Hasta La Gadget!

If reporting that the entirety of the PC market weren’t enough of a punch in the gut for Microsoft from the analytical group IDC, the suggestion that their newest operating system is to blame really, really is. What you’re about to witness is the continued downfall of the PC industry in the charts of the IDC, this most recent quarter’s report being much worse for ware than we’re sure any of the manufacturers listed would have liked. When your only job is to create PCs and you hoped Windows 8 was going to bring the industry into a shining light, you’re probably not too happy right about now.

As this most recent IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker report shows, the first quarter of 2013 was not extremely kind to the likes of HP, Lenovo, Dell, Acer, ASUS, and the rest of the bunch. With a total average drop in PC shipments of 13.9%, it’s not appearing too positive for the near future in next-level PC production. That 13.9% drop is compared to the fourth quarter of 2012, while year-on-year the decline was a rather similar -12.7%.

“At this point, unfortunately, it seems clear that the Windows 8 launch not only failed to provide a positive boost to the PC market, but appears to have slowed the market.” – Bob O’Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, Clients and Displays

You’ll find that Lenovo – good ol’ Lenovo – was the only vendor to have stayed flat from the quarter before this one to the one we’ve just completed. Their market share also went up a couple of percentage points while each of the other top-5 groups decreased by at least .2 points of a percentage – that’s Dell hanging in there as well. HP remains on top of the stack with a 15.7% share of the market but was hit hard with a 23.7% drop over the past year.

“While some consumers appreciate the new form factors and touch capabilities of Windows 8, the radical changes to the UI, removal of the familiar Start button, and the costs associated with touch have made PCs a less attractive alternative to dedicated tablets and other competitive devices. Microsoft will have to make some very tough decisions moving forward if it wants to help reinvigorate the PC market.” – Bob O’Donnell, IDC Program Vice President, Clients and Displays

According to the top 5 vendors chart of United States PC Shipments, Apple reaches in for a piece of the pie – as does Toshiba. Here we’ve still got HP up on top, Dell not far behind, and Apple butting heads with Toshiba and Lenovo. Here you’ll find Lenovo once again the only brand of the top five to not have lost market share over the past year with a 13% gain from Q1 of 2012 to Q1 of 2013.

Of course when you average the collection of the top 5 vendors of PCs in the United States, you still get a cool 11% drop this quarter compared to 2012′s Q1. Apple on its own also lost 7.5 points year-on-year in this market, still running strong with an estimated 1,418 units shipped in Q1 2013.

Have a peek at the timeline below for other recent IDC reports to see how the mobile and desktop PC universes are making their time here as we roll into the spring of 2013.

[via IDC]

PC market tumbles as IDC points at Windows 8 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

While the Alienware X51 has been slated by Valve as a currently available Steambox, consumers still have to get rid of that pesky Windows to install the Linux-driven platform. As we’ve seen with the Razer Edge, a Windows 8-powered gaming system just doesn’t work well for living rooms because it still needs an interface that’s not a game controller. Fortunately, that barrier is slowly evaporating as the Dell-owned commodity is now providing Ubuntu as an OS option for the X51, paving the way for easier Steambox modification in the future.

It’ll come with Linux-friendly drivers from NVIDIA right out of the box, and you can of course install Steam for Linux on it from the get-go. As a reminder, the X51 is available in Core i3, Core i5 and Core i7 models, and can be upgraded to 8GB of RAM with 1TB of storage, with either a NVIDIA GeForce GT545 or a GTX 555 card. Features include HDMI 1.4, eight USB ports (six are 2.0 while two are 3.0), digital 7.1 surround sound, on-board WiFi and gigabit Ethernet. Pricing for the base Ubuntu model is $599, which is about $100 less than its Windows counterpart.

Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

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Source: Alienware, Dell Community Blog

We’ve all heard that the post-PC era is here, or at least it’s quickly approaching. The demand for smartphones and tablets is outperforming traditional desktop PCs and even laptops. Dell certainly agrees, as the company has admitted that the PC industry is simply falling apart. Dell addressed these issues in a recent SEC filing.

In the SEC filing, in which the company lays out its plans to go private, the company expressed a handful of concerns with the issues facing the PC industry, including the “decreasing revenues in the market for desktop and notebook PCs and the significant uncertainties as to whether, or when, this decrease will end.”

Other points of discussion on the dying PC industry also involved Microsoft, and the lack of sales of Windows 8 is ultimately causing an overall drop in PC sales, saying that there is an “uncertain adoption of the Windows 8 operating system, unexpected slowdowns in enterprise Windows 7 upgrades and the increasing substitution of smartphones and tablets for PCs.”

Dell also mentions “the overall difficulty of predicting the market for PCs.” Overall, it seems that Dell definitely isn’t all that into the PC market anymore. Of course, we already knew that — the company has long been shifting its focus away from the traditional desktop and laptop market in favor of their mobile and enterprise business.

[via Forbes]

Dell admits PC industry is going downhill is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Not too long ago the technology world was all a flutter over news that Michael Dell and a consortium of other companies were attempting to purchase Dell Computer and take the company private. Some the major investors in Dell Computer didn’t like the deal and wanted the company to open the doors and consider offers from other potential buyers. Word has now surfaced that other potential bidders for Dell Computer have stepped into the picture and these other companies could be a bad thing for founder Michael Dell.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Michael Dell could end up losing control of his company if one of the other bidders purchases Dell Computer. Blackstone Group LP and Dell investor Carl Ichan have expressed interest in purchasing Dell Computer head of a deadline for offers to be made on the technology company. The tip comes from people who claim to be familiar with the negotiations.

By notifying Dell’s board that they are working on firm bids to purchase the computer company, Blackstone and Ichan have given themselves four more days to put together offers according to the sources. These sources also claim that neither of the potential bids from Blackstone or Ichan go over $15 per share.

Michael Dell and the consortium of companies who started the buyout saga, including Microsoft and Silver Lake Partners offered a buyout at about $13.65 per share. If competing offers win the bid for the technology company, Dell could be ousted from control of his company. However, considering that Michael Dell owns 14% of the company, any deal would certainly make him a huge amount of money.

[via Wall Street Journal]

Rival buyout attempt could oust Michael Dell from Dell Computer is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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