PC sales in Western Europe grew by more than nine per cent in the second half of 2006 with 11.2 million units being sold in total, new figures from analyst firm Gartner have shown.

The 9.3 per cent rise was found to be partially driven by the increased interest and uptake in mobile PC devices, the firm found, as these items move from "nice-to-have" to "must-have" status.

"The leading vendors undertook an aggressive price war, marketing some mobile PCs at the value of £299," expalined Ranjit Atwal, principal analyst for Gartner UK.

Dell remains the biggest supplier of PCs to the UK market, the research found, but its sales have declined by seven per cent year-on-year.

By contrast, the other four major PC suppliers saw their share grow above the market average last year, with Acer showing the strongest growth of all. Its collaboration with Dixons was seen as indicative of the ways in which the computer sales market is likely to evolve to further boost penetration.

"The recent announcements on new subsidised PC selling strategies, which included the cost of notebook PCs being subsidised by broadband providers, Dixons' association with various PC vendors and Orange or Carphonewarehouse's partnership with Dell and AOL, will further boost PC penetration in the UK market," Mr Atwal added.

According to recent survey by Connect, the two biggest IT headaches for businesses were 'everyday hassles with IT' (37 per cent) and 'security concerns' (32 per cent)