Brittany Hillen

For the first time since the dot-com bust 11 years ago, PC shipments are expected to decline 1.2% from last year, with an anticipated drop from 2011′s 352.8 million units to 348.7 million units. PC sales have been lagging all year, with a recent study showing that out of the top four vendors, only Lenovo experienced an increase in sales. While disconcerting, the hope that back-to-school sales would boost the numbers, as is usually the case, kept everyone optimistic.

Earlier in 2012, as Intel showed off a variety of ultrabooks and the first glimpses of Windows 8 emerged at CES, the industry was hopeful that sales would increase as the year went on. Analysts believed that the innovation displayed would go on to drag lagging PC sales back up, and that all would be well. When the Q1 data came in and showed poor sales, nervousness arose, but optimism was still prevalent.