Apparently the iPad is affecting PC growth, but not Mac growth. Citi analyst Walter Pritchard tells clients -- as reported by "Business Insider" (http://macte.ch/N8utN) -- that the growth of consumer PC sales (as in Windows systems) is about go to negative, apparently for the time ever.

One of the reasons -- perhaps the main reason -- is growing tablet sales. And we know that the top selling tablet by a long shot is the iPad.

And in what's great news for Apple, the iPad isn't affecting Mac sales. In fact, the tablet seems to be spurring sales of Apple computers with the "halo effect," along with the iPhone. In other words, non-Mac users buy an iPad or iPhone, and love the device so much that when it's time to buy or replace a computer, they go with the Apple brand.

Makes sense. Mac shipments grew 27.7 percent in March, a period that saw a 1.2% decline in total computer shipments. In fact, the Mac has been growing at such a fast rate for almost four years that it's considered a bit of a downer that year-over-year sales in April were "only" up a "soft" 9%, according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.

-- Dennis Sellers