Computer equipment spending growth this year will be 4.5%, less than half of what it was last year, said Forrester. Strong hardware spending over the last two years has given most firms the capacity they need.

Hardware spending will rebound in 2013, rising to 8.4%, Forrester predicts.

Overall IT spending next year will be $1,266 billion on all goods, services and staff.

The largest categories are IT salaries accounting for $241 billion, and software at $232 billion. Computer equipment spending will be $92 billion.

What isn't growing fast is .