Computer market to grow nearly 20% as netbooks stall
updated 10:25 am EDT, Tue June 15, 2010
IDC sees PCs reach new high, laptops edge desktops
Computer sales will rebound so quickly this year that they should reach an all-time high, researchers at IDC estimated today. The year-over-year growth in sales should reach 19.8 percent, outweighing the slump in 2009, and could see 354.8 million computers ship worldwide. Most of these would be notebooks, which could grow 28.6 percent while desktops should grow by just 8.2 percent.
The performance is also likely to come at the expense of netbooks, according to the analysts. Mini notebooks now aren't expected to ever crest past 12 percent, and buyers are now expected to skew towards faster and more expensive systems. Mainstream notebooks, below $1,000, will still make up most of the growth. Performance may become more important than ever in notebooks as tablets like the iPad shift basic web browsing away from inexpensive computers and leave notebooks to heavier duty tasks.
"Aside from brute computing power, the value proposition of the PC will be increasingly measured by the flexibility with which it can meet the demands of content creation and content consumption as well as achieving optimal portability," IDC's Jay Chou said.
