Tag Archive for Acer

| January 30, 2024
Comments Off on PC Sales Post First Quarterly Gain In Two Years

PC Sales Post First Quarterly Gain In Two Years

PC Sales Post First Quarterly Gain In Two YearsPC sales increased for the first time in two years. Gartner is reporting that global PC shipments for the fourth quarter of 2023 totaled 63.3 million units in. This is a 0.3% increase from the fourth quarter of 2022. However, 2023 was the worst year in PC history. PC shipments declined 14.8% in 2023. Gartner notes this is the second year with a double-digit decline. Worldwide PC shipments totaled 241.8 million units in 2023, down from 284 million in 2022.

Company2023 Shipments2023 Market Share (%)2022 Shipments2022 Market Share (%)2023-2022 Growth (%)
Lenovo59,725.024.7%69,047.024.3%-13.5%
HP Inc.52,896.021.9%55,366.019.5%-4.5%
Dell40,238.016.6%50,008.017.6%-19.5%
Apple21,877.09.0%26,825.09.4%-18.4%
Asus17,061.07.1%20,651.07.3%-17.4%
Acer15,887.06.6%18,708.06.6%-15.1%
Others34,206.014.1%43,448.015.3%-21.3%
Total241,891.00284,052.00-14.8%
Source: Gartner (January 2024)

PC shipments for all of 202 3fell 14.8% decrease from 2022.Globally, PC shipments for all of 2023 totaled 241.8 million units, a 14.8% decrease from 2022. This marks the first time that shipment volume has dipped below 250 million since 2006, when 230 million units were shipped according to Gartner.

All the vendors shipped fewer units in 2023. According to the Gartner data date, Dell (DELL) (-19.5%) and Apple (AAPL) (-18.4%) saw the largest decreases. Mikako Kitagawa, Director Analyst at Gartner said, “…  all top six vendors maintained their position without notable share gains or losses … Gartner projects that the PC market will return to annual growth in 2024.”

U.S. PC sales

U.S. PC market increased 1.8%The U.S. PC market recorded its first year-over-year growth since the second quarter of 2021. U.S. PC sales increased 1.8% in the fourth quarter of 2023. HP (HPQ) maintained the top spot in the U.S. PC market share of 27.7%. Dell came in second with 22.6% of U.S. PC market share, despite a 5% decrease for last year. ASUS (2357) lost a spectacular 23.2% of their U.S. Market Share in 23Q4. Kitagawa commented, “The solid U.S. economy helped small and midsize business spending as the segment grew steadily. Large companies were still cautious about spending, postponing PC refreshes to 2024.”

U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q23 (Thousands of Units)
Company4Q23 Shipments4Q23 Market Share (%)4Q23-4Q22 Growth (%)
HP Inc.4,66527.70%1.80%
Dell3,80522.60%-5.0%
Apple2,71616.10%14.50%
Lenovo2,65015.70%10.60%
Acer8264.90%13.20%
ASUS7334.40%-23.10%
Others1,4358.50%-12.00%
Total16,8311001.80%
Source: Gartner (January 2024)

Global PC Sales

Globally, year-over-year PC shipments were mixed.Globally, year-over-year PC shipments were mixed. The winner was Acer (TPE:2353) with an increase of 11.1% for the year. Apple, (7.2%) best, followed by HP (5.6%) and Lenovo (LNVGY) (3.2%)  were the winners for 2023.

ASUS was the big loser in 2023, with a -9.4% decrease year-over-year in PC shipments. Dell dropped -8.3% over 2023.

Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q23 (Thousands of Units)
Company4Q23 Shipments4Q23 Market Share (%)4Q23-4Q22 (%) Growth
Lenovo16,21325.60%3.2%
HP Inc.13,95422.00%5.6%
Dell9,98315.80%-8.3%
Apple6,34910.00%7.2%
ASUS4,4057.00%-9.4%
Acer3,9876.30%11.1%
Others8,47913.40%15.3%
Total63,371
Source: Gartner (January 2024)


Gartner notes that Lenovo marked its first year-over-year growth in worldwide PC shipments since the third quarter of 2021. HP Inc. had its second consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth and sequential growth in worldwide PC shipments. Meanwhile, Dell registered its seventh consecutive quarter of year-over-year shipment decline.

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PC sales should pick up as many firms upgrade to Windows 11 ahead of the looming Windows 10 EOL. The scheduled end of support date for Window 10 is October 2025

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| August 1, 2019
Comments Off on The Secret to F-Keying at Work

The Secret to F-Keying at Work

The Secret to F Keys at WorkWe use keyboards at home, work and the car. The first keyboard to feature function keys was the 1965 Singer/Friden 2201 Flexowriter Programmatic as a standalone word processing system. Each of the function keys was programmable. The familiar 12 F-Keys were introduced in 1984 with the second generation Model M keyboard for the original IBM PC. It had 12 function keys in 3 blocks of 4 at the top of the keyboard. Over the years, various operating systems and applications have made use of function keys in different ways.

After you learn this list of F-Key secrets, you can improve your fun at work by F-Keying around in your cube as you work on your project.

F1• F1 – Universal – Opens a help or support menu in most programs.
• F1 – Apple macOS X – Reduces the screen’s brightness.
• F1 – Some computers  – Used it to enter BIOS setup during startup.
• F1+WIN – Microsoft Windows –  Opens the Microsoft Windows help and support center.

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F2

• F2 – Microsoft Windows – Renames a highlighted icon, file, or folder.
• F2 – Microsoft Excel – Edits the active cell.
• F2 – Apple macOS X – Increases the screen’s brightness.
• F2 – Some computers  – Used it to enter BIOS setup during startup (Acer, Asus, Dell, eMachines, Gateway, Lenovo, Sony).
• F2+CRTL – Microsoft Word –  Displays the print preview window.
• F2+ALT+CTRL – Microsoft Office – Opens the Documents Library.

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F3

• F3 – Microsoft Windows – Opens desktop search feature.
• F3 – MS-DOS or Windows command line – Repeats the last command entered.
• F3 – Browsers (Firefox, Chrome and IE) – Launches the Find bar.
• F3 – Apple macOS X – Opens Mission Control.
• F3 – Other programs – Will find the next search value after an initial search is performed.
• F3+CTRL – Microsoft Word – will lowercase any highlighted text.
• F3+SHIFT – Microsoft Word – Toggles between capitalizing each word, lower case and upper case for the selected text.
• F3+WIN – Microsoft Outlook – Opens the Advanced find window.

—

F4

• F4 – Microsoft Windows 95 to XP – Open find window in Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer.
• F4 – Apple macOS X – Accesses dashboard.
• F4+ALT – Boss key – Microsoft Windows – Immediately closes the current program without saving. It can be used in an emergency to close browser windows you don’t want others to see.
• F4+ALT – Microsoft Windows – When no program is running it launches the Shutdown dialog box.
• F4+CTRL – Microsoft Word – Repeat the last action performed.
• F4+WIN  –  Closes the open window or tab in the active window.

—

F5

• F5 – Microsoft Windows – Reload the page, document, or contents list in a folder.
• F5 – Microsoft Office – Open the find, replace, and go to window.
• F5 – Microsoft PowerPoint – Starts a slideshow in PowerPoint.
• F5 – Browsers (Firefox, Chrome, and IE) – Refreshes a web page from the cache.
• F5 – Apple macOS X – Increases the keyboard backlight.
• F5+CTRL – Browsers (Firefox, Chrome, and IE) – Forces a hard refresh of the web page from the server instead of the browser cache.
• F5+CTRL+SHIFT – Microsoft Word – inserts a bookmark in Word doc.

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F6

• F6 – Microsoft Windows desktop – Tabs from desktop files to the taskbar and the system tray icons.
• F6 – Browsers (Firefox, Chrome, and IE) – Move the cursor to the address bar.
• F6 – Apple macOS X – Decreases the keyboard backlight.
• F6 – Reduce laptop volume (on some laptops).
• F6+CTRL+SHIFT – Microsoft Office – Opens to another document.

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F7

• F7 – Microsoft Office Suite – Spell and grammar check a document.
• F7 – Mozilla Firefox – Places a moveable cursor in web pages, allowing you to select text with the keyboard (Caret browsing).
• F7 – Apple macOS X – Can be used to rewind media content.
• F7 – Increase speaker volume (on some laptops).
• F7+SHIFT – Microsoft Office Suite –  Runs a Thesaurus check on the word highlighted.

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F8

• F8 – Microsoft Windows – Enter the Windows Start Menu, to access Windows Safe Mode (if pressed during the boot process).
• F8 – Apple macOS X – Can be used to pause media content.
• F8 – Used by some computers to access the Windows recovery system, but may require a Windows installation CD.

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F9

• F9 – Microsoft Word – Refresh document.
• F9 – Microsoft Outlook – “Send and Receive All folders” email.
• F9 – Reduce laptop screen brightness (on some laptops).
• F9 – Apple macOS X – Can be used to fast forward media content.

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F10

• F10 – Microsoft Windows – Activates the menu bar of an open application.
• F10 – Browsers (Firefox and IE) – Shows the Menu bar.
• F10 – Apple macOS X – Can be used to mute the speaker.
• F10 – Some computers – Increase laptop screen brightness.
• F10 – Some computers – Used it to enter BIOS setup during startup (Compaq, HP).
• F10+SHIFT – Microsoft Windows – The same as right-clicking on a highlighted icon, file, or Internet link pops out the context menu.

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F11

• F11 – Microsoft Windows Explorer – Enter and exit full-screen mode.
• F11 – Microsoft Excel – Adds a graph of highlighted cells.
• F11 – Browsers (Firefox, Chrome, and IE) – Enter and exit full-screen mode.
• F11 – Apple macOS X – Can be used to decrease the speaker volume.
• F11+CTRL – Microsoft Excel – Adds a new macro to the workbook.
• F11 –  Used to access the hidden recovery partition when pressed during boot (Compaq, HP, Dell, eMachines, Gateway, and Lenovo).
• F11+SHIFT – Microsoft Excel – Adds a new sheet to the workbook.

—

F12

• F12 – Microsoft Office –  Open the Save as window.
• F12 – Browsers (Firefox, Chrome, and IE) – Opens browser debug tool.
• F12 – • F11 – Apple macOS X – Can be used to increase the speaker volume.
• F12 – Used to access the list of bootable devices on a computer when pressed during boot, allowing you to select a different device to boot from (e.g., hard drive, CD or DVD drive, floppy drive, USB drive, and network).
• F12+CTRL – Microsoft Word – opens a document.
• F12+SHIFT – Microsoft Word – Saves the Microsoft Word document (like Ctrl+S).
• F12+CTRL+SHIFT – Microsoft Office – Prints a document (Like Ctrl+P).

—

Newer Apple keyboards have F13, F14, and F15 keys for even more F-Keying around – in place of the Print Screen, Lock key, and the Pause key. They also have F16 – F19 keys above the number pad. Early IBM keyboards had F13 through F24 keys, but these keyboards are no longer used.

To access all the fun of F-Keying you may need to access Fn Lock key or the “Fn key”+“Fn Lock” key to strike F-Keying gold.

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Even Superman uses a keyboardThere’s nothing like F-Keying at  work to make you more efficient. It may feel somewhat strange the first time you try to control your computer from the keyboard since we’re so used to navigating with the mouse. But, you can’t beat the ability to keep your hands on the keyboard.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| June 9, 2018
Comments Off on PC’s Meh

PC’s Meh

PC's MehWe are almost midway through 2018 Q2 and the 2018 Q1 PC sales numbers were meh. The good news is that IDC called the PC market flat. That’s good news because they had predicted a 1.5% decrease for the quarter. IDC reports worldwide 60.4 million PC’s sold in the January-to-March period driven mostly by businesses moving to Windows 10. 

PC market experienced a 14th consecutive quarter of declineGartner (IT) is less meh and more blah. Gartner saw slightly more PC’s shipped in 2018 Q1 at 61.7 million units for a 1.4% decline. The PC market experienced a 14th consecutive quarter of decline, dating back to the second quarter of 2012.

Gartner Principal Analyst Ms. Mikako Kitagawa affixed the blame primarily to the Chinese market. “The major contributor to the decline came from China, where unit shipments declined 5.7 percent year over year.” Ms.Kitagawa continued, “This was driven by China’s business market, where some state-owned and large enterprises postponed new purchases or upgrades, awaiting new policies and officials’ reassignments after the session of the National People’s Congress in early March.”

Dell logoThe top three Gartner vendors — Dell, HP, and Lenovo — accounted for 56.9% of global PC shipments in Q1 of 2018. Up slightly compared with 54.5% of shipments in Q1 of 2017. Dell experienced the strongest growth rate among the top six vendors worldwide, as its shipments increased 6.5%.

HP‘s (HPQ) worldwide PC shipments increased 2.8% in the first quarter of 2018 versus the same period last year. In EMEA, HP Inc. recorded double-digit growth in both desktop and mobile PCs. Gartner says HP Inc. was adversely affected by declining demand in the U.S., which generally accounts for one-third of its total shipments.  

Lenovo’s (LNVGY) global PC shipments remained flat in the first quarter of 2018. Lenovo achieved 6 percent growth in EMEA and double-digit shipment growth in Latin America. However, in Asia/Pacific (its largest market), PC shipments declined 4 percent.

After record holiday sales for consumer and gaming products in the fourth quarter of 2017, Dell continued to do well in the first quarter of 2018. With double-digit shipment increases in EMEA, North America, and Latin America, Dell grew in all regions except Asia/Pacific. Desktop and mobile PCs grew in equal measures, showing Dell’s strength in the business segment according to Gartner.

HP logoIn the U.S., PC shipments totaled 11.8 million units in the first quarter of 2018, a 2.9% decrease from the first quarter of 2017 according to Gartner. Dell moved into the No. 1 position in the U.S. based on shipments, as its market share increased to 29.1%. HP Inc. moved into second place as its shipments declined 4.8%, and its market share totaled 28.4%in the first quarter of 2018.

2018 Q1 - Gartner Global PC Shipments

Company2018 Q1 Shipments2018 Q1 Market Share (%)
Dell3,44029.1
HP Inc.3,36328.4
Lenovo1,63213.8
Apple1,49112.6
Acer Group3212.7
Others1,58613.4
Total11,833100.0
Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface), but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels. Numbers may not add up to totals shown due to rounding.. Thousands of Units.Source: Gartner (April 2018)

PC shipments in EMEA totaled 18.6 million units in the first quarter of 2018, a 1.7% increase. driven by Enterprise shipments increased as many Windows 10 projects and the fast approach of the compliance deadline for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in Europe.

PC shipments in Asia/Pacific totaled 21.9 million units in the first quarter of 2018, a 3.9% decline from the first quarter of 2017. As previously mentioned, the PC market in China drove the decline in Asia/Pacific.

IDC says the U.S. market saw a promising opening quarter for the year with almost all major vendors reporting increases in notebook sales. Overall, total PC shipments for 2018 Q1 stood at 13.5 million units.

IDC reports that HP Inc. maintained a comfortable lead over all others in the market with its eighth consecutive quarter of overall growth (up 4.3% year on year) and growth in all regions except Latin America.

Lenovo saw a flat quarter in 2018 Q1, the third consecutive quarter in which the company saw year-on-year volume stabilize with flat global growth and a slower pace of decline in the U.S. Dell Inc. posted the strongest year-on-year growth out of all the major companies, growing 6.4% and buoyed by strong performances in nearly every region.

Acer (TPE:2353) held onto fourth place. Its ongoing expansion into gaming and continued investments in Chromebooks have paid dividends for the company but also caused some tough going in other areas. Apple (AAPL) finished the quarter in fifth place with a year-on-year decline in shipments of 4.8%.

2018 Q1 - IDC Global PC Shipments

Company2018 Q1 Shipments2018 Q1 Market Share (%)
HP Inc.13,67622.6
Lenovo12,30520.4
Dell Inc.10,19016.9
Acer Group4,0856.8
Apple4,0006.6
Others16,12826.7
Total60,383100.0
Preliminary results. Shipments are in thousands of units. Source: IDC Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker, April 11, 2018

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PC’s used to be a leading indicator of the health of the tech sector. That is not the case anymore. Economic stress has lengthened the life span of PCs from 3 years to nearly 5 years in many firms and even longer in the home market. Increased smartphones capability and cloud-based applications and storage have taken another bite out of the PC market.

But looking into the tea leaves, many think PCs are on the rebound. Driving the PC market is a demand for premium notebooks in the mainstream and commercial markets. Gaming systems are also part of the equation. IDC expects overall smartphone shipments to decline by 0.2% in 2018 after falling 0.3% last year, the thought is that those dollars would be used to upgrade their PCs.

Mmmm – we’ll see. I say not likely. Can you say “new normal?”

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| February 2, 2013
Comments Off on Acer Halts eMachines

Acer Halts eMachines

Acer Halts eMachinesTaiwanese PC maker Acer confirmed to ChinaTechNews.com that the company has terminated the operations of its eMachines brand, which was gained during the company’s 2007 $710 million acquisition of Gateway. Gateway acquired eMachines in 2004 for $30 million, and Packard Bell in 2007.

emachne logoThe termination of the operation of the eMachines brand is in line with the streamlining policy announced at the end of 2011 by J.T. Wang, chairman of Acer (ACEIY) The company will continue to carry out brand integration and the entire process is expected to be completed in three years. Reportedly, Acer will continue to invest in post-PC Gateway and Packard Bell products to sell “a variety of devices that would have been thought of as beyond the PC in the past,” Lisa Emard, an Acer spokeswoman, said in an email to PCWorld.

Acer was the fourth-largest PC vendor behind HP (HPQ), Lenovo (LNVGY) and Dell (DELL). They have shipped around 7 million units, in FY 2012, a drop of 28.2% compared year over year reports PCWorld.

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eMachines, the ultimate throw-away machine, has fallen victim to the iPad. I had an eMachines for a while at the turn of the century, and yes it survived Y2K. Do you think it matters that Acer stopped selling eMachines?

 

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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| December 7, 2010
Comments Off on More Wi-Fi Patent Legal Wrangling

More Wi-Fi Patent Legal Wrangling

TMore Wi-Fi Patent Legal Wranglinghe wireless patent wars wage on. Ericsson, (ERIC) the Swedish telecommunications giant has filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against a number of companies for alleged patent infringement of its IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi products reports CENS.com. CENS.com says the businesses named in Ericsson’s lawsuit include:

The CENS.com article says the lawsuit involves all WLAN (wireless local area network) devices either incorporating chipsets supplied by:

or OEM products made by:

Foxconn logoTech Connect reports that Ericsson claims, the companies named are offering products that violate one or more of the following WLAN patents (number/title):

  • 6,466,568 – ‘Multi-rate radiocommunication systems and terminals’
  • 5,771,468 – ‘Multi-purpose base station’
  • 6,519,223 – ‘System and method for implementing a semi-reliable retransmission protocol’
  • 6,330,435 – ‘Data packet discard notification’
  • 6,772,215 – ‘Method for minimizing feedback responses in ARQ protocols
  • 6,424,625 – ‘Method and apparatus for discarding packets in a data network having automatic repeat request’
  • 6,173,352 – ‘Mobile computer mounted apparatus for controlling enablement and indicating the operational status of a wireless communication’
  • 5,987,019 – ‘Multi-rate radiocommunication systems and terminals’
  • 5,790,516 – ‘Pulse shaping for data transmission in an orthogonal frequency division multiplexed system’

D-Link logoEricsson requested the infringing companies to compensate its losses and asked the court to ban the sales of the infringing products. D-Link told CENS.com they cannot give any comment because the company had not received any file from the court. But it will not affect the sales of its products. Acer told CENS.com that its legal department had received the related notice and has started judicial procedures.

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I have covered other WLAN patent suits here and here. While I’m no patent lawyer, what this says to me is that the WLAN market is starting to level off and firms are looking for “other” ways to make some money without producing products. A business tactic fresh from the 1980s.

I also noticed that this suit between a European firm (Ericsson) and Asian firms (Acer, Netgear, and D-Link) was brought in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. This seems to be a favorite place for firms to sue each other, I wonder if anyone has ever investigated why this court is so popular for alleged patent troll cases.

One of the things that we instituted a while ago, in our RFP’s and contract’s is a clause that requires the VAR and the manufacturer to hold the end-user harmless in regards to patent suits the VAR or manufacturer may get entangled in.

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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.

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