How Much Influence Do We Have On PCs
Modern technology continues to advance every day giving us more powerful and more affordable PCs. The question to consider here, though, is whether or not these PCs advance because of consumer demand or because the manufacturers are generating their own demand.
Yes, this is one of those "chicken or the egg" kind of questions. On the one hand it may seem like a useless philosophical conundrum, but there really is some valid material to consider. The thing is, as consumers we could dictate the way PCs develop and get the products we really need. On the other hand, what if the consumers are just being led around by an artificial demand?
It seems like a strange question at first. After all, doesn't any market simply follow the demands of the consumers? The short answer is no. Sometimes, in order to generate more revenue and to expand into different areas, manufacturers might develop a new product and then try to generate a demand around it.
Consider, if you will, laptop PCs. As computers became more and more necessary in our daily lives, people wanted to have access to their machines wherever they went. One could argue that this was a matter of the market following the demand. Most manufacturers ran to fill that demand.
On the other hand, netbooks are a recent development in the computer world. Some have argued that they were created to fill the demand for a cheaper laptop. But that doesn't tell the whole story. Netbook PCs are also, in theory, filling the demand for an even more portable computer than a laptop.
Let's really think about that, though. Weren't laptop PCs pretty mobile before? It was fairly simple to take a full featured laptop wherever you wanted. Was there really a large group of people out there demanding an even smaller computer with a cramped keyboard and significant drop in processing power? In other words, was there really a demand for this, or was the demand manufactured with it?
Why does this question matter? Because over the last few years netbook PCs have managed to secure a large chunk of the computer market. This makes an analysis of the industry very interesting. PC companies have been able to generate a lot of new revenue on a product that there may not have been any demand for in the first place. But once it's in place, it's hard to imagine that it happened any other way.
Of course, many PCs have been clearly designed to meet a specific demand. Hardcore games keep pushing the boundaries of what computers can do, and many companies work hard to develop new processors, graphics cards, and monitors that this audience will love. Still, it begs the question, are we influencing PCs, or are they influencing us?
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categories: pcs, computers, netbooks