Notebook manufacturing is serious business, given the fact that 2007 is the first year when mobile systems defeated desktop computers in terms of sales. The competition in harsh, with well-delimited markets, measured in the number of notebooks shipped.

Market research firm DisplaySearch issued a report that unveils the fact that the notebook market is undergoing major changes that will shift the power balance between the top three notebook vendors. The report claims that the notebook market is still under HP's domination, but Acer is advancing with leaps and bounds towards the top. The company has already overtaken Dell as world's number two notebook maker, and is pumping up more mobile devices to catch up with Hewlett-Packard.

"Historically, results from the fourth quarter of the year show the influence of Christmas season purchases of notebook PCs by consumers, as they continue to transition away from desktop PCs towards notebook PCs," said John Jacobs, Director of Notebook Market Research at DisplaySearch.

"But as our data shows, while a few brands managed to surpass the notebook market's amazing 41 % Y/Y unit growth, most brands had difficulty achieving that level of growth. While Acer's brand outpaced the market, when their Gateway and Packard Bell acquisitions are factored into the equation, the results are less positive, indicating that their acquisitions were on a downward trend," he continued

According to the report, Hewlett-Packard shipped about 6 million notebook computers in the fourth quarter of 2007, while Acer managed to sell 5.25 million. Dell ranked third with only 4.64 million units. Acer's growth is due to a series of previous purchases such as Gateway and Packard Bell. The report also shows that Acer was able to outpace Dell by shipping its own branded notebooks.

The fourth place is claimed by Toshiba, that managed to ship about 2.86 million notebooks during the fourth quarter. The fifth place is taken by Acer's worst enemy, the Chinese notebook vendor Lenovo, that accounted for 2.73 million shipped units.