Even thought the vast majority of personal computers sold are those made to mount on the desk, higher average sale prices of mobile computers are leading to the fact that system integrators are going to earn the bulk of the revenues by selling notebooks, not desktops, analyst firm Merrill Lynch estimates.

By the end of 2006, the estimated percentage of revenue for companies from desktops will be 47%, compared to 41.6% for notebooks. For 2007, the numbers will nearly flip, with 45.6% of revenue coming from notebooks and 43.1% from desktops, according to Farmer’s estimates, according to a research by Merrill Lynch, reports eWeek web-site.

There is no proper split between the desktop and notebook systems on the market just now. Nevertheless, it is known that back in Q3 about 76 million graphics adaptors for both desktops and notebooks were shipped, where desktops represented about 53 million units, while the mobile computers represented 22.7 million units. While not very accurate, the figures do show the approximate split between desktop and notebook computer shipments in the third quarter of 2006.

Later, in 2008, notebooks are predicted to represent nearly 50% of revenue, while desktops will produce only about 40% of revenue. By comparison, in 2000, Merrill Lynch reported that notebooks only produced about 25% of the revenue in the PC market, with desktops accounting for a solid majority of 64%, the web-site claims.

The analysts believe that in terms of unit shipments desktops will exceed notebooks in 2008 or, perhaps, in 2009 and only in mature markets, such as the U.S. or Western Europe. According to the Merrill Lynch analysis, the average notebook in 2007 is estimated to cost $1083, while desktops will cost $767 on average.