The PC market is being gutted as consumers lose interest and shift to tablets and games consoles, according to the research outfit Gartner. Big G said that worldwide PC shipments, which do not include sales of tablet computers, totalled 93.5 million units in the fourth quarter, up 3.1 per cent from a year ago but lower than the 4.8 per cent growth forecast previously.

Gartner analyst Mikako Kitagawa said that holiday PC sales were weak as punters rushed to spend their dosh on media tablets and other consumer electronic devices, such as game consoles. What is saving the PC market during the fourth quarter as a steady growth in the professional market driven by replacement purchases.

Last year the PC market recovered from the recession, as it returned to double-digit growth, compared to low single-digit growth in 2009, she said. Gartner said worldwide PC shipments totaled 350.9 million units in 2010, up 13.8 per cent over last year.

The maker of expensive printer ink HP held on to the top position in worldwide PC sales,  HP has an 18.8 per cent share of the market followed by Acer with 12.7 per cent and Dell with 11.6 per cent. Lenovo holds 10.1-per cent market share followed by Toshiba with 5.7 per cent. It was a good year for Lenovo and Toshiba. Lenovo's worldwide market share grew by 21.4 per cent while Toshiba's was up 12.1 per cent.

What is being seen is that the days of a grey box in the corner of everyone's home might be numbered. She said that while the new gadgets to 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. It was mini-notebook shipments were hit the most by the success of media tablets, Kitagawa said.