Apple Now the Third Top PC Seller

[Anthony Bouchard]

Apple to Toshiba: Pwned.

When we tell you that Apple is booming - we aren't joking. Apple has seen more Mac sales in the past year than ever before. The Mac is a computer that is often regarded as a computer with '5% market share'; this, my friends, is a myth. Another very large misconception is that it's Apple against Windows - the real figures should be Apple against Dell, Apple against HP, Apple against Toshiba, and the list goes on. The Mac can run Windows too; did you forget?

The numbers show that Apple now has 11.6% of the world PC market share (the percentage is higher in the U.S. alone). This number has just surpassed Toshiba which has a market share of 10.7%. Dell holds its title at 22.4% market share and HP holds the golden crown at 23.1%. Apple's sales have increased 20%, while all of the other companies are having a little bit of a decrease. The rate at which Apple has grown in 2011 is astounding and we have iOS to thank for it. The appeal of iOS continues to bring attention to the Mac as it becomes more and more integrated. People want things that just work together and Apple's operating systems is one great way to start.

While the number of computers that Apple has sold isn't so astoundingly high that HP and Dell have to worry at this point, it's an excellent improvement over the outdated '5% market share' myth. With Apple shipping over two million Macs in the fourth quarter of 2011, you almost see an Apple computer in any school that you peer into. It's becoming a popular scholar's computer and a popular multitasking workstation. This reflects on the school discounts that Apple offers which are generally pretty good deals.

What else could be contributing to the sales? Macs are the first computers to support Intel's Thunderbolt technology which can be handy for many commercial businesses. This is great for multiple displays or RAID (redundant array of inexpensive disks) disk solutions that companies might use for media editing or for storing server information. The technology (Thunderbolt) is still in its young stages and isn't very evolved yet, but we might see Macs continuing to show large sales numbers while new Thunderbolt technology comes out until more inexpensive PC's begin to adopt the technology. That's not to say that Thunderbolt is the selling point of Macs though.

Another thing about the Mac lineup that has really made people want them is the slim form-factor without reducing specs or performance and the build quality of the computers themselves. The MacBook Air is an amazing slim laptop that was cannibalized by buyers as soon as the new unibody version was released. The MacBook Pro continues to be updated with better processors, graphics card solutions, and native storage. This is no different with the iMac, which is an amazingly thin all-in-one desktop computer that has hardly any loose articles around it. There are many comparable PC's, but we would like to see how Apple does this year to see if there are any more patterns that can be recognized.

How many of you made the switch to a Mac last year? Leave a comment below.

Sources: AppleInsider

[dfheje]

I hope PC's dont become a minority in the future..

[hogcia]

I still don't like macs, windows is too big.

[Slim J]

I never was interested in Macs. I find Windows easier to get around and will probably keep using Windows and Linux in the future.

[Craids]

I hope PC's dont become a minority in the future..

Look at the 4q growth % compared to everyone else.
Also I'm running win7 on my macbook air right now and it runs smoother than any desktop I've had.
Not only are they easier to use which is good for a lot of people, but now they're just good.
Customer service is better, design is sexier and more professional and they're just better. Getting an ultrabook that is just as speced up as the mba is like $4000...so they're no longer the expensive design over quality computers they were 2-3 years ago.
I think apple is the future mainstream pc.

[EVO]

sony belongs to the "Others"

[baabaa]

Most people think PCs equal to Windows. It's not. Windows is software and PCs are hardware.
Apple might become bigger in hardware in these few years but it is not going to beat Windows in software.

I am guessing at least half of the Apples are running dual boot with Windows in it.

[punjabi212]

"Apple to Toshiba: Pwned" LOL seriously?

[Raahem]

Anthony The 5% market share is for MAC compared to windows
NOT APPLE compared to other manufacturers

This whole article is full of your agenda with little objective facts.

The thing you said about "apple vs dell vs hp" etc is all misconstrued
The day apple laptops have windows you can say that and have a % hardware market share. 5% is a software market share

You're manipulating statistics for your argument, grow up bro.
Mac OS is 5% marketshare it's no myth
Apple laptops on 5% market share is what you can call a myth. Damn mac fanboiz

[rocky5]

Untill apple release computers at reasonable prices here in the UK, I will stick to building my own gaming rig for half the price.

Windows does what I need, it's fast cheap & just works out of the box. (no proprietary hardware needed)

[teej1410]

Dell is 2nd WTF!!! I hope I don't offend anybody but I think their computers suck.

[Feanor64]

thats just great our economy sucks right now kids cant afford college people cant afford thier medicine but hospitals can afford ipads and schools can afford macs? whats wrong with people lol go the $!@! outside and toss a football you can buy one for ten bucks

[Cellular]

I just hate how dell is even on this list does anyone even buy dell anymore?

Dell is like the worst pc vendor ever, they are still in business because of schools buying there crap dell line :/

[GmAz]

Tablets aren't PCs.

[Cellular]

thats just great our economy sucks right now kids cant afford college people cant afford thier medicine but hospitals can afford ipads and schools can afford macs? whats wrong with people lol go the $!@! outside and toss a football you can buy one for ten bucks

If you put an apple logo on it I bet it will sell, but it will be like $1000 a ball

[Cer0]

.....schools can afford macs?......

To be fair most schools had Macs before.

Growing up most of the schools I went to had Macs.

[Painkiller006]

Anthony The 5% market share is for MAC compared to windows
NOT APPLE compared to other manufacturers

This whole article is full of your agenda with little objective facts.

The thing you said about "apple vs dell vs hp" etc is all misconstrued
The day apple laptops have windows you can say that and have a % hardware market share. 5% is a software market share

You're manipulating statistics for your argument, grow up bro.
Mac OS is 5% marketshare it's no myth
Apple laptops on 5% market share is what you can call a myth. Damn mac fanboiz

How dare you bring logic to this site! Don't you know fanboys like Anthony get upset when you say things like that, they want to keep living in the Apple filled dream world and don't want to see or hear otherwise. Windows will still dominate software for a while.

[rabbit_]

I love my MacBook pro never go back to pc

[MetallicaFan1991]

Lol Dell, HP and Dell are top two because they make cheap computers and it shows. I hate HP n Dell stuff, unreliable.

[Raahem]

how dare you bring logic to this site! Don't you know fanboys like anthony get upset when you say things like that, they want to keep living in the apple filled dream world and don't want to see or hear otherwise. Windows will still dominate software for a while.

lol!