A Throwback Quarter

As someone who retains a desktop computer at home only to prevent my kids from using my laptop, I was pretty surprised that desktop PC sales surged in Q2. I thought the old boxes were slowly dying out. But the numbers don't lie. According to this article from internetnews.com's David Needle:

The market research firm [Gartner] said PC shipments totaled 6.1 million units in the second quarter of 2007, an 11.7 percent increase from the same period last year. Gartner had earlier projected 10.6 percent growth for the quarter. In the U.S. market, PC shipments totaled 15.7 million units in the second quarter of 2007, a 5.9 percent increase from the second quarter of 2006. Gartner had previously projected growth of 3.2 percent.

Gartner analysts say they're not sure what accounts for the surprising increase in desktop sales, though they ruled out any impact due to the introduction of Microsoft's Vista operating system. I'd have to agree with that point, especially since Vista can be installed on laptop's as well (as it is on my new HP Pavilion). Since Gartner singles out corporate desktop sales in the U.S. as having exceeded expectations, I'm thinking the Q2 desktop surge is price-driven. Let's just use HP as an example. In the Large Enterprise Business section of HP's web site, you can find "business desktops" ranging in price from $359 to $709. However, if you go to HP's "Large Enterprise Business: Notebooks & Tablet PCs" section and click on "Business Notebooks," the laptops start at $649 and go up to $1,399. Pretty dramatic difference. Plus, from an enterprise's perspective, desktop's are less likely to walk out the front door. So if you really don't need a mobile computer for some of your employees, why waste money on them? Which may not explain the unexpected rise in desktop sales last quarter. After all, desktops have been cheaper than laptops for some time. But given this year's uncertain economic picture, perhaps enterprises that had to upgrade or add computers in recent months opted for the most economical solution. Or maybe there's a "old school" movement afoot that I don't know about.