These are good times for the PC market. These are good times to buy a PC.
Two recent reports from IDC on microprocessor and PC sales indicate demand for PCs is booming—microprocessor sales shot to $8 billion in the third quarter of 2007, up 14.8 percent, and PC shipments jumped to 68.5 million units shipped in the quarter, also a 14 percent rise.
"The results indicate that recent, current and near future demand for PC processors and for PCs themselves is healthy," Shane Rau, an IDC analyst and co-author of an Oct. 24 report on microprocessors, wrote in an e-mail to eWEEK.
It should come as no surprise that notebook sales are leading the way. According to the IDC report, laptop processor shipments increased 26.6 percent in the third quarter, although shipments of chips for desktops and servers also increased. Part of that increase is being driven by the consumer market, as more and individuals are using notebooks and moving away from traditional desktops, but the shift also reflects a work force that is demanding more mobility and flexibility.
For buyers, whether IT workers or consumers, these developments mean vendors such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Acer are putting more features into their laptops to distinguish one from the other. At that same time, the continuing competition between Intel and Advanced Micro Devices has helped bring prices down.
Read the full story on eWEEK.com: Processor Shipments Reflect Robust PC Market
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