IBPS PO 2011 · Question 191 of 237

Directions: In each of the following questions, a short passage is given with one of the lines in the passage missing and represented by a blank. Select the best out of the five answer choices given, to make the passage complete and coherent. Analysts and industry pundits forecast that the notebook market which has been growing faster than the desktop market for the past three years is expected to overtake the desktop market by the year 2011-12. A fall in prices, large deals from governments and institutions and demand from consumers and sectors such as education are expected to help the notebook numbers. According to research agencies, the year 2010 - 11 saw notebook volumes rise and for the first time, a million-plus notebooks were sold in India in a single quarter. The market has grown nearly four times for notebooks. The demand is driven by all sectors and a very buoyant consumer market, which prefers mobile computers. Entry-level notebook prices have dropped below the Rs. 25,000 mark; this has helped break the ice with new customers. This drop in notebook prices has been helped by the drop in the prices of the building blocks that make a notebook. It's simple. With notebook volumes growing, the prices of the components are also bound to come down .

1. AAll this has resulted in a noticeable change in a number of large government tenders for notebooks; which were traditionally for desktops.Correct
2. BBecause of this the government still prefers desktops to notebooks and has passed tenders for the same.
3. CThereby making them more expensive.
4. DThus, the forecast for the coming year states that desktops will be the preferred technology choice only for consumers who cannot afford the exorbitantly priced notebooks.
5. EThus, notebooks will become obsolete after a decade or so.