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At Computex, PC industry still fishing for ideas

Two-in-one devices, hybrids, Intel juggling Android and Windows are the common themes at Computex. Sounds like a replay of the PC industry's last two years.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

Dell, Asus and Hewlett-Packard are busy launching new systems ahead of Computex and Intel is touting its latest greatest chips. The PC industry is also trying to bridge work and play and create hybrid devices that'll land customers.

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Asus Transformer Book T300 is thin. Is that enough? Credit: Aloysius Low

Sound familiar? You bet it does. These launches could have been at CES. Or Computex last year. Or any conference or show in between. To wit:

  • Dell launched Venue Android tablets and followed up with an Inspiron 2-in-1 devices that resemble Lenovo's Yoga, says Dan Ackerman at CNET. Hybrid hinges are in. Ackerman said:

If that sounds familiar, it's because the same basic design idea started with Lenovo's popular Yoga series (also available in an 11-inch model), and was later adopted by HP, Toshiba, and others, including an oddball flat-keyboard variant in the Dell XPS 11. Like the Yoga and its ilk, the Inspiron 11 is best seen as a good full-time laptop and decent part-time tablet.

In the end, the PC industry still looks like it's fishing for ideas. Microsoft's Surface 3 seems to have good positioning, realizes what it's aiming for (the MacBook Air) and a unique spin on the 2-in-1 device. The big question is how big this 2-in-1 market will really be.

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