Mobility Wins! Laptop Sales Finally Exceed Desktops

For others not quite so willing to pay beaucoup bucks, the price drops in laptops have brought them into the price range of many more consumers.

The report said that notebook sales reached 55.2%, driven by record volume of notebook shipments in the third quarter --- over 9.5 million units. This represents more than 18% growth year-over-year and on a sequential basis.

It should be noted this is based on preliminary sales data. However, nearly every notebook manufacturers reported greater notebook volumes in Q3.

IDC's press release David Daoud, research manager, U.S. Quarterly PC Tracker and Personal Systems at IDC:

"The consumer market continued to be the top driving factor in the notebook offensive but the commercial sector played a critical role too. The consumer market has long favored notebooks, with mobile ratios exceeding the 70% mark. So it is clear that the small and mid-markets, as well as the enterprise and public sector buyers, are seeing good value in mobility. Looking ahead, while mobility will remain a leading growth factor, the economy will be a major wild card in the short to mid term. Prolonged economic tension could have an adverse effect on the PC space leading to reduced growth, but the good news is that virtually every buyer considers PCs as must-have products and not a secondary wish-list items."

Yep, everyone who says anything nowadays adds the word "economy" to it. Consumer spending, according to a Commerce Department report, has dropped the most in four years.

While this doesn't signal the end of the desktop by any means --- the enthusiast market would still gravitate toward desktops as the most powerful hardware is still only available there --- it does show an increased trend toward mobility, no surprise really.