New Zealand organisations will buy almost as many notebooks as desktop PCs in the next year, according to a forthcoming IDC report.
The survey of future buying trends found that the 446 organisations which replied plan to buy 13,687 desktop PCs and 12,095 notebooks in the next 12 months.
IDC asked respondents about their buying intentions for products and services ranging from Internet access, to network operating systems, storage, monitors, printers, desktops, servers and notebooks.
So far figures are available for desktops, notebooks and servers.
Overall the 446 respondents indicated they would buy 13, 687 desktop units of which 17.6% would be 486DX4, 32.9% Pentium 100 or less, 40.4% Pentium 120-150, 13.7% Pentium 166 or more, 13.1% Pentium Pro, 2.1% PowerPC/Macintosh while other models made up 0.2%.
On the notebook front, respondents said they would buy 12,095 notebooks of which 7% would be 486DX4, 52.5% Pentium 100 or less, 30.1% Pentium 120-150, 6.8% Pentium 166 or more, 1.5% Pentium Pro and 2.1% PowerPC/Mac.
For PC servers the respondents said they would be buying 709 units of which 0.6% would be 486DX4, 5.8% Pentium 100 or more, 41.5% Pentium 120-150, 33.7% Pentium 166 or more, 18.2% Pentium Pros and 0.2% PowerPC/Macintosh.
IDC manager Graham Penn says it appears that people are now considering notebooks as a viable alternative to desktop PCs.
"We found that a lot of the desktops people are going to buy are replacement units. A much smaller proportion of notebooks are replacements for old notebooks.
"A lot of people are finding that the price decreases and improved capabilities of notebooks are making them an acceptable replacement for a desktop."
Penn says the price differential between desktops and notebooks has shrunk as notebook screens have become cheaper.