COMPUTER-CHINA

"If the price is the same between notebook and Laptops, [users] will go mobile," Kay said.

Users are increasingly adopting laptops as prices fall, and Laptops are being bumped to a niche audience including task workers and gamers. The increased laptop adoption has dropped the average selling price of low-end Laptops, which has led to low margins for vendors, especially in the U.S.

On Thursday, Dell reported that its Laptop revenue fell 5 percent year-over-year despite a 9 percent increase in shipments in the first quarter of 2009.

"It's important to point out that our notebook growth rate was high and indicative of the trend toward mobility products over the Laptop," said David Frink, a Dell spokesman.

Dell's business model was built around Laptops in the client and corporate space until a few years ago, and its failure to quickly turn to laptops put its business in trouble, said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. The shift to mobile products across the major product lines has put the company back on track, Kay said.

"The trend of switching over to notebooks will continue to rise. I don't think they're going to stop anytime soon," Kay said.

Dell's laptop shipments grew 43 percent during the quarter, with revenue growing 22 percent year-over-year to US$4.9 billion.

Dell's drop in Laptop revenue reflects a growing problem with the Laptop market in general, said Charles King, president of Pund-IT. "Laptops have traditionally been a market where profit margins are extremely thin to begin with."