back to article PC mountain accumulates in Blighty

PC vendors' shipments into the UK channel slid by more than a fifth in Q2 as distributors wrestled with high inventory levels, particularly on Acer. Sales into wholesalers fell 22 per cent year-on-year to 2.23 million units, according to IDC data with declines seen across all market segments. "The channel thinks it will take …

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  1. jake Silver badge

    What do "sales" and "marketing" expect?

    Computers are ubiquitous. What worked yesterday still works today.

    So why buy new kit? Just to keep up with the neighbor's spending habits?

    Apple using mouth-breathers excepted, as always, of course ...

  2. paulc
    Megaphone

    Make do and mend...

    when people and/or businesses are squeezed in their pockets... they cut back... delay purchases... consider business cases for just upgrading rather than replacement... hunt up items on the secondhand market... it's the economy stupid...

  3. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    For Acer there is no Business Replacement

    Acer are a consumer business. Consumer spending is extremely low so that is why they are struggling.

    Business couldnt care less about Acer.

  4. Tom 7

    They could always try

    reducing prices to the same they are abroad, and don’t force MS on people - that should knock another £50-£70 off. Then people might consider upgrading.

    I'd like to upgrade my 7 year old laptop but despite all the bullshit since I don’t play games the only advantages in spending over 400 notes would be a power lead that doesn’t come loose, and wifi that doesnt stick out the side. That's a lot of money to spend to run a copy of vista or w7 I dont want.

  5. Gotno iShit Wantno iShit
    Unhappy

    Grrr - Acer product manager = twunt

    We used to replace or Acer latops every 2 years regular as clockwork. The current crop is 3.5 years old because they don't make suitable replacements any more.

    *Every* laptop Acer make has a movie screen aspect ratio. This means you have to put up with shit vertical resolution or a laptop that is only slightly smaller than France. Oh and wanting one that isn't shiny enough to use as a shaving mirror doesn't half slim the options.

    Acer are not alone with this blinkered approach, the only 4:3 ratio laptop of decent spec I can find is an Apple and none of the proprietary software we use runs on that. I'm close to looking at getting iMacs, changing the drives (just in case) and attempting a self install of Win7. Driver fun me thinks.

    1. JB
      Happy

      Like

      Twunt - definitely adding this to my vocabulary! :)

  6. Hayden Clark Silver badge
    Happy

    So where are the cheapie-dumped Acers then?

    I don't see any last-years Acers for buttons, like we was promised!

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Acers

    Maybe they've got high stocks because all the current Acers are crap?

    A quick browse round PC worlds reveals tacky kit, hideous to behold, cheap to the feel and with zero innovative features or useable specs.

  8. Trev 2

    Agree with AC - Acers are crap

    Had 3 of them in the last year (one was a education funded one) and all 3 broke down, were non-upgradeable and slower than my much older Dell laptop. And that's when they were actually running and not crashing.

    Also know a couple of other people who've got Acer's and they say the same thing with constant problems from day dot. Maybe the world is finally realising that Acer = total garbage.

  9. jason 7
    FAIL

    You do have to wonder at Acer etc. sense of 'style'

    You look at some of the kit these manufacturers put out and you wonder how they even dress.

    Dreadful colour choices. Shiny greasy plastics, lumpy looking sides due to port mouldings, glossy 16:9 screens that make the 1200x800s we all moaned about 5 years ago look amazing, fussy looking on/off/media buttons, chrome look plastic anywhere. The list goes on.

    Less is more folks.

    1. truetalk
      Linux

      Pc or tablet

      I can't comment on Acer's PCs or laptops but I do have an Android Acer A500 tablet and like its style and have no issues with its functionality either hardware or its implementation of Android. I'm impressed with it.

      1. gerryg

        add Acer Aspire One

        My Aspire One was running Linpus now running openSUSE 11.4 and KDE 4.6.5 still going strong, extra RAM thanks to El Reg guide, new keyboard £12 (space bar mysteriously stopped working), battery now a bit fscked, otherwise great.

    2. Danny 14

      aye

      usually we refresh every 3 years (rolling replacement over 500 machines). Thing is, our 3 year old dells are fine. Dual cores with 2gb RAM running (now) W7. No intention of swapping them out. Break fix only for the next tranches.

  10. cmaurand
    Linux

    You're surprised?

    With business virtualizing all of those desktops, you're surprised that PC sales are down? You'll sell lots of monitors and thin clients in the short run and lots of nothing (for hardware) in the long run. You'll still sell machines for developers, servers and tablets. I can VPN in, and jump on my virtual desktop from my iPad/Galaxy/Touchpad. Even better, I can do that from the cafe or a bench in the park.

  11. LittleTyke

    Build your own

    It's what I've done. Take your existing computer case, buy a motherboard, RAM and a CPU and that's pretty much it. Most users have a hard drive spare, and if not they're as cheap as chips. Same goes for a DVD writer. Fifteen quid last time I checked. Anyone who purports to be capable of driving a motor vehicle ought to be able to build a PC. It's not rocket science! Everything fits together like Lego.

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