According to research by IDC laptops will overtake desktops as the dominant form of computer by 2011, if current trends continue.

Laptop sales have been growing at a far faster rate than desktops, with IDC predicting that the laptop market will grow by 16.1% year-on-year compared to 3.8% growth for desktops until 2011.

In 2006, for example, laptop sales grew by 26.3% compared to 2% for desktops ; though the analysts are predicting that desktops will see a bump in sales in late 2007 / early 2008 thanks to the release of Windows Vista, the laptop is on course to overtake the desktop.

Certainly it is a plausible scenario, considering that even high-end gaming machines can now be fitted into 15.4" and 17" laptops ; and most business users value the portability of a machine which, for their purposes, has exactly the same abilities as a desktop.