The question long, and I mean long, term is will PC's become such commodity items that they become effectively free. Will the consumer be able to have a network company give them a PC in exchange for signing up for a year of full service. There was an article in last weeks Business Week that there is a full bore computer coming out this Christmas that costs under 600 dollars with monitor. And its not very stripped down. That starts to get to the level satelite dishes were at when they became popular. Nowdays you get one free if you sign up with Direct TV. How that impacts the computer retailers would be a question.But thats in the future. I have some concerns long term with CPU because of this. However, short term, ie 1 year, I think CPU will do OK. The Apple deal is very good for them, and as Apple recovers, so will CPU.
One wildcard in this is MSFT. If they come out with a new OS, that could have a large impact. MSFT has always produced products that are memory hogs. And since the majority of the cheap PC's are non-scaleble, people will be forced to upgrade. So who knows. One positive for CPU is that they are good at what they do,so they know how to squeeze every ounce of profit on thin margins. Only the future will tell.
Personally, if CPU falls to single digits, I will probably buy. |
