In spite of a disappointing Christmas season – one which saw gloomy predictions from most retailers – market researcher IDC says Australia’s PC shipments grew strongly in 2010.

The researcher says the market reached 5.7 million units in 2010, which would represent more than one unit for every fixed broadband household in the country.

HP remains the powerhouse brand in Australia with 22 per cent market share, but IDC analyst Amy Cheah also noted a strong performance from Apple’s 11-inch MacBook Air, which helped it snare 11 per cent of the market. Of the other usual suspects, Acer has 15 per cent of the Australian market, Dell 14 per cent, and Toshiba 10 per cent.

Although 2010 was also the year of the tablet in Australia, PC and laptop sales still grew 20 per cent over 2009.

Other drivers in 2010 included the government’s Digital Education Revolution program, in which Lenovo laptops are shipped to Year 9 high school students.

While growth in some regions – Queensland, northern NSW and Victoria – was suppressed by natural disasters, there’s likely to be a catch-up effect in 2011 as people replace machines destroyed by floods. ®