PC shipments beat expectations

Bloomberg reports.

PC shipments climbed 1.9% to 89 million units, compared with predictions for a 1.2% drop, according to Stamford, Connecticut-based Gartner. Another research firm, IDC, also reported a surprise increase for the quarter.

According to CNET, the limited supply of hard disk drives had some bearing on the industry, but not as much as anticipated.

Supplies have been constrained since last year when severe floods in Thailand affected key manufacturers. However, larger PC vendors were able to absorb the impact by managing existing inventory and soaking up price increases.

Gartner found that Hewlett-Packard strengthened its position as the market leader, accounting for 17.2% of the world's shipments during the quarter, ABC writes.

Number two, Lenovo, was a strong performer as well, increasing its shipments by 28.1%. It has a market share of 13.1%.

Dell, Acer Group and AsusTek Computer rounded out the top five.