Maybe if they ask nicely, intel will bail them out?

I don't know who the analyst was who suggested that .” Windows 8 may provide a bit of a boost to desktop PC sales with its integration of touch screen features inviting new hardware investments."

I would wonder if he really appreciates that W8 is not desktop friendly!!!!

It seems at least in the professional area(according to Anandtech),Dell has very agressive pricing for their workstations,sometimes measuring in the thousands of dollars cheaper,for similar specification. This could be another reason why profits are dropping as their margins are much lower than before.

What would be interesting to know is how many units they ship in each of the markets and in what price ranges.

I read this and thought - I've not been tempted to buy any dell desktops or laptops for a while, and there was a time when our company had nothing else.

Dell still have some ok deals, but I've noticed that they offer very litle customisation options compared to just a couple of years ago.

Well a lot of people I know have a laptop and they are just not interested for example in buying another until their present lappy dies…plus tablets must be killing laptop sales, right?

Dell are still way better than HP for customization.

3dcandy
Well a lot of people I know have a laptop and they are just not interested for example in buying another until their present lappy dies…plus tablets must be killing laptop sales, right?

Yep everyone keeping there old laptops and getting new gadgets such as tablets/kindles/phones.

In times of hotukdeals, and an ever increasing throw away culture of cheap electronic devices, I fear that Dell will not compete with the cheap eastern market. In my experience Dell laptops are better built than Acer/emachines, but with batteries only lasting a year or so, and technology improving at such a fast rate, it's no longer cost effective to spend 20-30% more on something that will be outdated in a couple of years.