Western Europe PC sales up 0.7 pct in Q1 -Gartner

HELSINKI May 6 (Reuters) - Personal computer sales in Western Europe grew 0.7 percent in the first quarter, with booming sales of mini notebooks balancing shrinking demand from businesses, research firm Gartner said on Wednesday.

The professional market declined more than 20 percent year on year as businesses refrained from buying PCs and instead extended their PC lifecycles, Gartner said.

"This is a clear indication of the trend that we will see in other countries through 2010," Gartner analyst Ranjit Atwal said in a statement.

"The consumer market remained buoyant, driven by strong mini notebook demand," Atwal said. Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) sold 3.5 million PCs in the area in the quarter, compared with the same quarter last year, holding 22.8 percent of the market.

No 2 Acer (2353.TW) held 22.1 percent of the market, narrowing HP's lead to 108,000 computers from 880,000.

"Acer continued to grow despite the tough environment with strong mini notebook shipments in retail and the telco channel," Gartner said.

No 3 Dell (DELL.O) saw its market share shrink to 10.6 percent from 13.7 percent, while Toshiba and Asustek (2357.TW) gained share, holding 6.8 and 4.8 percent of the market respectively. (Reporting by Tarmo Virki; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)