Laptops Finally Outsell Desktops

Tech buffs have forecast a laptop takeover for years—and now US buying data is finally confirming a coup de desktop. Consumer laptop sales beat out desktop buys for the first time last year, and corporations will likely follow in 2008, the Los Angeles Times reports. New technology, lower prices, and the growth in WiFi are driving the portable boom.

Laptop sales spiked 21% this year to 31.6 million as desktop buys sagged 4% to 35 million—meaning desktops still sell more overall, thanks to corporations, but big business is embracing the laptop so that workers can toil anywhere, anytime. “[Employees] were in a totally tethered world, and now they have no tethering at all,” said one converted CIO. (More laptop stories.)