Compaq Computer Corp took the lead in the European portable personal computer market in the first quarter of 1993 according to Dataquest figures which give Compaq 22% by value and 17.5% by volume, and the manufacturer says that shipments in the period were up 89% on the first quarter of 1992, growing four times the rate of the market, which expanded 21% – and those figures reveal the reason that Dell Computer Corp has stumbled badly in laptops and notebooks: buyers are going for the higher cost 80486-based machines that abound in Compaq’s line, while Dell’s product emphasises low-price 80386SX-based machines.
