Notebook shipments, benefiting from the recovery of hard drive shortages and launch of Windows 8 in the third quarter, are expected to rise significantly in the second half, compared to the first with shipments proportion in the first and second halves to reach 45% and 55% and may even hit 40% and 60%.

Hard drive shortages and weak US and Europe economies are the two major negative factors causing weak performance in the first half, especially the first quarter, according to Digitimes senior analyst Joanne Chien. Chien added that Taiwan ODMs' notebook shipments in the first quarter will drop 9.4% on quarter and 3.2% on year.

Another growth driver for the notebook industry in the second half will be Intel's 22nm Ivy Bridge platform, which will feature Intel's 3D Tri-Gate technology with power consumption to reduce by 50% from the existing 32nm processors.

As for ultrabooks, although market watchers are pessimistic about Intel's goal of having the devices account for 40% of total notebook shipments in 2012, they believe the devices will still attract consumers.

With ultrabooks expected to start mass shipping in the second quarter, while Windows 8 is set to release in the third quarter, notebook shipments in the second half will have a chance to return to growth, and if shipments of Android 4.0 and Windows 8 tablet PCs are counted, notebook shipments in 2012 will still be able to achieve double-digit growth.