Even though the market of desktop computers is not growing as rapidly as the market of mobile computers, desktops will not cease to exist, claims Intel Corp. But chipmaker expects desktops to become more specialized and customizable, not truly universal.

"Desktops will be around for as long as you can think about computing. The larger market will, however, be for mobile computing, but there are still some categories of corporate users and consumers who want to buy a desktop,” said Rob Crooke, vice president and general manager of Intel's business client group, in an interview with IDG News Service.

While mobility is an indisputable advantage for notebooks and netbooks, they are less comfortable to use compared to desktops, besides, they do not provide level of performance needed for demanding tasks and they also cost more compared to desktop personal computers.

Going forward, desktops will become more specialized than at present, believes Mr. Crooke. For example, gamers need high-performance central processing units and graphics processing units, whereas office PCs need to save energy and do not require advanced CPUs or graphics boards. Finally, home theater PCs should be utterly quiet.

According to IDC, worldwide PC shipments fell 6.8% in the first quarter of 2009, about 1.4% better than expected but still the largest decrease since the third quarter of 2001. Although volume declined less than expected thanks to some positive activity in the latter part of the quarter, the commercial sector and key macroeconomics indicators remain weak.

The growth of netbooks is playing a dramatic role in the market, the market research firm claims. Netbook PC shipments of 5.7 million in Q1 2009 were ahead of expectations, but contributed to a decline of 3.1 million traditional notebooks from a year ago. The impact on shipment value was dramatic, with netbooks contributing $2.2 billion in the first quarter of 2009 while the value of traditional notebook shipments declined by $8.4 billion from a year ago. Netbooks pricing is expected to rise with more robust models, and shipment growth is expected to slow with the release of low-cost, thin-and-light Intel CULV and AMD Congo-based systems this fall. However, the growth of netbooks to 9.5% of total PC shipments (17.3% of portables) in 2009 will help drive shipment value down by 17.7% even as volumes decline just 3.2%.

IDC believes that in 2013 there will be shipped 419.8 million persona computers, of which 128.8 million will be desktops and 291 million will be portable PCs.

Tags: Intel