Windows Media Laptop Sales Spike as Prices Drop

[Suhit Gupta]

http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,124664,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp

"Sales of Windows Media Center Edition notebook computers in the U.S. retail market had their biggest surge yet, as prices for the laptops dropped drastically between the end of December and the end of January, according to new research by Current Analysis Inc. Computers running Microsoft's Windows Media Center OS accounted for 16.5 percent of notebook sales in retail chains such as Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA in January, rising from a 4 percent share of laptop sales at those outlets in December, according to Nicole D'Onofrio, mobile computing analyst with the Sterling, Virginia, research firm. The primary reason for the rise in sales is the drop in price, from an average retail price of $1735 in December 2005 to $1251 in January, she said."

Wow, I am actually quite surprised by this because I didn't think that laptop based MCEs were selling well at all. I wonder why the laptop version is selling so well though because I would have though that most people would simply go for a small form factor PC with Windows MCE. I wonder whether this news means that people are happy to buy a laptop that they use for portability, for plugging into their televisions as a PVR and even ultimately do their image and video editing on that singular solution. How many of you have a laptop with Windows MCE?

[Suhit Gupta]

http://www.pcworld.com/resource/article/0,aid,124664,pg,1,RSS,RSS,00.asp

"Sales of Windows Media Center Edition notebook computers in the U.S. retail market had their biggest surge yet, as prices for the laptops dropped drastically between the end of December and the end of January, according to new research by Current Analysis Inc. Computers running Microsoft's Windows Media Center OS accounted for 16.5 percent of notebook sales in retail chains such as Circuit City, Best Buy, and CompUSA in January, rising from a 4 percent share of laptop sales at those outlets in December, according to Nicole D'Onofrio, mobile computing analyst with the Sterling, Virginia, research firm. The primary reason for the rise in sales is the drop in price, from an average retail price of $1735 in December 2005 to $1251 in January, she said."

Wow, I am actually quite surprised by this because I didn't think that laptop based MCEs were selling well at all. I wonder why the laptop version is selling so well though because I would have though that most people would simply go for a small form factor PC with Windows MCE. I wonder whether this news means that people are happy to buy a laptop that they use for portability, for plugging into their televisions as a PVR and even ultimately do their image and video editing on that singular solution. How many of you have a laptop with Windows MCE?

[Felix Torres]

Originally Posted by Suhit Gupta

I wonder why the laptop version is selling so well though because I would have though that most people would simply go for a small form factor PC with Windows MCE. I wonder whether this news means that people are happy to buy a laptop that they use for portability, for plugging into their televisions as a PVR and even ultimately do their image and video editing on that singular solution. How many of you have a laptop with Windows MCE?

In a word: students.
Especially college students.
I suggested MCE to a friend of mine a couple years back.
Everybody in the family loves it.
When his son moved out to college this year, he left with an MCE laptop.
It gives him everthing he needs (video, audio, TV, computer, gaming) in one compact package.

And the battery is a nice UPS, too. ;-)

[Kacey Green]

but many of these don't even have tuners why even offer it as an option if it doesn't have a tuner? pro and home play-back prerecorded content just fine

[Outlaw94]

I purchased a MCE Laptop (Dell 9300) during the summer. I love it. I don't have a TV tuner yet. With the laptop being pretty big I wanted a TV Tuner that added very little weight for when I travel home about once a month. I use my self built MCE desktop to record shows and before I purchased my 360 I used to hook my MCE laptop to my TV and would watch my recorded TV through my network that way.

I have been shopping for computers for my father and have notices that besides the small form factor computers, most new laptops have MCE on them for very little extra. Maybe its MS way of pushing the MCE brand and totally doing away with the Home version.

[freiberghk]

I think you just hit on the reason... For about the same price as Windows Home Edition you can now get Media Center Edition.

[Jason Dunn]

Originally Posted by Kacey Green

pro and home play-back prerecorded content just fine

Not at all. Even without a TV tuner, an MCE laptop with a remote control is a FAR better content playback machine than XP Pro. Slideshows, music, DVDs - all are far better on a big 10 foot interface.

[Jason Kravitz]

I got a Dell 9300 which came pre-installed with MCE. I didn't really have a choice unless I wanted to pay extra for XP Pro so I decided to try it out.

I still have not really used on of the MCE features yet. I'm about to move overseas so I might start using this as my DVD player etc

Now I've just got to get a new TV

[OSUKid7]

Originally Posted by Felix Torres

In a word: students.
Especially college students.

Bingo.

*raises hand*

I got specifically looked for a MCE laptop before heading to college, and am very happy with my HP Pavilion zd8000 laptop. It has an external dual NTSC tuner plus FM radio. Dual tuners are the only way to go.

Other than students, I guess people want to stay mobile while still having the MCE capabilities. I doubt many people hook up high-end displays to their MCE laptops, but they make great all-in-one devices for tight spaces.

[Kacey Green]

Ok I see as a replacement for home etd. it makes sense w/o a tuner, but for pro none. Wait 'till vista where there is no MCE edition anymore that'll give the third parties a run for the money I can't wait for QAM

[Felix Torres]

Originally Posted by Kacey Green

but many of these don't even have tuners why even offer it as an option if it doesn't have a tuner? pro and home play-back prerecorded content just fine

Uh, tuners *are* an option.
You can buy it *with* a tuner or you can add one, later.
There are MCE-certified tuners in both USB and PCCARD formats if you want to add one later.
There are even a couple of USB-based HD Tuners which make more sense than NTSC at this point in time.
And even without a tuner, USB video capture adapters let you hook up STBs.