According to IDC the global PC market remains in a state of struggle even during 2016-- headwinds persist in the shape of economic issues and competing devices.

As a result, the analyst states PC shipments will remain going through the decline first seen back in early 2012, with weak Q4 2015 and Q1 2016 results. Causing such declines are falling commodity prices and foreign prices, as well as free Windows 10 upgrades for older hardware and challenges related to inventory clearing.

Thus IDC predicts 2016 PC shipment declines reaching -5.4%, with stabilisation to happen only through an essentially flat 2018.

Asus adds to the VivoMini mini-PC series with the VM65N and VM65, both ideal for daily computing or HTPC applications through Intel Core Skylake processors, DDR4 RAM, discrete Nvidia graphics and SonicMaster-enhanced audio.

The VM65N is the higher-specification option. It features Nvidia GeForceM Optimus graphics and 4K/UHD display support, allowing users to enjoy high resolution video and games. The graphics card also promises a performance boost of up to 56% over PCs with integrated graphics, making the VM65N ideal for photo or video editing.

As we all know, AMD has been long trailing behind Nvidia, be it in terms of profits or hardware-- but DirectX 12 might provide the ailing company with a break, showing its hardware is superior when it comes to graphics horsepower.

Proof of AMD's graphics superiority comes from the beta version of real-time strategy game Ashes of Singularity. The game supports "Explicit Multi Adapter," (EMA) a DirectX 12 feature allowing users to pair graphics cards of different genrations, performance or even vendors in a single PC. This makes the game important, since it represents a first "real world" test for EMA outside of synthetic benchmarks.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation celebrates the 4th version of the popular micro-PC with the launch of a 3rd generation-- the Raspberry Pi 3, featuring a 64-bit processor and embedded wifi and Bluetooth.

Previous Raspberry Pi models demand USB adapters for wireless connectivity. The Raspberry Pi 3 eliminates the need for such adapters (and frees up a USB port) through baked-in 802.11n wifi and Bluetooth 4.0 support.

In addition the processor gets an upgrade through the Broadcom BCM2837, an SoC featuring a 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARM Cortex-A53 CPU promising a 10x performance boost over the original Raspberry Pi. Graphics also get a boost through a 400MHz VideoCore IV able to support 1080p video at 60fps.

MSI announces the Cubi 2 Plus-- a range of "powerful handheld-size" mini-PCs based on the Intel mini STX (5x5) motherboard form factor ideal for both consumers and businesses.

The mini STX form factor offers the smallest motherboards (29% smaller than mini-ITX) using user-swappable processors, allowing for easy upgrades. In addition, the use of Skylake-S processors makes the Cubi 2 Plus PCs more energy efficient.

Customers wanting to check out the possibilities of virtual reality might be interested in the the "Oculus Ready PC" range complete with the Facebook-owned company's headset, the Rift.

The Oculus Ready PC lineup features 5 PCs from Asus, Alienware and Dell in a range of hardware specifications and price points. The priciest and beefiest is the Alienware Area 51 (complete with Intel i7-5820K CPU, Nvidia 980 GPU and 16GB DDR4 RAM), while the lowest-specced is the Asus G11CD (Intel i5-6400 CPU, Nvidia 970 GPU, 8GB RAM).

InFocus announces an update on the Kangaroo portable mini-PC-- the Kangaroo Plus, a version offering double the storage (64GB) and memory (4GB) of the original model.

The smartphone-size retains the Intel Cherrytrail (Z8500) CPU, removable Dock accessory adding x1 HDMI and x2 USB ports and battery claiming up to 4 hours of use on a single charge. The update also features a fingerprint reader for further security.

As for software, while the original Kangaroo came with Windows 10 as standard the Kangaroo Plus allows users to install any OS, be it Windows, Linux or any other option.

According to CONTEXT PC sales through top W. European IT distributors improve on Q4 2015-- shipments are "almost" flat with just -0.1% Y-o-Y decline, compared to the -3% Y-o-Y seen during Q3 2015.

On a per-country basis, the UK (10%), Spain (8.3%), the Netherlands (2%) and Switzerland (5.9%) see Y-o-Y growth during Q4 2015. Other countries, including Germany (-3.5%), Italy (-3.3%), France (-9.2%), Sweden (-16.3%), Austria (-3.3%) and Poland (-5.3%) remain on the decline.

“The improvement was driven by consumer-targeted PCs, which returned to growth during the holiday season despite a strong prior-year comparison period," the analyst says. “Consumer PCs were up by 3% Y-o-Y in Q4 2015 as sales of detachable and convertible mobile devices increased.”