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Forbes takes a look at new economy

updated 09:00 am EST, Mon December 4, 2000


A Forbes.com article takes a look at the so-called new economy, drawing parallels between it and the old economy. "The new economy is nothing more than the old economy because it is impossible to maintain high growth rates... Apple and other computer makers can sell a lot of computers, but people do not necessarily want to continually buy new machines. While it's nice to have a fast machine, individuals can quickly decide that they don't need a new machine if there is no compelling reason to upgrade. There hasn't been a compelling reason for years and the machines seem to be holding up."


by MacNN Staff

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  1. 0

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    12/04, 09:28am | report spam | Reply | delete

    About time

    I have been waitng for someone other than myself to make this observation. With all of the panic associated with slumping technology sales, it is about time someone stated this. The nature of buisness is cyclical, and after 2-3 years of intense sales, the industry is bound to take a break for a quarter or two.

    Nice to see someone actually thinking about the problem, instead of crying "the sky is falling."

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    12/04, 09:54am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Re: About time

    I agree. Believe me, u weren't the only 'human' thinking that. I have a B&WG3 350 and I see no compelling reason to upgrade for atleast another year - possibly even 2. I have a 7100/80av that I *still* use. I had that for 4 years b4 I purchased the G3.

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    12/04, 10:00am | report spam | Reply | delete

    exactly

    !

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    12/04, 10:25am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Compelling...?

    I think a lot of people are waiting for G4e, DDR, etc. but also don't want "rev a" buggy hardware. Micron is saying 90 days delay on AMD DDR, Pentium4 ads won't hit until Spring (and software needs tweaking, both OS and applications) to take advantage. Seeing how new G4 low end will be same or less than what my B&W sold for, offer ATA/100, 133 mhz bus, AGP 4x or greater, those are good reasons. I've spent as much upgrading memory, disk drives, cpu, video as I can. The cost of a G4 upgrade would be the same as selling what I have and buying.

    Do I need it? No. But I'd rather trade-up just the same. I couldn't really "run" 9.0/9.1 on that 7100/80 and needed more RAM than it handles.

    Software drives the hardware, and running IE 5 and 9.0 takes more than G3/300 w/ 128MB.

    I think a LOT of users are waiting for next speed bump, both Intel/AMD and Mac. A 750 mhz cpu minimum for my next purchase. And that may not happen until next fall... at best it sounds like...

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    12/04, 10:31am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Software

    I agree. I'm even more amazed at how people feel they have to have the latest software. I work in a MS house (the decision making guy must have his retirement in MS) and we have to upgrade to every MS product the day it's released.

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    12/04, 10:45am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Upgradeable Hardware

    I agree also, but think companies like Apple should try harder to make their products more upgradeable. Not only are users like myself in no hurry to purchase new each time, the technology of yesterday is not finding a productive place to be. It ends up in basements or landfills. Schools are getting new hardware and there are fewer places where they'll accept older equipment. Apple could make money selling some of their own upgrades, not only in the processor dept, but others as well. Just something to think about! My PM9500 will last me a few more years I'm sure.

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    12/04, 10:52am | report spam | Reply | delete

    re: Compelling

    Well, since my B&W G3 350 has an Ultra2 SCSI with 27 Gigs of drive, 448M RAM, DVD, and zip drive. I truly see no compelling reason to upgrade soley for fatser CPU and bus. Unless u are crunching video or live on Quake there is no 'rea' world' benefit. If i want a G4.. i'll go buy an xlr8 card for 500$.

    As far as my 7100 is concerned... it has 136 M RAM, 2 monitors, 2 Gigs of drive... I use it as a software router, ssh prompt, and test platform for old browsers, locl DNS server, crunchyiin SETI units, bla bla. And BTW... this is all running perfectly with OS9.0.4.

    Sure, i'm waiting for the next speed bump, cause with out the next one, they won't get to the speed in which i'll buy my next computer (at least 1GHz).

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    12/04, 10:54am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Apple case

    well, in the case of Apple hardware, there hasn't been a compelling reason to upgrade the past year... because there wasn't any substantial change ! Except for the cube (ridiculously expensive for what it is) and a 50MHz speed increase in the G4 line, there has been no other change but colors.

    PC world is the same though, with processors reaching 1.5GHz but RAM speeds not being able to catch up, you can safely say that the 'feel'-speeds of PCs haven't increased much either

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    12/04, 12:37pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Forbes Is Right

    I think the Forbes article is accurate in capturing the sentiment of most consumer computer buyers ... no one is interested in buying a new machine every year if they don't have to. Faster-cheaper-better only benefits computer manufacturers and the niche market of buyers who must have the latest-and-greatest. For the rest of us, we feel the need to upgrade only when some functionality is lost by not doing so.

    As far as crying for upgradeable Macs, forget it. Why spend $700 on a CPU upgrade board when $800 or $900 buys you a whole new machine with newer hard drive and other components?! It seems wasteful to have to throwout 90% product when only 10% needs replacing, but until those upgrade boards get down to $100 or so, its not economically advisable to upgrade an older machine.

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    12/04, 01:40pm | report spam | Reply | delete

    Computer & Car Industry

    I still have a Beige G3, which I would love to upgrade, but I can't justify it. I've added a SCSI and USB card. Even though it's only 300Mhz, it's fast enough for what I'm doing.
    I think the computer industry will eventual migrate to the car industry model. A car can last a very long time, but people usually do not drive them for their entire useful life. They get a new car even though they don't really need one. I know their are a lot of differences, but their are also a lot of similarities (i.e. both need maintenance every so often). Just food for thought.

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