Future for PCs and Macs (Opinion and Study)

[najiro]

Wrote a lengthy reply in another tech forum somewhere and I don't want to waste the effort so I'll post it here as well. Hence, I just want to impart learning.

Argument was "do PCs have a bleak future compared to Mac"
So I answered it in a form of a small case study. My answers are based on real economic laws and theories and all of the things I learned as a PC hardware enthusiast, an economist and as a website content writer.

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Basis Of the Study:
It must be global and not country specific. Why? Due to the following factors:

Different Per Capita Income for example. This variable basically means the average income households in an economy (country-wise). Americans and citizens of other well-developed countries obviously have a higher per capita income compared to the those from third world countries for that matter. Hence, high Per capita income means a higher disposable income which also means higher willingness to pay. With that in mind, high per capita income means one can have the luxury to choose wants over needs (luxury goods > commodities). Example a ferrari over a toyota. Let us define what's a luxury good. Luxury goods are products and services that are not considered essential and are associated with affluence. It doesn't mean that if it's expensive, it's automatically a luxury good. Hence, Apple products have long been associated as a luxury good. We can have a lengthy debate about that matter but here's my point.... in studying the trend of buying these goods, what's true to one country is not true elsewhere, what's true to Philippines is not true elsewhere... what's true to the United States is not true to Afghanistan nor to other countries in the world based on the said variables.

Moving on, what are the evidences that PCs have a bright future and will not likely die? Let me categorize the evidences into two separate views, microeconomic and macroeconomic point of views that are generally true elsewhere (or if not, the majority of this modern era).

Microeconomic Level (firms and households)

We can say that computers are commodities whether you're a student making assignments and research or an office worker encoding records using a computer, this trend is now TRUE. Okay let us insert the issue of PCs vs macs. We can have a long debate about which is better but such point of view is subjective which is played by preference. Hence, we can say that using that variable as the basis of choice would be BIASED. Leaving that behind, we can also say that PCs and MACs are the same goods in general in terms of usage ceteris paribus (leaving all other things constant, like better anti virus capabilities, overclocking and so on). In an equally competitive market (meaning prices are controlled by natural market forces, not controlled by the government), price is the only unbiased variable we can use in comparing the trend of buying computers and what does the law of demand tell about this? it states that consumers buy more of a good when its price is lower and less when its price is higher (ceteris paribus). Since Macs are more expensive than PCs.. We can conclude that PCs have the upper hand with respect to this variable. Only in an event of monopolization that the other would prevail which is very unlikely to happen today.

Macroeconomic Level (worldwide)

What are the signs that the trend for PC is positive? One needs to check the smaller organizations that support its growth like the motherboard manufacturers, NAND chip makers, HDD and SSD and so on.. We can examine all of these organizations from ASUS to ZOTAC and we can conclude that these organizations are booming or growing. Do you see signs that they are slowing down? Highly doubtful... Development on hardware are so fast nowadays that its becoming hard to keep up with the latest hardware like how graphics card manufacturers (AMD and NVIDIA) constantly release a new and better line every after 3-4 quarters. See the SSD market? There are so many players now.. I can't even name all the brands that are available. Ram module makers are too many as well. We all know that macs are very strict in terms of hardware compatibility thus a larger percentage of manufactured hardware today are built for PC use... not Mac... With all that, we can conclude that the PC market is a very profitable field business-wise.

What are the other evidences that support the boom of PCs? Forums like this one, Bjorn3d, itself is a good example. How many threads are created that support or promote purchasing a PC hardware vs something for mac? I bet it's around 1 is to 25 or larger. All the hardware reviews promote economic activity or in layman's term.. it promotes purchases on these hardware. Just like how store displays are meant to entice and encourage purchases from any onlooker. Also, the fact that there's always a fresh supply of PC hardware means there's positive economic activity going on for that good.

Conclusion:
With all the above-mentioned, there's a lot of economic proof that PC's future is very bright. Hence, I am not concluding the opposite for Macs. Competition is always good for consumers, the presence of Macs means that there's a healthy competition going on in the computer market. I am concluding that PCs have a brighter and sturdier future compared to Mac.

I hope this will impart insights of learning and not trolling.
Any thoughts? Share it as well.

[TehYoyo]

I've heard this a lot from my friends - "Oh no! If Windows 8 isn't a success, it'll be the end of Microsoft! They're going to move out of the desktop market and only focus on mobile now! Ahhhhhhh!"

WHAT?????? Microsoft? I sure hope you aren't talking about the company that has 82.1% of all market share. Or the company with the OS that is still gaining users, over 3 years since its release. Or the company that has eliminated all rivals from the office publishing suite. I'd bet that over 90% of all Mac users use Microsoft Office. And about 99% of all Linux/Windows users as well.

C'mon. Serious? Microsoft is a giant that won't be taken down for a while. It's crazy to think that a company with only 9% of all OS share might possibly challenge Microsoft. Maybe in 50 years, but not anywhere in the future.

I think that everyone romanticizes Apple - we see people with those sleek Macbooks, sleek iPhone 5gs, iPad mini, etc. and we think that it's all over. Truth is, it's not. Truth is, most people don't have the 2 grand required to get an entry-level Mac. They do, however, have 800 to grab a Windows computer. That's a big factor.

Of course, Apple probably has the same monopoly on portable music. I don't doubt that. But Microsoft isn't in portable music (aside from the Zune, which was horrible failure). They're mainly in the phone and OS, and now tablet business. And that's doing fine.

[najiro]

Good insight there TehYoyo
Yes I agree with all you said. The argument was about PCs vs Macs in general. Your statement give support that PCs are here to stay and have a very solid foundation business-wise. Microsoft is indeed a giant and I believe they are mightier than Apple even it MS only produce operating systems. It's just now that MS started joining the mobile phone market as well as some hardware like the MS surface. Hence, both are there to stay and I don't see signs of weakening to the PC and Mac market. It's just that PCs prove to have a larger market share and will surely stay that way for years to come.

Happy to see somebody likes long reads LOL.