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Despite growing concerns about the overall health of the U.S. economy and IT spending, PC shipments are expected to grow more than 12 percent this year, with laptops driving demand in both the consumer and commercial markets, according to new research for IDC.

In its March 12 report, IDC is predicting that vendors will ship about 302 million laptops and desktops worldwide in 2008, an increase of 12.8 percent from 2007 when OEMs shipped more than 267 million PCs.

The total value of the PC market will increase 7.4 percent this year for a total of $280 billion, according to the report.

The report also found the PC industry will see double-digit growth in shipments through 2009, even with the downturn in the U.S. economy, before hitting only single-digit growth in 2010.

Read the full story at eWEEK.