Apple (AAPL) got an early Christmas present, as its shares hit an all-time high on Thursday. The excitement over its much-anticipated tablet computer is growing, and word is a major launch event is planned for the device in January (keep an eye on San Francisco). Apple still hasn't admitted to the project, but that didn't manage to dampen speculation.

Yair Reiner of Oppenheimer said in a note to investors this month that Apple could have a tablet out on the streets by the beginning of April. Brian Marshall, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech, sees the product reaching shelves by the end of the first quarter. Marshall sees the stock continuing to push upward next year, as "people are coming back to the well."

Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), a PC maker that competes with Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) and Apple (NASDAQ: APPL), received an upgrade on Monday. According to Marketwatch, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech is bullish on the company because of the possibility that corporations will perceive a need to invest in technologies to replace older systems. The analyst thinks Dell shares are a buy.

Well, Dell's stock sure has experienced a high amount of momentum this year, no question about it. The market is clearly discounting an end to the recession. If such an event is essentially in place, then it's easy to see why investors would buy Dell. Not only will businesses put cash to work to make their operations more competitively efficient, but consumers will likewise get out there and replace the laptops/desktops/printers/whatever that they've held onto for longer than usual because the effect of declining Wall Street indexes made them fearful of any big-ticket purchases. Dell should theoretically benefit from a macro recovery, since the company's brand still resonates with the PC-buying crowd.