There has been a more than 20 per cent boost in PC sales and this will help the bottom line of Acer, Asus and Lenovo.

Market research company Gartner said worldwide PC sales increased 20.7 per cent in the quarter to 82.9 million units the figure is similar to another posted by IDC of 22.4 per cent. Gartner principal analyst Mikako Kitagawa said that the preliminary second quarter results indicate ongoing improvement of the PC market.

IDC research analyst Jay Chou confirmed that the PC market "remains robust, and in a recovery phase, despite challenges to a broader economic recovery, such as slow job growth and a more conservative outlook in Europe and Asia-Pacific." The belief is that the consumer activity will be healthy, but gradually slow through the end of the year, while commercial market growth will be more stable.

HP is the worldwide leader in PC sales but its year-on-year growth rate of 12.3 per cent came in below the industry average of 20.7 per cent. On the other hand Acer saw year-on-year growth of 31.6 per cent and its market share increased to 13 per cent from 12 per cent.

Dell had 19-per cent growth but its market share slipped to 12.4 per cent from 12.6 per cent. Part of Dell's problem has been the consumer market, Gartner said.

Lenovo posted year-on-year growth of 47.2 per cent and increased its market share to 10 per cent from 8.2 per cent. Asus grew 78.5 per cent grabbing a 5.2 per cent market share, up from 3.5 per cent a year earlier. Toshiba grew 10.7 per cent and slightly increased its market share, to 5.1 per cent from 4.8 percent.