PC Sales Growth Slows During The Busiest Week Of The YearPC Sales Growth Slows During The Busiest Week Of The Year

Year-over-year growth in PC sales slowed last week, traditionally the highest-volume time of the year for consumer computers, a market research firm said Friday.

Notebook sales are booming, but desktop systems were down year-over-year.

While overall PC sales increased nearly 23% year-over-year last week, they were up more than 36% last year over the year before, analysts at Current Analysis said. Growth in sales slowed despite record low PC prices.

Last week contained Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season.

The average desktop PC this year sold for $464, down from $493 last year. Notebook prices fell to $708 from $856 a year ago, the research firm said. Retailers Best Buy, Circuit City, and CompUSA advertised desktops under $200, and notebooks for less than $400.

Even though overall PC sales growth slowed, notebook sales growth accelerated. Retailers sold 51.6% more notebooks year-over year last week. In 2005, year-to-year growth in notebook sales was 49%.

The notebook market remained strong because of price cuts by manufacturers trying to boost sales during the holiday season, just ahead of the Vista launch, Current Analysis analyst Samir Bhavnani said. Microsoft is set to release the next upgrade of the consumer version of the Windows platform in January.

Desktops showed a dramatic decline this year. Sales were down 7.2% from Black Friday week a year ago. In 2005, stores sold 25% more desktops than in the same period in 2004.