bull 018 vs Dallas Against Dallas the slide continued

They allowed 33 points in the first quarter, trailed by 17 at the half, and never got within less than six points of the Kings in the fourth quarter.The Nets forced 17 turnovers, but they shot just 38 percent and dropped the game 109-96. • (0-17 at Los Angeles Lakers) Closing out the month of November against the champion L.A. led by 23 at the half and stretched its advantage to as many as 34 after the break. • (0-18 vs Dallas) Against Dallas, the slide continued. Not a single desktop model figured on online shoppingportal Amazon 's (AMZN.O) top 10 selling PC and hardwarelist the weekend before Christmas, while seven laptop modelsmade the list. It was yet another sign that the former dominance ofdesktop PCs is fading as wireless advances and lower pricesmake laptops the preferred option for millions of PC usersaround the world.

"On both price and performance, laptops are so competitivenow it's surprising they weren't able to catch up with desktopseven earlier," said iSuppli analyst Peter Lin. "The ability to surf the Internet wirelessly at publicplaces, the need to be able to take your office out with youwhen you travel, and an increasing range of notebook computershave all led to lower desktop sales." Laptops posted a milestone in the third quarter of 2008,passing desktop PC sales for the first time, according toresearch group iSuppli. They areforecast to take up about 55 percent of all computer shipments,according to data tracking firm IDC. Many companies eagerly awaiting the era of the laptop arein Taiwan, maker of about 80 percent of the world's laptop PCs.They include the world's top two contract manufacturers, Quanta(2382.TW) and Compal Electronics (2324.TW), and two of the mostaggressive laptop brands, Acer (2353.TW) and Asustek (2357.TW). While those firms have seen their market share rise, theworld's top two PC makers overall, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ.N) andDell (DELL.O), have seen their share shrink. Other companies that produce parts such as motherboards forbulky desktop PCs are already switching production to parts forother electronic gadgets such as iPhones.

While laptops used to cost more than double that of adesktop with equivalent processing power, advances intechnology and economies of scale have dragged prices down somuch that little price differentiation exists today for mostconsumers looking for a daily use PC, analysts say. "It's just evolutionary I suppose," said Gartner analystTracy Tsai. "Things have reached a point where the pricedifference is no longer as pronounced as before for manyconsumers, and the average person is more likely to choose theoption that offers him portability over the one that doesn't". (For a graphic on PC market share, click on:here) SPECIALISATION To keep their growth coming, Acer, Asustek and others vyingfor laptop dominance are increasingly looking to segmentation,taking aim at the wide range of computer buyers.