PC sales grew 3% as iPad, consoles and Asia take toll

The big two PC sales reports came out today from IDC and Gartner, with both research firms saying that sales were up about 3 percent during the holidays.

Both firms had predicted around 5 percent growth in the fourth quarter, but consumers were being more thrifty and weighed the iPad and game consoles against PC sales. Sales also slowed in Asia, outside of Japan.

The reports hint at what investors will hear from the big PC companies when they report earnings later this month. Intel reports on Jan. 13 and Microsoft on Jan. 27.

For the full year, PC sales were up 13.8 percent according to Gartner and 13.6 percent according to IDC.

Hewlett Packard remains the world's biggest PC vendor despite a 1 percent drop in sales. Both firms estimated HP has a roughly 19 percent share of the market globally and 29 percent share in the U.S.

Dell and Acer are second largest globally. Gartner gives Acer the edge, with 12.7 percent market share in Q4, while IDC gives it to Dell, with 12.1 percent.

Lenovo is third, followed by Toshiba globally.

In the U.S., Apple is the fifth largest with 9 percent of Q4 PC sales, according to IDC, or 9.7 percent according to Gartner.

Here are the global stats -- choose your vendor:

DIEBOLD DELL CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR ACCENTURE ACER