Price, battery life, performance – that's how you sell PCs

The majority of PCs that commercial resellers shipped to enterprise customers in Q4 were AI-capable, however, it was the traditional levers of price, battery life and performance these biz buyers were mostly sold on. Some 54 percent of laptops shipped from distributors to their UK customers in the final three months of 2025 …

[Neil Barnes]

I wonder if the problem is nothing to do with the spec of the computer

In that what many people do in terms of 'computing' has little if anything that can't be done on a phone, or if they want a larger screen, a tablet.

Anecdotally, the kids and grandkid use phones and tablets except for work tasks. Mrs B uses a laptop largely to use the browser and to play patience; a tablet would do the job as well but she likes the format. I use a laptop with multiple screens (depending where I am) but I develop software and hardware for my own amusement - I'm no longer tied to work.

I suppose the only other use case that requires fat hardware is the gamers'.

I don't know of anyone who's crying out for the AI hardware add-ons.

[Luiz Abdala]

Re: I wonder if the problem is nothing to do with the spec of the computer

As a gamer, I require the fattest hardware that I can service myself, ruling notebooks straight out. Old school full ATX cases. They are glass aquariums these days, but the thumb rule is still ATX, ITX if you are feeling bold and want it to be luggable.

And notebooks that are remotely adequate for gaming, are either power hungry, overheating gremlins, or must be tethered to a power socket to unleash the full multipliers, or all of the above. Regardless, they are a chore to fix if something goes wrong. Yes, they still are constrained, 20 years out of the idea.

[Roland6]

Re: I wonder if the problem is nothing to do with the spec of the computer

However, the vast majority of general public “Gamers” still use XBox, PlayStation, Nintendo. I expect the console market is a driver for the new Steam console.

Thus, I would agree the problem for the majority of people isn’t the spec’s but what they actually need it to do. 20 odd years back, you needed a PC to surf the web and receive email. With the rise of large screen and fast smartphones, games consoles and smartTVs that can also serve as multimedia/entertainment servers, streaming services etc. I see little need for most people to have a PC outside of work. I suggest for many the PC is going the same way as VCR’s, Record/Cassette/CD players etc.

Otherwise don’t disagree with your analysis, just that your needs represent a relatively small sector of the market.

[MachDiamond]

Re: I wonder if the problem is nothing to do with the spec of the computer

"And notebooks that are remotely adequate for gaming, are either power hungry, overheating gremlins, or must be tethered to a power socket to unleash the full multipliers, or all of the above."

Not just gaming, but photo editing, video editing, FEA/BEM and CFD. I have a 13" MBP, but my daily driver is a 27" iMac for common tasks. For real work, I have an expanded MacPro and a fat PC for 3D CAD. A laptop won't cut it and I've been spoiled rotten for many years with multiple large monitors fixed at an ergonomic working height. The laptop goes with my on trips and to pre-process media files while I drive back to the home office from the field.

[ZekeStone]

Re: I wonder if the problem is nothing to do with the spec of the computer

I don't understand why there are people down-voting you.

[Tim99]

Re: I wonder if the problem is nothing to do with the spec of the computer

Obviously, there is a screen size penalty, but I was really impressed by how much faster my M3 iMac was compared with its 2017 24" Intel predecessor. Apparently the M4 is faster, but I'm retired, and this may well be my last expensive computer. Most of my "work" is pro bono, and I spend a fair bit of time at the terminal; so no real deadlines, and not too much graphics. My occasional use of FFmpeg appears much faster than with the previous iMac (more processors help too?), although sometimes I run it on a "spare" Raspberry Pi where the time taken is not important.

[Electronics'R'Us]

Re: I wonder if the problem is nothing to do with the spec of the computer

One of my primary tasks at $EMPLOYER is to design hardware, so I use a pretty powerful CAD package. I also do a fair amount of software (embedded, mostly ARM).

My Dell laptop (which I had upgraded to 16GB - really the minimum necessary for a modern CAD package) handles this without a problem with my multiple screen setup.. No 'AI' chips in sight.

I see no point in the AI add-ons as they cannot do anything useful in my area (it might leave something useful its wake just as expert systems did but what remained after that debacle was a far cry from what had been promised - sounds familiar...).

I have seen lots of posts across various sites where the claims of 'AI did my PCB!' pop up now and then but the problem with that is the schematic and layout are the implementation phase by which time I have already done the hard work of figuring out what the design has to be, something no amount of current AI / LLMs can do (well, without very specific guidance but if I have to get that specific I have already done the work).

[lordminty]

Re: I wonder if the problem is nothing to do with the spec of the computer

Totally this.

I've vowed to not buy another PC, despite all my existing PCs, bar one, being geriatric and unable to upgrade to Win11. One already runs Linux.

The future isn't Wintel x64, its ARM. Without Windows.

My next PC will be another Raspberry Pi. It does everything I want, including AI should I feel the need. And it'll be MY AI, not anyone else's shoved on me like Copilot (and if I really need it I can use it on Android!).

[hedgie]

Re: I wonder if the problem is nothing to do with the spec of the computer

For art/photography, I need a fair amount of power, enough to comfortably work on fairly large (roughly 750MB without layers) .tiff files without noticeable lag. But I've *had* hardware that can do that for ages now, and the only incentive I have (aside from planned obsolescence ) to ever upgrade is simply to counter increasing bloat[1] in each new OS version or versions of the software I'm using. What gaming I was doing, until recently[2] meant I could run FFXIV with med-high graphics settings quite acceptably on a 6 year old iMac that was no longer supported, and that's *with* WINE overhead.

Whole point of the digression is that I have much higher hardware needs than the "average" user, and even so, my ageing system does everything it's supposed to. In the next year or two, it'll have to get replaced by a decently specced Mini, which I'll probably keep for about the same amount of time. Someone who only uses the web and office apps, and maybe whatever photo editing software ships with the OS to touch up family photos a little, play movies and music and similar has even *less* of an incentive to "upgrade", and again, are only going to be doing so from planned obsolescence and increasing bloat. The people who actually need every little incremental increase in hardware power are a tiny minority of home users, and truthfully, businesses as well.

So people have few enough incentives to upgrade until something breaks, either dying hardware or finding what they need is no longer supported. All this AI crap driving up the price of every component is going to further dent sales. And it seems like most people haven't bought in to the hype and don't give a shit about "AI PCs" in general. Sure, there's CMOT conning folks into buying one if they walk into a store, but more of the market is buying online.

[1] Thankfully, MacOS and Linux are far better about that than M$, but it still happens.

[2] XIV hasn't supported Intel Macs at all since the launch of Dawntrail, but with XIV on Mac I was still able to run it just fine until the launcher broke with the last set of patches. Right now, I can get on through the official launcher, and without the WINE optimisations but basically only able to craft because it's so slow, so I only log in to keep my houses. On the same hardware, once I get around to dual-booting and use an optimised Linux launcher, I'll be back in business, probably performing better than before.

[AlanSh]

I have no interest in AI - and a rant.

I wanted a powerful PC for photo processing (Adobe s/w). The best "value" seemed to be an HP one with the top level AMD processor, decent graphics processor and 64gb of memory. I got a good deal and it works well - apart from the stupid touchpad which will insist on zooming down to the bottom left when I want to do anything. HP say it's "normal" and won't do anything.

I've looked at replacing it but there's nothing else to touch it.

So, back on topic - I really have no interest in Co-pilot or other local AI stuff. I really can't see the point. If I do want to "use" AI for anything, I'll just as a question through a browser and let the servers at the other end do all the work.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: I have no interest in AI - and a rant.

> I wanted a powerful PC for photo processing (Adobe s/w).

Oddly enough, photo editing is where "AI" seems to shine. Imagine Select Subject (with feather), remove-object/background fill, etc. Even better, it's not an LLM (to the best of my knowledge) that implements this functionality.

[hedgie]

Re: I have no interest in AI - and a rant.

Exactly (I posted similar at greater length before reading your post). Only reasons I'm even starting to look at a fairly high-end Mini to replace the 6 year old iMac are from Intel Macs falling out of support entirely and to counter ever-increasing software bloat. You and I both need far more power than the average user and *still* what we have works perfectly well. The average user has even less of a reason to "upgrade" as long as their stuff all works.

[mcswell]

touchpad

I have a laptop with a touchpad. I'm a touch typer, and apparently the heel of my hand would touch the touchpad, sending the cursor off to never-never land. I got tired of that, bought a Bluetooth mouse (< $10), and turned off the touchpad (simple setting). A wired mouse would of course work as well.

[lglethal]

In news surprising to absolutely no one...

In news surprising to absolutely no one, (except Marketing and Tech Executives apparently), you will struggle to sell things to consumers which have no benefit to the consumer.

"Hey Sir, you want to buy this premium computer, complete with AI chip."

"Umm why is it so much more expensive then that one over there with the same specs?"

"That one doesnt have the AI chip!"

"What does the AI chip do?"

"It handles your AI applications?"

"What AI Applications?

"... Well when a really Killer AI App comes out, you'll need this chip to make it work!"

"You mean there is no Killer AI App, right now?"

"I'm sure it wont be long now! Top Tech people are working on it as we speak."

"Right... Well I'll come back and talk to you about this laptop when that killer app comes out. Bye now..."

[Darth.0]

I don't know

Killer app: Notepad with Copilot.

[DJV]

Re: Killer app?

Notepad withOUT Copilot.

FTFY

[Alumoi]

Re: Killer app?

No, he's right. Copilot killed Notepad.

[SonofRojBlake]

As long as "how do I turn off the AI?" is a popular search term, they're going to struggle to sell their Emperor's Clothing boxes.

[Andy The Hat]

At the moment, I get the impression that the killer apps (how much do I hate that term?) are those that turn off AI and personal data vacuuming in apps.

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm IT literate (I'm here aren't I?) and work has furnished me with a Copilot subscription (as part of a trial) and I have an HP Elitebook with a Copilot key where I'd prefer a second CTRL one to be. When I press it... I get the same menu as I get pressing teh Windows key. What's it actually for? All my Copiloting has so far been done in the various apps MS has bludgeoned it into. I. Don't. Get. It.

[ecofeco]

Consensus is being manufactured and outright forced to recoup the the trillions of dollars being invested in snake oil. Many companies that are not directly involved in the snake oil have instead, large stock holding in the snake oil companies. So they are going to carry the water for the snake oil as well.

Not even joking.

[lglethal]

A Killer AI App... hmm....

I'm not sure we really want a Killer AI App. I mean it hallucinates enough dangerous stuff already without it deliberately going out of its way to kill people!!

Also how are you going to get a Return on Investment of an App that kills its users!

Then again, the people who are actually willing to blindly follow whatever an AI says... I'm just trying to say, I dont think we'd be losing a cure for cancer, if you know what I mean... And if it can record the deaths and make them hilarious... Well I guess I can see how it might achieve a Return on Investment after all...

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: A Killer AI App... hmm....

Likewise my being naturally a cynical, suspicious chap and in this context more than a tad paranoid, when someone offers me a "Killer App" (AI "enhanced" or not) the first thing that crosses my mind is: who or what is it intended to kill ?

At the moment for the AI enhanced version the answer is looking increasingly like everybody and everything !

[PickteamDT]

I want optical drives back.

I just gave up shopping, I guess I'll wait till my old machine just dies.

[Sandtitz]

Re: I want optical drives back.

Laptops with optical drives are gone and not coming back.

Desktops with optical drives are still very much available.

I've been using a USB optical drive for the last 10 years with my different computers. DVD-RW USB drive is something like 40 eur.

[Bebu sa Ware]

Re: I want optical drives back.

I have a collection of laptops and desktops with optical drives but it has been years since I have used any of them. Pretty much all installation/rescue media has a usb memory stick option or a pxeboot network install image.

I still have a stack of writable dvd and cdrom media (stashed somewhere… presumably with the usb floppy drive ;)

I notice that (re)writable media is still fairly readily available so there must be a fairly common use for the technology but I don't immediately see what.

[IGotOut]

Re: I want optical drives back.

As a side note, I tried reading some 10 year old Cade's a few months back.

9 out of 10 were unusable. You could actually see the physical discolouration on the knackered discs, it looked like oil slicks on the disk

So be warned!

[deadlockvictim]

Re: I want optical drives back.

Cade = CD ?

[Flocke Kroes]

Re: I want optical drives back.

I switched to USB DVD a long time ago so lack of built in discs with laptops does not bother me. I use it to format shift DVDs. I would like to use M-Disc for backup but the price is still 8x a hard disk and I would need an autochanger.

[mIVQU#~(p,]

Give me a thin, light weight linux compatible laptop running on an arm processor with 16+Gb of memory and a minimum 256Gb ssd. No fans, powered by usb c cable

Ports: USB C - Power + Extra screen / hub

Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wifi (latest version)

Battery life: 18 hours+ under 'boring' work operation.

[FirstTangoInParis]

So you've just described the base model of a recent (M3 or M4) MacBook Air. The irony is it does come with a neural processor, but at least the big beefy Mac apps are actually using them. And yes it will actually last 18 hours.

Scrub it and run Linux if you want. But it already runs BSD. And it really is bloody fast; it runs Ubuntu on ARM VMs way faster than any PC I have at my disposal.

[midgepad]

processor etc not tied to USA please

and Linux.

[FirstTangoInParis]

Enterprises can be fussy

Enterprises who value their commercial or customer secrets take their IT very seriously. If it doesn't need something in a laptop, it will come without that or it won't come at all. Don't want a webcam? Gone. Want a built in screen protector? Got it. I can see a neural processor being an option that these sorts of companies will say 'no thanks'.

[MachDiamond]

Re: Enterprises can be fussy

"Enterprises who value their commercial or customer secrets take their IT very seriously. "

Ok, can you name that company?

[Ace2]

And screen resolution. Screen resolution, goddammit!

[ComicalEngineer]

Currently running an HP 15" Probook with an AMD Ryzen and 16GB of RAM [W10]. It's now 4 years old and I was considering getting a new one but then I figured that this one will see me out until retirement in 12 months or so and if it breaks I'll replace it with a S/H one running W10 unless there is a sensibly priced equivalent available new. I have a spare W10 and Office 2016 license so won't have to suffer the enshittification of W11. Failing that, if the old laptop can be repaired then it might will get Linux mint installed like my desktop. At the end of 2026 I won't need a Windows machine at all. :)

[ecofeco]

Best value right now?

Refurbished is the best way to go right now.

[Neil Barnes]

Re: Best value right now?

For me, always has been. Got to love those 'executive' full fat but lightweight laptops, barely used and just waiting for me to purchase at pennies on the pound at two or three years old and drop Linux on. I favour Dell Latitudes which seem to last a long time.

The last laptop I bought new was probably a Toshiba Libretto CT50.

[Bluck Mutter]

you must be my brother by another mother

Just got a used "Grade A" Dell Latitude, 16GB mem, 512GB ssd, I7, two in one flip touch screen laptop for $US 300 to replace my recently deceased 11 year old Lenovo (this is my "bedroom" laptop for browsing the news, talking shit on El Reg and spinning my ripped CD's).

This is just one of many I had got of the years (between my wife and I we own 6 laptops that do various "stuff").

And you are right about lack of use. Get a high spec one (like the one above) and invariably it has had bugger all use.

The one I just got had these key drive stats (as per smartctl):

Data Units Read: 39,517,327 [20.2 TB] Data Units Written: 31,222,872 [15.9 TB]

Power Cycles: 1,340 Power On Hours: 1,906

So the power cycles is about right for a ~5 year lease (250 work days x 5 years) BUT the average power on hours per day is 1.5 hours.Lack of use also reflected in the TB's written and read.

Thus must have been owned by a C-Suiter who checked his stock price and email in the morning and then spent the rest of the day power lunching and golfing.

This type of usage model is what I have seen with every grade A high end ex-lease PC (desktop or laptop) I have brought. The trick of course is to find an honest reseller, which I have.

Pro-top: avoid HP laptops... stick to Dell, Lenovo or Asus

Bluck

[ZekeStone]

No thanks

" On-device AI? " No thanks. Not interested.

On the subject of Dell:

"It didn't help that Dell phased out its XPS line – it is now reviving the brand. "I owe you an apology. We didn't listen to you. You were right on branding," Clarke said."

Yeah their recent marketing and model name changes are completely assinine. Why get rid of well established names like the Latitude?

Only the dumbest marketing people would throw away a well recognized brand name like that.

[mcswell]

Re: No thanks

You missed the point about new brand names. It's NEW! CLEAN! REFRESHED!

I shouldn't need to say this, but: /s.

[running with nukes]

Re: No thanks

<singing>

Ol' Adrian McDonald had a Dell

a-i a-i whoa

[Grunchy]

“Buy a PC” that’s funny

I finally upgraded my 2017-era 1800x, but with what? The problem I’ve got is they don’t make motherboards with PCI slots or serial/parallel ports. Anyway my trusty old MSI B350 pc-mate has never let me down. So, AMD came out with the latest greatest 5750GE but it can only be bought from Asia for some stupid reason, and soaked md for $250. However: 8 cores, 16 threads, 3.5 GHz or so, 35W tdp, and lets me run all 128GB of ram. This is basically a budget supercomputer even if the specs are somewhat behind “modern” PCs. It works, it does everything I need, it’s fully paid for, AND it has 2 PCI slots plus serial/parallel. Even if I’m not presently using it, I’ve got it, brand new PCs do not. Instead you get to pay for TPM. Something I have to disable on all the cast-off Dell Win10 era laptops I’m picking up for free from e-recycling!