Windows 10 and Intel Skylake microprocessors won't make a dent in PC and laptop sales, warn manufacturers

Digitimes: Microsoft and Intel to board Skylake for Windows 10, but manufacturers see no spike in PC sales coming

The introduction of Windows 10, Microsoft's replacement for the unloved Windows 8 operating system, combined with the introduction of Intel's 14-nanometre Skylake microprocessors, is not expected to stimulate renewed demand for PCs and laptops, according to a survey of Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers by Digitimes.

Both Windows 10 and the microprocessors are expected to be released in or around October 2015 - in good time for the Christmas season and corporate refreshes in 2016. However, component manufacturers in the Far East do not expect demand for PCs and laptops to increase much compared to 2014.

While global PC shipments in 2015 are expected to weigh in at about 200 million units, because many PC functions have been absorbed into smartphones and tablet computers, the manufacturers do not expect the kind of rush to upgrade that was last seen when Microsoft introduced Windows 7 - which coincided with the first Intel Core-i5 and i7 microprocessors that emerged in September 2009. Windows 7 followed a month later.

A similar microprocessor-operating system release schedule is being planned for Microsoft's and Intel's latest products, with Intel releasing its products for manufacturers in August and September so that motherboards, PCs and laptops running the latest hardware will be available when Windows 10 is unveiled in October.

Intel's latest Skylake CPUs, the successor to Haswell and Broadwell, will be built on a 14-nanometre manufacturing process technology, which Intel hopes will have been ironed out with Broadwell. Intel claims that Skylake will represent the biggest increase in performance for a decade, and will also support DDR4 memory - running at 2133MHz - and "wire-free" computing.

The parts ought to improve CPU and graphics performance, as well as reducing power consumption. Pricing has not yet been released. Skylake CPUs will support wireless charging using the Rezence standard, for laptops, while enabling video to be beamed to a separate display - inaugurating wireless monitors that do not need to be connected to PCs.

The manufacturing process for Skylake is expected to shift to a 10nm process in 2016, with the 10nm part codenamed "Cannonlake". However, Intel has struggled with manufacturing issues in recent years, which has led to the release dates of recent parts - particularly Broadwell - being put back.