Singular or plural high traffic search terms

In an interesting research by a UK based Internet Research company, Hitwise, analyzed the difference between searches for ‘laptop’ and ‘laptops’. Following snapshot suggests how singular and plurals are being used.

Closely look at the usage of high traffic query modifiers like, cheap and free. I am starting to wonder of search engines are (or already have) reduced the relevance of these modifiers.

The company comes with some other interesting insights like singular is more closely used with laptop accessories. They are also making a point that plural terms send more traffic compared to the singular terms. Read the complete story Plural or Singular search terms?