People were predicting notebooks to overtake PCs a few years back, and certainly that was the way the wind was blowing. Especially as more powerful GPUs became available and storage sizes for laptop HDD increased, laptops as replacement desktops have becoming increasingly common. Now, for the first time, according to data from IDC, quarterly sales of notebooks have actually exceeded desktop sales in the U.S.

According to the market researcher, notebooks composed 55.2% of computer sales in the last quarter, a number achieved through an 18% sales boost compared to a year ago. That 55.2% represented about 9.5 million laptops. This does represent a notable change in how and why people purchase computers, and may be a sign of what hardware manufacturers will be offering in the near future. Most enthusiast hardware is geared towards desktops today, but that could certainly change.