HP rethinking its PC division

[Student26]

This more hardware related news, but since the surprising decision by HP to close down its PC division we have news that this may not be the case:

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, HP is rethinking its plans that were set in motion by former CEO Leo Apotheker. After crunching the numbers and analyzing the market place, HP executives are fast coming to the conclusion that the company is better served by holding onto its PC division, which added $40.1 billion in revenue and $2 billion in operating profit to HP's bottom line in its last fiscal year.

There's also a trickle down effect to spinning off the world's largest PC business. HP would lose its leverage with component makers and ultimately end up paying higher prices for parts it can get at bulk discounts. Either way, HP plans to continue selling servers, but would lose its price advantage when it came time to stock up on processors, hard drives, and other parts.

Source

Further, Dell executive Michael Dell is on the record for saying:

“It’s a growth market,” said Dell, estimating that there will be 2 billion PCs in a few years — a 500 million increase from now. He also said a vast majority of PC components go into client devices — 95% of all hard drives, for example. “From a cost standpoint you can have enormous scale,” he said.

Finally, Dell said that cutting off the client business makes it less likely for employees of companies that are HP’s clients to buy HP products. “We know from our history that there is enormous connection from one device to another,” Dell said.

Source

Apparently I was not the only one who thought that the notion of folding their entire PC was, shall we say silly. Maybe reduce it but not destroy it.

[hellnoire]

HP isn't a name I'd recommend when it comes to desktops or laptops, but it's still a decent name. It's also really good for them to know that the PC market isn't dying at all.

[Student26]

HP isn't a name I'd recommend when it comes to desktops or laptops, but it's still a decent name. It's also really good for them to know that the PC market isn't dying at all.

I agree that HP computers are not of the most durable build (there was a thread on the forum that showed HP to be the least reliable of all the computer vendors).
However, personal experience with my parents HP desktop has been very good though I wouldn't be surprised if it dies the day the warranty expires.

[Bearcat]

When I heard a week or so ago that Leo Apotheker had been deposed as CEO, I wondered if something like this would happen. It seemed really strange to me that HP would fold its PC division and now it looks like they may not after all.