IT research and advisory firm Gartner Inc has said that global personal-computer (PC) shipments for 2010 are expected to drop as consumers trim spending and interest grows in tablet devices. Gartner expects worldwide PC shipments to increase 14 per cent to 352.4m, down from its September view of 18 per cent growth. “Media tablets are expected to displace around 10 per cent of PC units by 2014,” Research chief Ranjit Atwal said.