Hybrid Laptops And PCs Take Center Stage At Computex

Hot Hybrids On Display

New laptops, two-in-one hybrid devices and Chromebooks took center stage at the annual Computex 2014 trade show in Taipei, Taiwan. The new lineup includes laptops from Asus, Dell, Hewlett-Packard and other PC makers hoping to be the latest form factors that are the new growth drivers in the PC sector as there is expected to be a weakening demand in this area.

Here is a look at the industry's latest crop of computers.

Dell: Inspiron 11 3000

Specs : This entry-level, 2-in-1 hybrid with an 11.6-inch IPS touch screen (1,366-x-768 pixels) comes in multiple configurations with Intel Bay Trail-class processors (dual-core Intel Celeron N2830 or quad-core Intel Pentium N3530) and 4 GB of DDR3L/1333 memory.

Availability/Cost: Available June 19 with a starting price of $450

Dell: Inspiron 13 7000

Specs : This 2-in-1 series laptop comes with a 13.3-inch touch screen (options include a 1,366-x-768 or 1,920-x-1,080 pixels) and sports Intel Haswell-class processors (Core i3 or Core i5), and either 4 GB of DDR3L/1066 memory or 8 GB of DDR3L/1600 memory. The 7000-series 2-in-1s come with backlit keyboards.

Availability/Cost: Dell says units will be available in September, but pricing has not yet been announced.

Dell: Inspiron 20 3000 Series AIO

Specs: This Inspiron 20 3000 series is a 20-inch AMD-powered, all-in-one (AIO) that can be configured with either the E1-2500 APU (1.4Ghz, 2 core), A4-5000 APU (1.5Ghz, 4 core) or A4-5000 APU (1.5Ghz, 4 core) processors. Storage options start at 500 GB and can be configured with either 2 GB or 4 GB of DDR3L/1600 memory.

Availability/Cost: Systems are available priced at $500, $530 and $600

Asus: Zenbook NX500

Specs: This 15.6-inch (3840x2160 pixel) Ultrabook-class laptop features silver and sleek aluminum unibody construction along with Intel Core chips (up to Core i7 quad-core) and can be configured with Nvidia GeForce GTX 850M graphics that has 2GB of GDDR5 video memory.

Availability/Cost: No word on availability and price

Asus: Transformer Book T300 Chi

Specs: This 2-in-1 detachable has a 12.5-inch display (2,560x1x440 pixels) measures in at 0.56 inches thick making it one of the thinnest in its class. This system runs Intel's next-generation Broadwell M chipset has a fan-less design and will support up to 4GB of RAM. The T300 Chi will also be available with integrated 4G LTE wireless.

Availability/Cost: No word on pricing and availability.

Asus: Transformer Book Flip

Specs: As the name suggests, this 2-and-1 has a display (available in either 13.3 inches, 14 inches or 15.6 inches) that flips back to have the notebook become a tablet with a 1920x1080 touchscreen display. The series systems include Intel Core processors (up to Core i7 quad-core processor) and can be configured with Nvidia GeForce GT840M discrete graphics.

Availability/Cost: Available at the end of June, but pricing is still unknown.

Hewlett-Packard: Pro x2 612

Specs: This slick "Surface Pro 3 rival" is a 2-in-1 laptop with a detachable 12.5-inch screen. The PC comes with an HP Power Keyboard that gives the product 14 hours of battery life. This system can be configured with either the Intel Core i3/i5 processors, HP Client Security, HP Sure Start and with an optional fingerprint reader.

Availability/Cost: The system goes on sale early September.

Hewlett-Packard: Chromebook 11

Specs: This 11-inch laptop running the Chrome OS, features an IPS display with resolution of 1366x768 pixels and runs on the ARM-based dual-core Samsung 1.7GHz Exynos 5350 processor.

Availability/Cost:

Hewlett-Packard: Slatebook 14

Specs: This Android-based laptop runs the KitKat version of Google's OS. The laptop has a Full HD display and runs the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 4 processor and 2GB RAM.

Availability/Cost: System has a starting price of $400 and ships in July.

Hewlett-Packard: Chromebox Mini

Specs: This is a small form-factor PC powered by Chrome OS that features chip options that include Intel's Haswell i7 4600 and Celeron 2955U processors.

Availability/Cost: System goes on sale in July with a starting price of $300.

Hewlett-Packard: Pavilion x360

Specs: This 2-and-1 hybrid sports a 13.3-inch touch-screen, runs either Intel or AMD processors. The hybrid's display can detach from the keyboard to become a touch-screen tablet.

Availability/Cost: Pavilion x360 starts at $600 and the systems becomes available in July.

Acer: Aspire V 11

Specs: This 11.6-inch (1366x768 pixel) touch-friendly notebook ships with 1TB of storage and measures in at measure 0.8-inches thin and weighs 2.84 lbs. The system ships with either Intel's Pentium Quad Core or Celeron processor.

Availability/Cost: No word on pricing and availability.