Analysts and industry experts say that come 2013, 100-odd models from the likes of Asus, Acer, Lenovo and HP are expected to hit the domestic market.

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(In a month, the Indian high-end…)

Take, for instance, the Asus Taichi that was unveiled last week. It has not one but two 13.3 inch full high definition (HD) screens back-to-back and a keyboard; this makes it useful as a tablet when folded up and a laptop when opened. The two-in-one machine is powered by an i7 Intel core processor and gives the user the feel of the latest Windows 8 PC and tablet in one go.

The idea of having convertible computers is not new; Lenovo and HP have experimented with them in the past. But they never caught on as the computers were too bulky to be meaningful convertibles - until Apple introduced the iPad tablet in 2010.

Today's there's both hardware (tablets) and software (Microsoft's Windows 8) that are helping re-imagine computers. Windows 8 is designed to work on both personal computers (PCs) and tablets and hence the latest attempt to make the twain of tablets and laptops meet. Most hybrids run run on Intel's third generation i7 processors that have the capacity to power a tablet and laptop together and separately.

Lenovo's Ideapad Yoga can be folded a full 360 degrees, transforming it from a laptop to tablet. Panasonic's Toughbook, which can be used as tablet and laptop, has a water-resistant keyboard and touchscreen. And HP's Envy laptop, which has a removable tablet section, is another hybrid product that industry watchers expect to be launched in 2013.