HP is exiting the consumer electronics business! What does this mean to you? (1 Viewer)

[Sam Posten]

Patrick I know this part is important to you so I will note it since you haven't: the built in maps app is pretty bad ass compared to iPad. So far that and the 'tab' button are the only things I like better than ipad2, but I'm still digging in. Also: no thread previews on HTf rocks. The lag blows tho and it continuously fails to download the latest firmware

 

[DaveF]

a note on the original question how this affects the Consumer: I don't think most people will notice. I don't think Joe computer buyer knows HP as a brand name. They go to Best Buy and they choose the $349 computer over the $499 computer. Maybe they get an HP, maybe a Dell ,maybe a Compaq. they don't know, and they don't care. So prices will rise a bit with consolidation, but most people won't notice the change in "brand names".

 

[Sam Posten]

I disagree. I think a lot of people are quite aware after a few days of use that cheap computers are slow, and suck. I think more and more are willing to pay more for a quality experience but very few manufacturers besides Apple are willing to play that game.

 

[DaveF]

What PC maker sells a "quality experience"? Who's buying them? (My peers go for "cheap" above all else, or they bought a Mac)

 

[Carlo_M]

I think the next few years will bring an interesting convergence of several trends. Clearly most people don't want to pay the so-called "Apple Tax" which is why their computer hardware still hovers at around 10-12% (with some recent growth which is promising considering the rest of the PC market shrank). However most people are starting to rethink what they want out of a PC. Let's be honest, for most people, they want internet, email, light computer use (work, Word, Excel, etc.) and some light fun and games. Whereas before your choices were an expensive Mac or a cheap PC, now that niche is more and more filled by the iPad. Tablets and netbooks before the iPad were low-powered, poor-experience failures. The iPad has shown the way and for I would say 80% of the people I know over the age of 40, this device would more than take the place of a sub $500 PC. In fact it would likely yield a more satisfactory experience. If Office ever finds its way on the iPad, there would be some serious trouble for PC makers. Come to think of it, that's probably why there hasn't been an official Office release on it. For the remainder of the "power" users who need a PC, a growing percentage are choosing the Mac experience and paying the Apple Tax. At some major universities, Apple is making tremendous headway. I work near a 40,000+ student University and going to local coffee shops you see just as many Mac laptops, if not more, than non-Apple brands. The real hardcore PC users and gamers who don't want a Mac build their own PCs anyway. So really HP, Dell, Compaq, etc. aren't in play for them. The majority of the demographics for those companies can have their needs fulfilled by an iPad (and similar devices) and with the success of iPhone and iPad making the AppStore take off, I think HP is actually ahead of the curve here. The others will likely follow, or continue to lower prices (and subsequently quality) in order to undersell the $500 iPad, a tactic I think that would be doomed to failure.

 

[DaveF]

In 2011, where no other manufacturer can beat Apple on price on mobile devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, MacBook Air), the phrase "Apple Tax" may say as much about the writer's generation than Apple's pricing

 

[Sam Posten]

What PC maker sells a "quality experience"? Who's buying them? (My peers go for "cheap" above all else, or they bought a Mac)

you and I are saying the same thing here. You have crap lowend PCs and Gamer PCs which appeal to a certain niche, and then there is Apple. I believe there is room for a manufacturer who is willing to use quality components and a minimum of crapware, who CAN create a custom Win7 experience that 'normal' people would be willing to pay for, but so far nobody has stepped up to try it.

 

[keithling]

HP may stop making PCs, but I doubt they will stop making printers. That is probably their most lucrative market. If that were to happen, it would be a sad day indeed. I once ordered a HP PC. After two days of hassling with their so called customer service over an issue which was clearly related to the way the PC was wired, I sent it back. I consider their laser printers to be the best for the money, but their PCs were poorly designed junk.

 

[dmiller68]

I have liked thier laptops for the most part. The funny part is the cheap laptops are the ones that seem to last and the more expensive ones are the ones that die.

 

[Clinton McClure]

I bought a HP laptop back in 2004 and after about three years, I started having trouble with the AC jack. As it turned out, it was the solder connection on the mobo failing. A design flaw which has haunted HP laptops for years. I probably tore that thing apart six times over the next three years to resolder the joints before I finally had enough and trashed it last year in favor of an Acer laptop. Besides the power jack flaw, the laptop was a good solid machine. The thing I hated most about getting rid of it was having to leave XP and step up to Windows 7. (Good thing I still have XP on my media server at home.)

The real hardcore PC users and gamers who don't want a Mac build their own PCs anyway.

Amen. My media server is a custom rig I built myself which outperformed the Macs of that year and cost me a fraction of the price to put together.