Reader Poll: Don’t Count Desktop PCs Out Just Yet

Are desktop PCs dead as disco? Maybe not yet—at least, not according to our readers, who believe the desktop PC market still has some life in it.

According to a recent poll on The VAR Guy, 44 percent of respondents said that good old desktop PCs aren’t dead, but they are in danger of going extinct within the next few years. And about 30 percent of readers were shocked that traditional PCs are no longer a popular item, which could indicate that legacy PC sales are still going strong, at least for a few VARs within the channel.

But some readers that have seen a drop in desktop sales feel confident it’s just a phase, with 12 percent of readers believing desktops are bound to come back in style sooner or later. Only 14 percent of readers felt that desktops are dead and gone for good.

A majority of our faithful readers feel it may be premature to count out our friend the desktop PC just yet, but what do the official sales figures have to say on the matter? According to IDC’s September 2013 report on the state of PC growth, legacy computer sales were projected to have declined by 9.7 percent in 2013, with similarly poor figures predicted for this year. Earlier this year, Intel reported its Q4 sales figures that showed flat PC sales but an increase in mobile sales. The only reason PC sales have increased at all, according to Canalys, is due to the explosion in popularity of mobile devices, which doesn’t say much for the sales figures of traditional desktops in our increasingly mobile world.

As the channel continues to move to the sale of mobile devices including tablets and smartphones, it would seem as though there’s no room for old-fashioned desktop PCs in the enterprise world. Of course, there always will be those who prefer the power and reliability of a desktop to notebooks and mobile devices, but all signs are pointing to this number dwindling steadily over the next few years. And even though the changing times look grim for desktops, it may be premature to toss yours out just yet—you never know if enterprise businesses will embrace them again as the industry continues to evolve.