Strong laptop sales boosted the PC market in 2007

According to research firm Gartner, HP took an 18.2% market share last year, while Dell's share slipped to 14.3%.

A total of 271.2 million computers were shipped in 2007, up 13%, Gartner said.

Dell is going through a major business reorganisation and, according to Gartner, there were signs of turn around at the end of last year.

Hewlett-Packard recorded a 30% increase in personal computers sold last year, eclipsing Dell which shipped 1.7% more PCs.

Gartner's figures showed the two firm's having an almost identical global market share in 2006.

In the US market, Apple had the strongest sales growth.

It recorded a 28% jump, which boosted Apple's share of the market to 6.1%.

The report showed the Asia-Pacific region overtaking the US as the world's second-largest market.

Booming sales in India and Vietnam helped drive growth in the Asia Pacific region where sales soared 18.7%.

The region called Europe, the Middle East and Africa, was still in the lead.