According to a report from analyst firm Gartner, mini-notebooks now account for more than 14% of the total PC market with 97,220 units shipping during the second quarter. The company defines mini-notebooks as units with a screen of between 5 and 11 inches and running a fully fledged operating system such as Microsoft Windows XP or Linux.

In the wider mobile PC category, Gartner says shipments to consumers increased 27.6% during the quarter. This compared with a decline of 15.9% in consumer desktop PCs. Gartner says the best opportunities for PC retailers going forward will be in the consumer, SMB and education areas.

Gartner is also urging PC vendors to consider working more closely with telecommunication service providers. The strong demand for mobile computers makes bundling them with wireless data plans a natural step.

Activity in this sector is likely to surge later this year as more vendors enter the mini-notebook segment. Yesterday Nokia and ViewSonic both announced they would be entering the market with fresh offerings.

When looked at overall, the Australian PC market actually declined by 2.9% in the second quarter when compared with the same period in 2008. However sales numbers increased 11.1% when compared with the first quarter of this year.

According to Gartner, Australia remains one of the most PC penetrated markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Around 80% of business PC and 54% of consumer PC purchases were as replacements for existing devices.