Portable personal computers (PCs) are expected to replace desktops as the mainstream computer in the US, the world's largest PC market, in 2009, and worldwide in 2013, IDC predicted yesterday.
Although notebook computers are more expensive and less powerful, they are expected to become the mainstream PC as the price differentiation from desktops declines, said Roger Kay, vice president of client computing with IDC.
Notebooks are expected to make up over half of the PC market in the US in 2009, up from 29.7 percent this year, while the global PC market will see this happen in 2013, up from 28.4 percent this year, of 176.5 million PCs shipped, according to figures from IDC.
But desktops would not disappear, as "there remained an [upper] limit of 70 percent market share for notebooks, as there are always desktop users," which are composed of white box users, gamers and task workers, Kay said.
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