Laptop PC sales hit records in June

Laptop PC shipments by the world's two largest contract makers surged in June, rebounding from a lull in April and part of May as systems makers awaited the launch of Intel's Santa Rosa laptop PC chips, an upgrade to its popular Centrino package.

Quanta Computer, the biggest contract notebook maker, said it shipped 2.8 million laptops in June, up sharply from 2.4 million in May and 2.2 million in April. Taiwanese rival Compal Electronics, shipped 1.77 million laptops in June, its third-highest figure ever for a single month, and up from 1.65 million in May and 1.70 million in April.

The stronger shipment figures show the laptop PC market has surged again after systems makers and users awaited the new Intel chips. Market researchers had expected users to upgrade to new laptop PCs after the launch of Santa Rosa, when they could pick up the latest laptop PC hardware along with the Windows Vista OS.

Intel launched its fourth generation Centrino wireless chip package on May 9, abandoning the Santa Rosa code name in favor of its marketing names, Centrino Duo and Centrino Pro.

The package of chips increases wireless Internet and processing speeds in notebook PCs when compared to the previous Intel Centrino package.

The Duo and Pro versions both come with Intel dual-core microprocessors, but the Centrino Pro is targeted at laptops for business users. It carries Intel vPro software, which helps corporate IT departments manage fleets of laptop PCs.

At the time, Intel said it expected over 230 new laptop and desktop PCs to be built around the new chip package this year.

Quanta and Compal, which make notebook PCs and other products for customers such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Acer, also reported higher revenue for the month. Quanta's June revenue rose 69 percent year-over-year to NT$65.42 billion (US$1.99 billion), while Compal's increased 61 percent to NT$36.28 billion.