What do you want from your PC?

Personal computer shipments in western Europe have fallen for the first time, even though big corporate buyers seem to be returning to the market.

So are you looking to upgrade or are you happy with what you have? Have the manufacturers got it right?

Does your PC play an essential part in your day -- and are you fussy about the look, design and model, or do you want or use one that just does the job?

This is what you've said

VIDEO Gartner's Brian Gammage explains why shipments of PCs in Western Europe suffered their first-ever decline in Q2 sales. Real Windows QuickTime   MORE STORIES PC shipments to Europe decline      QUICKVOTE Are you thinking of upgrading your PC this year? Yes No Already have done View Results

I just want decent speed, along with good stability and usability. We're already getting that with year old machines. Maybe I'll get one of those fancy slimline LCD monitors. Anyhow, I don't see a lot of need for faster computers. Give us other bonuses, like silence, ergonomy, size and low power consumption. Oh - and wireless networking that is secured by default. Jeppe S., Norway. Interactivity - connections to domestic appliances. Integrated radio, television and multimedia recording facilities. Faster, cheaper internet connections. More robust software. No broken internet links. Silent hardware. Andrew Thomson, UK.

What I want from a computer is for it to comply with my needs and integrate with my normal life, not the other way around. I already have the computer of my dreams. I have a celeron 500Mhz (IMac Cover) attached to my TV (okay the resolution is only 800x600, but I can live with it) with a cordless keyboard and mouse. It's so nice to surf the web, read e-mail, watch dvds and chat from the comfort of my own sofa. Petri Rajama, Finland.

We have been using the keyboard and mouse since the 80s. Nowadays, computers are very powerful. Instead of heavy applications and games, developers' efforts should be focused on new controllers -- handwrite and speech recognition to dictate and control. It is time to substitute keyboard and mouse by small graphic tablets and headsets. Mario, Portugal.

I am a Mac user for more than 10 years and I will stay like that. I will upgrade this year to a G4. Watching all the poor Intel PC users around with all kinds of strange happenings, incompatibilities and crashes, I like my Mac very much. Omer Cerid, Turkey.

Everything in England/ Europe is far more expensive than in The States. British Telecom, for example, keeps internet access use sky high. Europeans will use the home computer more when their greedy providers note the competition coming from America. Marlene Hanna, England.

What I would like is simple access to the web from where ever I am. The only other thing is: programs that are smple instead of 500 meg Microsoft programs. Huub Mol, Spain.

I would like a computer that just turns on and doesn't have to boot up everytime you turn it on. Craig Myers, Netherlands.

I find my PC a very useful companion. It is necessary to keep abreast of IT development, hence the need to upgrade PC quite often. Chief B A Shodeinde, Nigeria.

My friends upgrade like maniacs as they are big game fans. It is the silence of PCs that should be the primary focus of future develpements, not mere speed. No one needs it, anyway, not even those game fans that think they do! Gonda Gergely, Hungary.

We want an end to badly written programming; some software manufacturers do more things than others, but with lower spec PCs. Why don't they all? I can think of one example in particular! Ian Bradshaw, England.

My last PC is a '95, and I might upgrade next year... they still need to do something about the noise level and stability of the software. Torsten Andersen, Germany.

Might try putting Linux on an iMac -- superior free operating system on sweetly silent hardware. Could be a very nice combination. Just finished putting together an x86 based server which has no fewer than 19 fans and sounds like a hovercraft. Fyoder Larue, Canada.

The good computer will the one that you keep for about 10 years instead of three. It obviously depend on a good OS. I hope that Microsoft will finally have an OS which do not crash as the ones we had until now... and updates should be free. Jean De Rycker, Belgium.

I've just upgraded to an HP Vectra with 128MB RAM. I think the amount of RAM is important. It's also very silent compared to what I had in the past. Even the hard disk doesn't seem to make noise. I don't know how it compares to the fanless iMAc though. I also keep it on all the time and let the power management do it's job. Mario Debono, Malta.

A P3 500 or equivalent would do for most people nowadays, but still companies like Intel try to push a 1.7 gigabyte P4 in the consumers' hands. It is useless for most. I say innovate on silence, faster hard-drives and user-friendliness. I am waiting for the dual AMD motherboards to come out, they will make the perfect base for my 3D workstation. And remember that AMD will get you the same performance as Intel, at half the price. (An AMD athlon 1.3 is about equal to a P4 1.7.) Kees de Koning, Netherlands.

A PC with infinite memory, unbounded CPU speed, extraordinary graphic resolution and software that update itself. Ong Kien Hung, Switzerland.

I wanted a silent PC, so I bought a fanless iMac. But surprisingly enough, it's the loudest computer I have right now (due to a noisy HD), so I'm still hunting for a totally silent computer, because the sharp noises are driving me crazy! John J., Belgium.

I would like a computer that just turns on and doesn't have to boot up every time you turn it on. Craig Myers, Netherlands.

My provider, Graceba.net is super and I have no problems.If I do they fix it right away. John Keyton, U.S..

In the office, I would like a computer that is fast with large HD and easy back-up hardware and software. At home, I need a better LAN system for all the family members to share peripherals and better design for hiding most of it out of the way so the house doesn't look like an office. In Korea, my house has a ISBN line and the telephone company has a full time service for hardware and software repairs in 24hrs at home... What I miss in Italy is the peace of mind to know that something will be fixed quickly on the home computer! Kevin Gallagher, Italy.

I want that my PC does not show me endless white-on-black lines, when I start it. I do not read them in 99 % of cases. I would like not to restart it after an installation of a program, as it takes a lot of time. I would like it to be more stable and not crash here and again with the loss of data. Alex, Ukraine.

I spend most of my work day in front of a computer. The combined speed of all the elements of a recent run-of-the-mill computer has, in my opinion, become irrelevant. Any computer these days is fast enough. I've loaded my current machines with cheap RAM and don't expect to upgrade them for a couple of years. What I will be looking for in my next PC is total silence. I may well therefore buy a fanless quiet iMac! Pete M., Spain.

I work in a Dell PC environment -- a perfect world for me would be to have an Apple Mac computer! Rolf Rykken, U.S..

Most people don't need to have the latest, fastest super dooper computer for home use so why bother buying it. Jonathan Waterman, England.

I thought about upgrading but I just don't need the extra memory. My old Mac works fine, it's part of the furniture now. Paul Morgan, England.