PC sales worldwide were up at least 20% in Q2.

Gartner puts it at 20.7%, IDC at 22.4%.

IDC thinks that Dell is the number two vendor to HP again. Gartner says, na, Acer's still number two and Dell's still in the number three doghouse.

Global sales beat expectations. IDC found desktop PC shipments exceeded expectations, "helping to confirm signs that businesses are moving ahead with replacements, while portable PC sales trailed forecast estimates, reflecting the effects of a thus-far jobless recovery on consumer spending."

Netbook sales, while still ahead of the overall mobile market, slowed to the low 20% range compared with more than 70% in the last two quarters, according Gartner. This it says means they've entered the "mature growth stage."

HP is still number one worldwide, but its 12.3% growth rate was below the industry average. Gartner says that's because it's protecting margins in key regions. Acer, which has its heart set on being number one, grew 31.6% year-over-year. It claimed 13% of the world market to HP's 17.4%, down 1.4%, and Dell's 12.4%, down 0.2%.

Gartner says Dell saw double-digit growth because of corporate spending. It's still struggling with retail.

Lenovo, ASUS and Toshiba all gained fractionally. Lenovo shipments were up 47.2% but Gartner thinks it's sacrificing profitability. ASUS shipments increased 78.5% and it was able to leaven netbook sales with better-margin notebooks.

Gartner said end-user spending grew approximately 13% and ASPs continued to decline, but at a much slower rate than the last two years.

U.S. PC shipments were up 16%.

Gartner says the PC refresh cycle is kicking in, which is what Intel said. Gartner said it's not only corporate America but the public sector despite the budget deficit issues.

IDC is not quite as buoyant. It said U.S. business struck a "wait-and-see stance" as a result of economic uncertainty. "Although we saw some healthy PC refresh activity, volumes were below our initial estimations as buyers reassessed their spending priorities. As we move into the second half of 2010, slower economic growth and rising costs may undermine the market's ability to drive growth with aggressive pricing."

Apple beat up on the netbook in the states. Gartner found that the consumer PC market registered double-digit shipment growth, but consumer mobile shipment growth slowed. "Surging popularity of Apple's iPad temporarily cannibalized mini-notebooks," it said, "as well as consumer notebook sales to some degree. It is not certain at this stage if the cannibalization will continue with the current price point of media tablets."

HP was first (25.7%), Dell second (23.7), Acer third (11.3%) but hit by slowing sales of netbooks and low-end notebooks. The three leaders all lost market share. Apple was fourth with 9.8% of the market, up from 9.1% a year ago. Gartner, which doesn't count iPads with PCs, said the iPad didn't cannibalize the Mac.

Despite the bad press Europe's been getting, PC shipments in EMEA were up 21.6% on strong mobile sales, according to Gartner and it expects corporate spending to pick up in the second half.

In fact, IDC found EMEA "remarkably strong - benefiting from some recovery as well as commercial replacements - while growth in the United States and Asia/Pacific was slightly behind projections."

One out of every five mobiles sold in EMEA was a netbook. Acer is number one in Europe to HP's second fiddle, Dell third and ASUS fourth.

Overall IDC expects "consumer activity to remain healthy, but gradually slow through the end of the year, while commercial market growth will be more stable, reflecting a planned replacement cycle over the next several years."