Shipped Pre-built PC Systems See 13% Rise in Sales in 2020 Compared to 2019

[Raevenlord]

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed PC shipping growth numbers for 2020 - counting desktops, notebooks (including Chromebooks) and workstations (but excluding laptops and servers), and the results are clear. In a currently-pandemic world, and with the urge and necessity for teleworking efforts so as to reduce personal exposure to risk environments, we've seen an unprecedented demand for technological components. Whether in shortages for the latest "comfort" technologies such as dedicated graphics cards, latest-gen consoles, or even webcams, it's been clear that citizens of the world have been increasingly investing their money in technological devices. This need - either for work, for bridging social distances through the Internet, or for entertainment - has led the pre-built PC ecosystem shipments to increase as much as 13% in 2020 - and a global shipment number set at 302.6 million units.

This year-over-year (YoY) increase is bolstered, mainly, by rises in sales throughout Q4 of 2020, where global PC shipments achieved an outstanding 26% increase from Q4 2019 - in the fourth quarter of 2020 alone, 91.6 million units were shipped. In that particular quarter, Lenovo led the top three vendors with a 25.2% share of the sales, followed by HP (20.9%) and Dell (17.2%). Apple appears in fourth place with a mere 8% market share, but shows the strongest growth among the top 5 sellers, at 49.2% YoY - and that's with Apple's comparatively small product portfolio when put against any of the other top three vendors.





According to IDC, the PC market last saw growth of this magnitude way back in 2010, when the market grew 13.7%. Between those golden days and now, the PC market witnessed six years of PC sales decline, as well as a year of flat growth. Ryan Reith, program VP with IDC's Worldwide Mobile Device Trackers, had this to say regarding the growth: "Demand is pushing the PC market forward and all signs indicate this surge still has a way to go. The obvious drivers for last year's growth centered around work from home and remote learning needs, but the strength of the consumer market should not be overlooked. We continue to see gaming PCs and monitor sales at all-time highs and Chrome-based devices are expanding beyond education into the consumer market. In retrospect, the pandemic not only fueled PC market demand but also created opportunities that resulted in a market expansion."

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[ObiFrost]

My only question is what percentage covers those that bought just for the sake of having ampere card then flipped the rest with weaker GPU. For work it makes sense, but I assume as always most non-tech savvy people bought pre-builds as usual.

 

[kapone32]

My only question is what percentage covers those that bought just for the sake of having ampere card then flipped the rest with weaker GPU. For work it makes sense, but I assume as always most non-tech savvy people bought pre-builds as usual.

It depends, there was a point where you would not need to do that but just add RAM.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Hang on, wasn't the PC dead?

 

[QUANTUMPHYSICS]

Pre-Built Systems, regardless what anyone else opines, can be a great way to buy a desktop when you suddenly have a "work at home" or "student use" need.

HP OMEN currently has a 3080 equipped system for a reasonable price.

Add more SSD storage and max out the RAM and you end up with a great system, a great value and great options you wouldn't have had otherwise.

The point of contention by most is that you can't easily upgrade motherboards or that you get a cheap PSU (enough to run the system).

I bought my AREA 51 because I liked the case design. If I don't see a case design I like down the road, I'll probably end up building into the same old boring rectangular case only I won't spend a dime extra in RGB since I consider RGB fans a WASTE OF MONEY.

 

[thegnome]

My only question is what percentage covers those that bought just for the sake of having ampere card then flipped the rest with weaker GPU. For work it makes sense, but I assume as always most non-tech savvy people bought pre-builds as usual.

I mean you could always just buy a pre-built with 30-series, sell the rest of the parts or without the gpu and hopefully get essentially the gpu for less or the same price.

 

[neatfeatguy]

When you can't find a GPU all by itself, next closest thing is buying a pre-built. My local Micro Center had a few dozen pre-built PCs that housed RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 cards. You couldn't find the GPUs on the shelf to buy individually....so the pre-built systems sat for a little, but they eventually all sold.

It doesn't surprise me pre-builts are on the rise in sales and it's most likely because of the simple fact you are very hard pressed to find a GPU all alone on the shelf out in the wild....they are elusive creatures and shy away from public eyes.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

This is literally only because these pre-built companies actually had new GPU (Ampere) and CPUs (new Ryzen) available and pricing wasn't terrible.

 

[kapone32]

This is literally only because these pre-built companies actually had new GPU (Ampere) and CPUs (new Ryzen) available and pricing wasn't terrible.

You mean contracts with the manufacturers and not into a distributor, retailer environment.

 

[Tom Sunday]

...as always most non-tech savvy people bought pre-builds as usual.

You are correct. Many in our company who were mandated by our mighty 'Human Capital' (HR) to work from home (WFH), purchased basic or cheaper desktop pre-builds. Those systems were seen for better for plug-ins, video conferencing, bigger screens, company software compatibility, etc. Not to be sexist but mostly all of the pre-builds were purchased by our woman employees. And most of such employees coming from our "4x4 cubicle world" surrounded by the so-called glass houses which are the offices on the perimeter with windows and doors occupied by the executive team.

The amount of WFH people will undaubtely increase significantly as company execs have determined that the WFH mandate has worked out much better than ever anticipated. Besides WFH employees now shouldering a bevy expenses previously borne by the company. (IT services, Internet access, utilities, parking, general office equipment use, telephone, office amenities, supplies, furniture, etc)

The latest rumour from a friendly insider (a spy with access) which he immediately 'texted' to all the cubicle people, indicated that about 60% would not be returning to work and will be reclassified as casual employees with much reduced medical benefits, etc. Or none at all based on their new casual status. Thus Human Capital is also hard at work to rewrite job-descriptions.

But the compay will provide so-called "Landing Zones" for all that have lost the security of their 4x4 cubicle should they be summoned to visit HQ. So most definitely even more pre-builds will be needed! Now of course I wonder where I will land-up?

 

[QUANTUMPHYSICS]

When you can't find a GPU all by itself, next closest thing is buying a pre-built. My local Micro Center had a few dozen pre-built PCs that housed RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 cards. You couldn't find the GPUs on the shelf to buy individually....so the pre-built systems sat for a little, but they eventually all sold.

It doesn't surprise me pre-builts are on the rise in sales and it's most likely because of the simple fact you are very hard pressed to find a GPU all alone on the shelf out in the wild....they are elusive creatures and shy away from public eyes.

It can't be understated how fortunate the tech companies have been under covid19.

They went from "the PC is dying" to "record PC sales" in what? 3 months?

And the shame of it is: REMOTE LEARNING DOESN'T WORK.

 

[kapone32]

It can't be understated how fortunate the tech companies have been under covid19.

They went from "the PC is dying" to "record PC sales" in what? 3 months?

And the shame of it is: REMOTE LEARNING DOESN'T WORK.

More like 6 by June CPUs like the 3300x were a thing of the imagination.

 

[MxPhenom 216]

You mean contracts with the manufacturers and not into a distributor, retailer environment.

Sure

 

[moproblems99]

People only bought them so they could get a 3080

 

[Tom Sunday]

People only bought them so they could get a 3080

Which may be true in some respects. But as I noted here earlier most of the WFH people who bought pre-builds have no idea what a 3080 is, besides not being sure where their next meal will be coming from. We are living in trying times.

 

[Fizban]

People only bought them so they could get a 3080

People buying 3080's for all intents and purposes don't exist. They're completely inconsequential amounts of people that aren't even a blip on sales charts.

Far more prebuilts will sell with 3060's than 3080's, and far more than that will sell without discrete graphics at all.

 

[olstyle]

Including Notebooks but excluding Laptops? I never knew you could make an exact distinction between those two.

 

[Max(IT)]

Hardly unbelievable considering price and availability of PC components...
If you need a PC now, a pre-built is the easiest way.

 

[Tom Sunday]

...far more than that will sell without discrete graphics at all.

My friends from the "cubicle world" will wholeheartedly agree with you. Twitter has already put over 100.000 square feet of its office space on the market at its HQ 1355 Market Street location and as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. A permanent WFH mandate is now already in active motion all across the USA and especially with the big office space users. The Twitter marketed space comes fully furnished with 878 cubicles, 66 conference rooms and onsite parking. In perfect and smooth corporate talk: “Our focus on prioritizing decentralization has allowed us to flex our active leased spaces as needed," a Twitter spokesperson told SFGATE." Yes..many more pre-builds will be sold, while at the same time money will get tighter and especially for the newly converted casual employees with diminished salaries and benefits. A special thank you to my friends at HR or better said "Human Capital."

​

 

[Tom Sunday]

People buying 3080's for all intents and purposes don't exist.

I often wonder how many "real enthusiasts" are actually out there compared to the overall PC user population? My conclusion: Less than 1%! Then to your point how many enthusiasts do a really have the money or deep pockets to buy all of the talked about and regurgitated new hardware? As an example how many can actually afford to buy a RTX 3080? No daubt this percentage is hovering in the 1% bracket as well.

Then there is the hotly contested matter of overcloking. 99% of most people don't even know what overclocking is, whereas the average person buys their computer from Costco, Office Depot, Best Buy or order a slightly customized and propiatary system from Dell or HP. Overclocking also involves "benchmarking" which seems to be exercised by less than 1% of the people as well. What can I say but the 1% number out there seems to be ubiquitous. To be sure I am not a PC enthusiast by a long-shot and just "trolling" along the tech-walk and talk. Now that I gotten this of my chest I feel much better.