The much-discussed fourth quarter slowdown has made its mark in the European PC market according to analysts at Dataquest. The market only grew six per cent last year, with total shipments reaching 35.3 million units.

The market in Russia increased the most, gaining 28.9 per cent on 1999's shipment figures, but this only accounted for 1.4 million units. Meanwhile Germany shipped 7.1 million units - the largest number in Europe - but it had only modest growth of 4.3 per cent over 1999.

The professional market was much slower than the home market in 2000, according to the analysts' figures. The business market only grew 3.7 per cent over 1999 while the consumer sector gained 12.2 per cent, or 10 million units. Despite its slower growth, however, the business sector accounted for 72 per cent of all shipments in 2000.

Brian Gammage, an analyst at Dataquest's computing platform group, said that the relative strength of the dollar against the Euro has held up the lower price PCs, as resellers were not able to price the machines competitively. He said that although you get "more PC for your money" this is still not enough for first time buyers.

HP recorded growth of four times the industry average and took over IBM's number four spot in the region. Meanwhile IBM and Fujitsu Siemens recorded "negative growth rates." Compaq is still the top vendor in the region with Dell taking second place. ®