Growth dipped below the double digit mark to 9.8 percent to a total of 52 million units shipped in Q2, the market research firm said. Slower sales in Western Europe and Japan were cited as the chief reason for the slight slowing of sales in the second quarter.

Even with the release of Microsoft's Vista operating system delays, IDC predicts sales will remain relatively stable. The firm predicts consumers will bit wait for Vista and coupons will be available that can be traded in for Vista by consumers who buy before the OS is released. Microsoft has said it plans to release Vista in January.

"We believe consumer notebooks will continue to drive strong overall PC sales through the rest of this year despite the presence of many potential competitors for discretionary income this holiday season, such as flat-panel TVs," the firm said. "Looking forward, we expect desktop shipments will begin to stabilize, particularly in the enterprise segment. However, consumer notebook adoption will fuel industry growth and move us closer to the day when notebooks will out-ship desktop PCs."

By: DocMemory
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