regard.
There are many, many options for laptops with high resolution screens. You do, however, need to spend more than £50 on your laptop to benefit from this. The real issue is that buyers started spending less and less on laptops, not that specs really dropped (although they did for a short while). If you spend the £1000 a good laptop has always cost then you'll get plenty of memory, good CPU, smaller form factor, better screen and best of all a 10 hour battery life that actually lasts all day unless you're gaming. This is definitely an area where you get what you pay for.
"There are many, many options for laptops with high resolution screens. You do, however, need to spend more than £50 on your laptop to benefit from this."
True, happy to do that. I also want != 16:9, currently the only way to get that is an eyewateringly expensive mac or surface. I could be persuaded to spend that much but I will absolutely NOT do so on something with limited or niche I/O, is non upgradable and non repairable.
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