DisplaySearch has revealed in its latest quarterly notebook PC shipment and forecast report that the notebook PC market grew 14% on quarter and 41 % on year in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 33 million units.

Hewlett-Packard (HP) remained number one in the notebook PC market for the sixth consecutive quarter, maintaining more than a two million-unit lead over number three Dell. HP maintained its 20% share of the market for the fifth consecutive quarter. Of particular note is that Acer, which had been a distant third to Dell, dramatically narrowed the gap to its rival excluding its acquisitions of Gateway and Packard Bell and overtook Dell when these acquisitions are included. In the fourth quarter of 2005 and 2006, the volume gap between Acer and Dell was more than one million units. In the fourth quarter of 2007, that gap dropped to less than 100,000 units. When Acer’s acquisitions of Gateway and Packard Bell are added to the equation, Acer passed Dell by more than 600,000 units. Toshiba maintained its number four rank.

DisplaySearch analysis indicates that the increasing transition of consumers from desktop PCs to notebook PCs is having a direct impact on brands’ growth and market share. Brands with established enterprise and retail presences have had the most success in growing market share in the past several quarters. This helps to explain the faster than average growth for HP and Acer.

Once again, the most popular panel size and resolution in the third quarter was 15.4-inch/1280×800, which accounted for slightly more than 50% of all notebook PCs shipped in the quarter. In a distant second position was 14.1-inch/1280×800 with 23% share.

Looking at 2008, DisplaySearch expects notebook PC shipments to continue to grow, with total notebook PC shipments exceeding 135 million units for the year.

source digitimes.com