According to the latest numbers out of Gartner and IDC, HP has overtaken Dell in the US PC market for the first time since, gee, 2001.

Dell lost the lead worldwide to HP in 2006.

In Q1 Dell's US market share dropped to 26.3%, down 4.1%, while HP captured 27.6% of American shipments, up 3.8%, by IDC's count.

Dell's shipments were down 16.2% in the US and down 16.7% worldwide in the first quarter.

In the US HP shipped 4.1 million units, up 12%, to Dell's 3.9 million, followed by Acer at 1.5 million (10.5%), Apple at 1.1 million (7.6%) and Toshiba at not quite a million (6.6%).

Gartner and IDC released their numbers the day after Intel called a bottom in PC sales and said "the industry is returning to normal seasonal patterns." However, Intel still offered no Q2 guidance because of economic uncertainty.

IDC expressed cautious support for Intel's optimism and the idea that PC sales growth will return by the end of the year.

Gartner, however, warned that channel restocking shouldn't be mistaken for a recovery in demand. According to Gartner research director George Shiffler, "It's still unclear if the global PC market has hit a bottom."

If there's any improvement it's in the US, where thanks to cutthroat pricing and cheap netbooks, overall shipments only fell 3.1% year-over-year, less than IDC's initially dour expectations of a 8.9% drop. And Gartner figures US shipments were off only 0.3%.

The carriage-trade Apple with its premium prices shipped 1% fewer computers in Q1 but was still able to tickle its US market share by IDC's lights. Gartner thinks it lost market share.

Globally PC shipments dropped 7.1% to 63.4 million units, according to IDC, not as bad as the 8.2% decline it had predicted. HP (20.5%), Acer (11.6%) and Toshiba (5.4%) were all up globally. Dell (13.6%) and Lenovo (7%) were not.

Gartner thinks the PC market fell 6.5% in the quarter and it would put Acer and Dell in a virtual tie for second place worldwide.