Upgrade hopes rest on Vista

The greater technology requirements of Microsoft’s Vista operating system was seen by some at Computex as the great hope that will kick start component and PC sales.

Although talk centred more around Intel’s upcoming Core 2 Duo Conroe and Merom processors, and to a lesser extend AMD’s AM2 update, Vista was still considered an important reason that many are stalling their buying decisions.

While much of the price-sensitive mainstream cares less about which generation CPU is in their PC, they do want the latest Microsoft operating system. Higher end users, naturally, are also holding out for Intel’s Napa update, when it introduces the desktop Conroe and mobile Merom processors.

System builders will get Vista late this year, but it won’t ship to the retailers until January, a delay that has annoyed many companies because it means they will lose valuable sales during the lucrative Christmas market.

But in what has been a quiet sales year according to Taiwanese systems builders, companies are hanging on to new releases as a way to bring in much needed revenue.

Microsoft works closely with AMD and Intel while designing Vista, and computers with recent CPUs and graphics cards will run the operating system fine, said an AMD spokesman.

But some computers that are 18 months (depending on their specification) or older may need a hardware boost if owners install Vista. While the CPUs should be good enough, Vista is graphics hungry, and so may need a newer card to run the operating system smoothly.

Sandy Lee, a marketing manager at graphics card maker Palit, said: “We think that many end users don’t worry about graphics cards because they don’t need to. With Vista, they will need better graphics cards. So we think a lot of people who upgrade their PCs to Vista will then need to buy a graphics card.”

ECS is planning to release its Intel Viiv compliant entertainment PC, called EKT, in January, to coincide with the launch of Vista. 

The machine runs a Conroe processor and Intel’s new digital home G965 chipset, and is very much a living room PC from its looks and noise levels, which range from 24dBs to 28dBs under full load, such as recording a programme.

Ken Lin, who works in the R&D department at ECS, said: “I think people are waiting for Conroe, Merom and Vista. So it has been quiet this year.”

However, while companies are readying their systems for Vista , not everyone is confident it will introduce a surge of sales. Windows upgrades have been heralded as the saviour of the industry in the past, and not introduced a huge upswing in consumer tech buying.

Ben Lio, who looks after the systems products business unit for barebone manufacturer Biostar, said: “We are preparing for Vista. The PC market has been slow. It will pick up once Vista is out, but not that much. We’re not finding a lot of people asking about Vista.”