In good form
The coming Windows 10 mega-refresh is not the only technological advance adding some much-needed jet fuel to the upgrade cycle. Small form factors are another growth area. Intel’s ‘Next Unit of Computing’ (NUC) style of PC is winning fans in a growing number of niches, from security and education to digital signs, says Intel product manager Josh Carr.
“It was one of the fastest-growing segments. While towers were in decline we saw a pick-up in ultra-small form-factor designs,” Carr says. (See box below.)
“For 2014 and beyond we’re looking at a growth rate of 20 percent. We’ve seen doubling of channel resellers adopting our NUC and end-users being very open to this form factor.”
Over several years, Intel has seen a five-fold improvement in performance even as the size has shrunk to something that fits in a soft drink bottle; this creates new opportunities for the channel, Carr says. “We’re looking at doubling the business this year.”
It’s not the size that’s important, as much as what can be done with it. Increased price-performance ratios should drive more sales, says Intel Australia national sales manager VR Rajkumar. “While there were small form factors five years ago, it wasn’t compelling. Most consumers relied on an optical drive; now there’s no need because applications download from the network or wirelessly,” Rajkumar says.
“Ever since Sandy Bridge and Intel brought graphics into the processor, it removed the requirement of a graphics card. Performance is 100 times compared with four years ago. The NUC can drive triple-4K displays; five years ago you needed a dual graphics card.”
Rajkumar is bullish on the ability of Windows 10 to kickstart the long-stalled upgrade cycle. And he says new, lightweight form factors such as all-in-ones, two-in-ones and NUCs will boost sales this year.
“The NUC is taking [resellers] to places they haven’t been before. Digital kiosks, media centre PCs, digital signs, digital jukeboxes. It provides an opportunity for them to innovate and get into spaces.”
Lenovo agrees that creative form factors are helping change consumer appetites. There’s a growing desire among road warriors for the two-in-one at the expense of tablets, says managing director Matt Codrington. And the demand is coming from the business, short-circuiting procurement and CIO, he says.
“Especially with two-in-ones, we have the traditional notebook capability in a productivity tool, and flip out into a tablet with a pen,” Codrington says. “So an insurance guy on the road gets their customers to sign on the device and whisk the data into the cloud. You get good efficiency out of a device like that and it’s very secure.”
Codrington says Lenovo’s versatile Yoga PC is settling into schools and businesses, and hints there are pen-based announcements just around the corner. “We’re aiming at a more simplified, user-friendly and capable device,” he says. “There are cynics who say PCs are dying but the PC market is coming back and is growing. The netbook has gone away but even as tablets sales have slowed, PCs are coming back.”
Long the bastion of the school laptop PC, Toshiba is also witnessing a sales revival especially in 13-inch devices, says the Japanese vendor’s Australian marketing manager, Justin White.
“We’re seeing a shift back to primary computing hardware away from secondary consumption devices such as tablets,” White says. “People are starting to realise that their primary computer where they do the bulk of their work on is a few years old, and the new ones are slimmer and faster.”
Toshiba’s Portege Z20t Ultrabook is among the vendor’s hottest sellers because of its adaptability for use as a stylus tablet and laptop, White says. And selling a Dynadock with screen, keyboard and mouse for desktop work is an easy added sale. And as to the impact of Windows 10 on upgrades, White says Toshiba is “extremely excited”.
“It’s going to bring back a much more familiar interface for users,” he says. “Up to now, there was a fairly large number of users who walked into a shop and worked out they had no idea how to use [Windows 8] but Windows 10 has the best of both worlds. The learning curve isn’t as steep and it lends itself to multiple environments.”
But despite the hype and hope surrounding Microsoft’s new OS, Bundaberg reseller Geoff Augutis sounds a note of caution on whether Windows 10 will lift PC sales. Augutis, director of Queensland Computers, says the poor response to Windows 8 risks backfiring on Windows 10.
“It comes across as an admission of guilt from Microsoft,” Augutis says. “While most computer people don’t have issues with Windows 8, the public did not accept it.”
He is concerned that users may see the free upgrade as, “Windows 8 was so bad they are giving us Windows 10 to make up for it. When in reality from Microsoft’s perspective it is more a matter of, Windows 8 adoption rate was slow; how can we rectify this?”
Resellers also won’t push something that they can’t sell. “Why will a store such as ours push a new operating system if we cannot sell it and make money from it?”
Augutis won’t use his business customers as “test dummies”.
“No, we won’t be rolling out to fleets straight away. For our retail business side, we find consumers don’t mind the changes so long as we are there to support them through the teething stages.”
PC FORECAST: AUSTRALIA 2013-2015
Units (K) 2013: 4,180
Units (K) 2014: 4,332
Units (K) 2015: 4,330
PC FORECAST: WORLDWIDE 2013-2015
Units (K) 2013: 316,825
Units (K) 2014: 317,559
Units (K) 2015: 320,947
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