14 DAY TRIAL // It appears that the PC market is doing quite well, at least as far as mobile personal computers go, now that, in the wake of new platforms, shipments are expected to prove quite strong in the first three months of 2011.
The first quarter of any year, as far as the consumer PC and electronics market goes at least, is known for being slower than the last one of the year before.
Naturally, this is because sales skyrocket during the winter holidays shopping season and leaves many customers less enthusiastic about immediate new purchases.
Fortunately, there is a certain event that serves to counterbalance what would otherwise be a sharp drop in sales of all kinds.
That event is known as the International Consumer Electronics Show and is where makers of all sorts of hardware, systems, gadgets and whatnot convene to show their latest achievements.
This year, both Intel and Advanced Micro Devices unleashed entirely new PC platforms, paying special mind to notebooks.
Thus, even with the impact from tablet PCs, laptops should end up suffering a sequential shipment drop that is smaller than one would otherwise fear.
On that note, ASUS, Acer and MSI are all planning on releasing hybrid tablets which can switch from slate to notebook form factor via special docking stations.
Also, the early start of the lunar New Year holidays (the beginning of February) should enable notebook vendors to sell many laptops in China before Q1 of 2011 is up.
All in all, the combined global notebook shipment levels may drop by less than 10% and, as far as the top five notebook makers are concerned, by just a combined 5%.
Of course, exactly how things turn out remains to be seen, but the general impression is that the notebook market will do well between January and March.
What remains to be seen is just how this field evolves once the consequences of rising tablet sales really begin to make themselves felt.