Riding the wave of good news about Apple's explosive growth over the past years, market research firm Gartner now says that Apple is the sixth largest PC manufacturer in the world.

Apple has been making significant inroads in the US with both the Mac and Safari browser, enjoying 50 to 60 percent year-over-year growth in Q3 and Q1 2008, respectively. While Apple became the fourth largest PC vendor in the US in Q1 2008, it still doesn't have much of a worldwide market share to speak of when compared to the big hitters like HP, Dell, and Acer who are increasingly competing in low-cost and budget-friendly desktops and notebooks. Nevertheless, after tallying the numbers from PC manufacturers' 2007 sales, Apple is now in 6th place worldwide according to Gartner's numbers, right behind Toshiba who is hovering just under 20 percent.

While this is good news for Apple and its shareholders, Gartner echoes other assessments that Apple may have a tough road ahead considering that PC manufacturers have brought the budget battle to ultra-portable, ultra-cheap notebooks. Asus' Eee PC and its many competitors are ushering in a new era of $400 notebooks and cheap desktops which, as we noted back April, are very appealing to areas like Asia and South America where markets aren't as saturated.