The tech world was taken aback this week by the unexpected departure of HP CEO Enrique Lores, who left the device giant to head PayPal. But, according to industry experts, the company will fare well against this kind of shakeup as long as it is able to execute on AI PCs, show definitive ROI, differentiate with emerging edge use cases, and strike a balance between pricing and technology advances.
Windows PCs have faced death threats for decades from a variety of rival devices, including tablets, Macs, Linux computers, and other hardware. But the rise of Ai in recent years could be helping to revive interests in PCs as company's contemplate upgrades in the near future, The first " AI PCs" were introduced amid much fanfare in 2024, and shipments are growing. But enterprises that picked up early AI PCs have been stymied in their embrace of the technology as meaningful offline applications haven't yet materialized.
In the years ahead, AI is going to be a multi-layered fabric that gets woven into every level of computing at the personal layer," Tikoo said. "Our AI PCs and devices will transform how we work, how we play, how we create and how we connect with each other.
Intel's upcoming "Panther Lake" processor for AI PCs could be a key building block in the transition of Windows 11 into an AI agent-driven OS, analysts said this week. Panther Lake will be available in PCs starting early in 2026. The chip meets the qualifications set by Microsoft for Windows Copilot+ PCs and provides the performance needed to run a new generation of AI applications, analysts said.
Microsoft has officially ended support for Windows 10, all but forcing users to either upgrade or pay more money to keep getting essential security updates for the OS they already own. No matter that its replacement, Windows 11, can't be run on nearly half a billion machines, meaning it'll create mountains of e-waste as those old, perfectly usable PCs get thrown out for new ones.
