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Top PC makers, such as Dell, Hewlett-Packard and Lenovo, may now have to resort to sales of lower-margin computers in emerging markets such as China, Eastern Europe and Latin America for their growth this year.

Featuring high-definition video and audio functions and three-dimensional graphics, Vista is being billed as a major upgrade of its predecessor, Windows XP.

But the software, which runs on more memory and superior graphic cards, has not taken off as fast as some had hoped, leading to concerns of potential inventory woes for makers of those products, analysts and industry players said.

"Vista has had no big help," said Acer's president Gianfranco Lanci, adding that PC makers are really not counting on Vista to drive high demands for the industry.

Samsung Electronics, the world's top memory chip maker, also said that demand for DRAM computer memory chips from Vista hasn't materialised as fast as it had predicted.

"We had expected the 'Vista impact' on DRAM around April, but now we see it being delayed into the second half," said Hwang Chang-gyu, semiconductor business president of Samsung Electronics.

But many PC vendors were already skeptical on fresh demand from Vista even before the product's launch in January, better preparing them for a potential disappointment, said JP Morgan analyst Charles Guo.

Major PC players like Asustek Computer, also the world's top motherboard maker, said Vista might have warmed up the market but significant results have not been seen.

"We aren't seeing any effects yet and compatibility issues will take at least six months to resolve," said an executive at Asustek, who declined to be identified.

He added that many corporate customers -- who tend to buy in much larger volumes than individual consumers and therefore can make a bigger impact -- were staying on the sidelines for now as individuals accounted for new buying.

"We've carried out numerous surveys recently with IT managers and they've all said they are not planning to migrate to Vista, and we are not expecting a major influx anytime soon," said Bryan Ma, an analyst at IDC, expressing a similar view.

Different forms of Microsoft's various Windows operating systems now run more than 90 percent of the world's PCs.

Computer makers are now looking to strong buying from emerging markets such as China, Eastern Europe and Latin America to boost business.

Dell announced earlier this week a super cheap computer costing as little as 2,599 yuan ($336) specifically for China, now the world's second largest PC market by unit sales.