The 10 Best-Selling Laptop Brands Of The First Quarter

Laptop Letdown

With the rise in popularity of tablets and smartphones over the past year, sales of laptops have declined.

That is apparent in NPD Group's first-quarter report on laptop market share. There was a 14.2 percent drop in the average selling price for a laptop from the first quarter last year ($849.84) to the first quarter this year ($727.32), causing a shake-up in market-share rankings.

Here are the top 10 best-selling laptops by brand in the first quarter.

10. Sony

The Japanese conglomerate comes in at No. 10 on the NPD Group's list. Sony lost more than two-thirds of its market share in the past year, falling to 0.6 percent unit share in the first quarter from 1.9 percent in the prior year's quarter.

The Sony Vaio line features six different types of laptops including Ultrabooks and Flip models. The Vaio Pro 13 Touch Ultrabook is the company's most high-end model, starting at $2,299.99. It featues a 13.3-inch HD touch screen, while the Vaio Flip is an all-in-one touch-screen laptop that can switch to a tablet.

9. Toshiba

Ninth on the list is another Japanese conglomerate. According tothe NPD Group, Toshiba saw a slight loss in market share in the first quarter from the prior year (0.2 percent) to put it at 2.5 percent to start 2014.

The Kira Ultrabook and Qosimo are Toshiba's two high-end models, while it also features the affordable and versatile Chromebook and Satellite. The Satellite is Toshiba’s most popular model as its cross between affordability and performance is seen as a great value starting at $329.

8. Dell

The Round Rock, Texas, company experienced growth in market share between now and the first quarter of last year, surpassing Toshiba and earning the eighth spot on the NPD Group list. Dell gained 0.5 percent unit share points in the first quarter this year from last for 2.5 percent total market share.

Known for their affordability, Dell laptops start at $299.99 with the Inspiration 15 model. Its high-end XPS 15 features a 15.6-inch HD touch-screen display at 3,200 x 1,800 resolution.

7. Panasonic

The Japanese electronics company lost 1.8 percent unit share points between last year's and this year's first quarter, falling to 3.1 percent market share, according to the NPD Group.

Panasonic is known for its durable mobile products, including tablets. The company's laptops, known as Toughbooks, are no different with their thick frame and rugged build. Gains in durability don't come at the expense of the interior, as the high-end machines still boast a fast processor and 14.5 hours of battery life. The Panasonic Toughbook line starts at $1,400.

6. Apple

The most valuable company on the planet was sixth in laptop market share in the first quarter at 7.1 percent, falling two spots from last year's rankings, according to the NPD Group. Apple was down 0.8 percent unit share points from the prior year's quarter.

The Cupertino, Calif., company has just two laptop models ranging in different sizes and upgrades, the MacBook Pro and the MacBook Air. The former of the two high-end devices is the more-business-oriented laptop, available in either 13-inch or 15-inch displays, while the MacBook Air is the thinnest and lightest laptop on the market with 11-inch or 15-inch displays, which are now available for $899.

5. Asus

The Taiwanese computer and electronics company had the fifth-best-selling laptop brand of the first quarter, according to the NPD Group. Asus dropped two spots in the first quarter's top 10 list from last year after losing 0.5 percent unit share points, falling to 8 percent total market share.

The Asus Transformer Book T100 was the company's best-selling device in the first quarter. With its 10-inch HD touch-screen display, the Transformer Book can be snapped off its keyboard and switched to a tablet. Running on Windows 8.1, the device has 2 GB of memory and is available for $399.

4. Acer

The Taiwanese company dropped one spot from last year's first quarter top 10 despite having the second largest amount of market-share growth, according to the NPD Group. Acer went from 7.2 percent unit share points at the end of the first quarter last year to 12.6 percent of the market in the first quarter this year for a gain of 5.4 percent unit share points.

Acer's best-selling laptop of the first quarter was the C720-2844, featuring the Chrome OS and 1.4GHz Intel Celeron processor. Starting at just $269.99, it has an 11.6-inch LED screen and up to 8.5 hours of battery life.

3. Samsung

The South Korean conglomerate had the third best-selling laptop brand of the first quarter, according to NPD Group. With a 9 percent unit share point change, Samsung had higher growth than any other laptop vendor. It ended the first quarter with 15.6 percent market share, surpassing Apple, Asus and Acer, which were ahead of Samsung in last year's quarter.

Samsung's Series 3 Chromebook was the highest-selling laptop of the first quarter at $229. The affordable device features an 11.6-inch screen and runs on the Chrome OS.

2. Lenovo

The Chinese computer company saw the largest drop in unit share points and still retained the second largest first-quarter market share from last year, according to NPD Group. Lenovo had 22.2 percent of the laptop market at the end of the first quarter, down from last year's 28.2 percent.

Lenovo's best-selling laptop of the first quarter was the ThinkPad E545. Starting at $499, this laptop features a 15.6-inch HD display and up to 6.5 hours of battery life. Running on the Windows 8 OS, the ThinkPad E545 includes the AMD elite quad-core A10 processor.

1. Hewlett-Packard

The top laptop vendor of the first quarter had 24.1 percent market share, according to the NPD Group. HP had a loss of 4.6 percent unit share points after having 28.7 percent market share in the prior-year quarter. To put it in perspective, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company had a larger laptop market share than both Apple and Samsung combined.

HP's best-selling laptop of the first quarter was the EliteBook 8470p. Running on the Windows operating system, the device has a 14-inch LED display, a 2.7GHz Intel Core i5 processor and starts at $1,499.99.