IDC says PC shipments worldwide - not counting tablets which are eating into PCs - were up 2.6% in Q2, short of the 2.9% the researcher's May forecast. Gartner's findings look worse. It said PC sales were up 2.3%, a far cry from the 6.7% it predicted.

HP is still the biggest vendor with 18.1% of the global market, followed by Dell with 12.9% and Lenovo leapfrogging a struggling Acer, down 10%, to claim third place with 12.2% market share. IDC said spending is still cautious.

While things looked brighter in emerging markets, US sales were down 4.2% against a tough compare, hit by falling netbook sales, the smartphone distraction, weaker corporate demand and a crummy economy. It said corporate investment was going into the cloud and virtualization.

Apple, however, didn't lose any of its glowing polish. Its shipments were up 15% in the US catapulting Apple into third place in the US from fifth place in Q1 with 10.7% of the market according to IDC. It's said to be part of the iPhone/iPad halo effect. Gartner agrees and gave Apple the same market share.

Worldwide shipments came to 84.4 million units by IDC's count. In the US it looked like 17.8 million. Japan was up 3% better-than-expected given the tsunami. Asia-Pacific was up 12%.

Top 5 Vendors, Worldwide PC Shipments, Second Quarter 2011 (Preliminary)

(Units Shipments are in thousands)

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, July 13, 2011

Top 5 Vendors, United States PC Shipments, Second Quarter 2011 (Preliminary)

(Units Shipments are in thousands)

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker, July 13, 2011