Gartner: Q4 PC sales weak thanks to tablet computers

“These devices do not replace primary PCs, but they are viewed as good enough devices for these who want to have a second and third connected device for content consumption usage. Mini-notebook shipments were hit the most by the success of media tablets.”

For the U.S. market, PC makers shipped 19.1 million units in the fourth quarter, down 6.6 percent from a year earlier. That still beat Gartner’s earlier forecast of a 10 percent decline.

“U.S. holiday sales were not fantastic for most PC vendors, but the professional market did show healthy growth during the quarter,” Kitagawa said.

Toshiba and Apple (ranked four and five) were the only top U.S. vendors to increase shipments.