Windows 8, Ivy Bridge to Significantly Boost Notebook Shipments in Second Half of 2012

There's a sort of perfect storm brewing in the PC market that will greatly benefit notebook manufacturers and vendors. If the prevailing theory pans out, notebook shipments in the second half of 2012 could see a huge rise in demand, potentially jumping in proportion from 45 percent in the first half to 55 percent in 2H, or as wide as 40 percent and 60 percent, respectively.

Those figures come from DigiTimes senior analyst Joanne Chien, who points out that hard drive shortages and weak U.S. and Europe economies are major factors currently working against notebooks. As those situations improve, so will the demand for notebooks, but there are other factors at play as well.

Windows 8 is expected to ship later this year, Intel's upcoming 22nm Ivy Bridge platform will make notebooks more attractive with improved performance and lower power consumption, and Ultrabooks will mature and come down in price. If you put all these factors together, notebook vendors have plenty of reason to be optimistic.

Image Credit: best-laptop.in