The Mac is still Apple's prime revenue generator, delivering 60 percent of the company's total intake in its fiscal third quarter -- the best quarter ever in terms of Mac unit sales and revenue. The company shipped 1.76 million Macs in the three-month period, an all-time quarterly record and a 33 percent jump relative to the year-ago quarter. The United States saw 32 percent year-over-year growth, representing just under 4 times IDC's latest published growth estimate for the US market -- 7.2 percent. Apple's worldwide growth rate was about 2.5 times IDC's estimated growth for the industry at large.

Apple sold 634,000 desktops in the quarter, representing revenue of $956 million, compared with 529,000 desktops representing $705 million in the year-ago quarter. An amazing 1,130,000 portables were sold, representing $1.577 billion in revenue, compared with 798,000 units representing $1.161 billion in the year-ago quarter.

Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer said that demand for both the new MacBook and new MacBook Pro (which features the industry's first widely available LED display) is "very strong." This claim is backed by an impressive 42 percent year over year growth in Mac portable shipments during the quarter. In fact, notebooks accounted for 64 percent of all Macs sold.

Bolstering the gains is word that nearly 50% of customers were new to the Mac this quarter. The company reported a similar finding last quarter, but consecutive achievement of this figure is an indication that Windows and other platform customers are moving to the Mac, or at least adding a Mac.

Apple began and ended the quarter with its normal 3-4 weeks of Mac channel inventory.