Boston, Oct 16: Personal computer shipments in the third quarter continued their growth spurt with higher-than-expected figures and Hewlett-Packard narrowed top PC vendor Dell Inc.'s lead, according to figures from two research firms. About 38.4 million PCs were shipped worldwide during the three months that ended September 30 - a 15.7 per cent increase over last year that surpassed a 10.4 per cent growth prediction, said IDC, one of the research firms who released data on Wednesday.
Gartner Inc., which uses slightly different measurements, calculated that 42.5 million units were shipped in the third quarter - a 14.1 per cent increase from the same time last year.

Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, maintained its top vendor position, with 17.4 per cent of the market, according to IDC. But second-place HP, with a 17.1 per cent market share this quarter, narrowed the gap with attractive notebook offerings and aggressive pricing, IDC spokesman Roger Kay said.
In the second quarter, ending June 30, HP trailed Dell by 530,000 PCs, but in the third quarter, HP was down only by 128,000 units, Kay said. Bureau Report