Tech Advisor March 2022

PCs flew off the shelves during 2021 – and without the ongoing constraints in the supply chain, people would have bought even more. According to reports released by Gartner and IDC, 2021 continued the unexpected surge in demand for PCs and Chromebooks. According to Gartner, PC shipments surged 9.9 per cent in 2021 to 339.8 million units. IDC reported even sharper growth: 14.8 per cent, up to 348.8 million units. (IDC is a division of IDG, the company that owns Tech Advisor, but has no editorial affiliation with us.) The two analyst groups typically differ slightly in how they collect their data. Gartner tracks desktops, notebooks, ultra-mobiles like the Microsoft Surface and Chromebooks; IDC tracks desktops, notebooks and workstations, but not tablets in its yearend reports. Nevertheless, both firms had…

PCs flew off the shelves during 2021 – and without the ongoing constraints in the supply chain, people would have bought even more. According to reports released by Gartner and IDC, 2021 continued the unexpected surge in demand for PCs and Chromebooks. According to Gartner, PC shipments surged 9.9 per cent in 2021 to 339.8 million units. IDC reported even sharper growth: 14.8 per cent, up to 348.8 million units. (IDC is a division of IDG, the company that owns Tech Advisor, but has no editorial affiliation with us.) The two analyst groups typically differ slightly in how they collect their data. Gartner tracks desktops, notebooks, ultra-mobiles like the Microsoft Surface and Chromebooks; IDC tracks desktops, notebooks and workstations, but not tablets in its yearend reports. Nevertheless, both firms had the…

Intel has named Michelle Johnston Holthaus, the current executive vice president of its Sales, Marketing and Communications Group, as the new head of its Client Computing Group (CCG), which includes Intel’s Core processor line. Gregory ‘GB’ Bryant, who at the time of writing headed Intel’s CCG, was due to leave at the end of January for another opportunity, Intel said. Holthaus had been the head of Intel’s sales and marketing group since 2017 and previously led all of Intel’s CCG sales. In her new role, she will be responsible for all aspects of running and growing the client business, including “strategy, financial performance and product development for the full portfolio of client technologies and platforms designed to enable exceptional personal computing experiences,” Intel said in a statement. “Michelle’s track record…

CES returned to Las Vegas in 2022, but most of the major PC players decided to stick to the safety of remote events. The parade of PC hardware went on regardless. Big names AMD, Intel and Nvidia all made splashy announcements, and PC manufacturers followed in their wake with new products, many coming soon. Peripherals and displays proved just as exciting. No time to sift through all our CES coverage? No problem. Read on for our Best of CES picks – the most intriguing and innovative products we saw. (If you’re looking for higherlevel impressions from the show, be sure to check out our round-ups of 5 laptops trends, see page 21, and 5 monitor trends that PC enthusiasts can’t ignore, see page 27.) 1. CYBERPOWERPC KINETIC CASE We’ve seen…

Intel has named Michelle Johnston Holthaus, the current executive vice president of its Sales, Marketing and Communications Group, as the new head of its Client Computing Group (CCG), which includes Intel’s Core processor line. Gregory ‘GB’ Bryant, who at the time of writing headed Intel’s CCG, was due to leave at the end of January for another opportunity, Intel said. Holthaus had been the head of Intel’s sales and marketing group since 2017 and previously led all of Intel’s CCG sales. In her new role, she will be responsible for all aspects of running and growing the client business, including “strategy, financial performance and product development for the full portfolio of client technologies and platforms designed to enable exceptional personal computing experiences,” Intel said in a statement. “Michelle’s track record of success…

CES 2022 is typically the single most important media event for the PC laptop industry. This year proved no different despite the sudden and unexpected shift from to a largely virtually show (The major chip makers all stayed remote, as did most laptop manufacturers). In fact, 2022 is shaping up to be an excellent year for Windows laptops. New CPUs and GPUs from AMD, Nvidia and Intel promise to send laptop performance to the moon – and that’s just the start. Here’s five top laptop trends from CES 2022 that simply can’t be ignored. 1. LAPTOPS GROW IN POWER (AND POWER CONSUMPTION) The PC laptop world was focused on large, heavy, and expensive laptops at CES 2022. While AMD, Intel and Nvidia continue to make silicon focused on thin-and-light systems,…