Notebooks capable of burning DVDs are showing strong growth as consumers integrate an increasing number of video, music and image files in their portable systems, according to a market research firm. As of Sept. 30, notebooks with DVD/RW burners accounted for 45 percent of all laptops sold, compared with 12 percent in December 2003, Current Analysis said. At the end of last year, notebooks with only CD burners accounted for 87 percent of sales.

Driving the higher sales DVD/RW-enabled notebooks is consumer demand for the high-capacity disks to store media files, coupled with declining prices for the laptops, which have sold for as low as $899 in recent weeks, the analyst firm said.

As a result of increasing consumer demand, more notebook manufacturers are expected to make a DVD/RW drive a standard feature, narrowing the performance gap further between notebooks and desktop PCs, Current Analysis analyst Sam Bhavnani said.

PC shipments overall this year are expected to reach 186.4 million units, a 13.6 percent increase over last year, according to market researcher Gartner Inc.