Citing a report released by IT research organisation Gartner Datarequest, Acer said it sold 4.28 million PCs in the three months period, up 46.1 percent from a year earlier and compared with Lenovo's 3.97 million, up 16.1 percent.

In the quarter, Acer took 6.8 percent of the global PC market, while Lenovo held 6.3 percent, according to the Gartner Datarequest figures.

"Acer benefited from strong growth in Europe where sales rose more than 40 percent," an Acer spokesman said.

Europe, Acer's largest market, accounted for about 55 percent of the company's total sales in the quarter, the spokesman said.

The Gartner Datarequest report said that although Lenovo fell to fourth position, the company achieved its highest year-on-year growth rate since its acquisition of IBM's PC division in 2005.

In the January-March period 2006, Acer's PC sales totaled 2.93 million units, taking a 5.1 percent share of the global market, while Lenovo sold 3.42 million PCs for a 5.9 percent share.

Global PC sales in first quarter 2007 rose 8.9 percent to 62.72 million, with Hewlett-Packard ranked number one with 11.03 million units and Dell ranked seond on 8.69 million.

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