Worldwide PC shipments fell slightly in the third quarter this year, but the drop wasn’t as big as IDC had originally projected, with expanded offerings of inexpensive laptops and a saturation of tablets in some areas helping to improve the numbers, the tech industry research firm said Wednesday.

Hardware makers shipped 78.5 million desktops and laptops during the third quarter, a 1.7% drop from a year ago, but a “sizable” improvement over IDC’s earlier forecast of a 4.1% drop. Windows XP migrations, which had driven earlier PC sales have slowed, but an improved business climate in some parts of the world helped prop up the numbers, IDC said.

Sales growth in the U.S. has offset declines in some other regions, IDC said. With 17.3 million PCs sold in the U.S. in the third quarter, shipments were up by 4.3% from a year earlier, and up by 2.6% from the second quarter, IDC said. The year-over-year growth in the U.S. lined up with IDC’s earlier projections.

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