"The margins are tighter, mature markets are riddled with economic uncertainty and components are increasingly more standardized across the industry," Mooshian said.

HP will likely divest its PC business by the end of 2012, Mooshian said.

The sheer amount of money required to purchase HP's PC unit may deter potential buyers, but such a purchase would still be a bargain, said David Daoud, research director at IDC. HP may be looking to sell the unit in a hurry, he said.

"There has to be [PC market] recovery in a couple of years," Daoud said. "But two years could be a long time for companies that have to deliver profits in a quarter."

The purchase of IBM's PC unit by Lenovo was unexpected, so a buyer could appear out of nowhere, but even that is less likely as the PC market is under duress today, Daoud said. Dell will likely have no interest as it is moving away from the consumer PC market to focus on enterprises, and Acer is cash-strapped and losing market share.