As more companies are preparing for another possible Coronavirus lockdown; a new reality has set in. There is still a shortage of laptops. A perfect storm of the initial lockdown, Chinese sanctions as well as lowered production due to Covid-19, and then the huge demand on the laptop market from schools; has caused the laptop market to run dry.
In a communication to schools this fall, the top 3 laptop providers (HP, Dell and Lenovo) have told schools that they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops.
We have seen the squeeze for laptops here as well with order after order going into perpetual backorder causing us to scramble to find reasonable alternatives for our clients.
While news is encouraging that laptops are beginning to ship again; the supply hasn’t quite trickled back in as fast as expected. According to a report by Canalys – Computer manufacturers shipped 79 million personal computers in the third quarter of 2020, an uptick of 13 percent year-over-year.
Advice we give to our clients, is that we anticipate delays in orders and to try to have some patience with the supply chain issues. Laptops are THE hot item this year – so if you would like a new one – we suggest ordering early and anticipate some snags. If you can go into the laptop buying experience with the expectation of possible issues, it will make the process that much less frustrating.
Happy laptop hunting!