Without a doubt, tablets are on the rise. Analysts and experts all over the world feel confident that tablets are only going to get more popular in the coming years. According to NPD DisplaySearch, it’s projected that over the next two years, the mobile PC market in the form of tablets and Touch PCs, would more than double in demand.

Tablets or Standard Computers?

This is being driven forward by the great changes happening in PC computing, with more and more users turning towards the more portable tablets as opposed to laptops and standard notebook computers. Tablets, after all, are able to perform many of the functions that the notebooks and netbooks are capable of like running word processors, presentations, excel sheets, and even multiple communication forms such as emails, voip, and online fax.

At the same time, many people are still highly dependent on full-fledged computers. It makes sense—while many tablets are dependent on apps, designed and streamlined for mobile use, full computers still have the advantage of being able to use sophisticated programs that require greater computing power.

Some enterprising brands, however, have found a way to enjoy the best of both worlds.

“Transforming” Tablets

Recently, computing devices that are capable of being both tablet and PC have been popping up in the market. These ultrabook like devices are able to perform sophisticated programs and can even have PC operating systems like Windows 8 . The difference from regular ultrabooks and laptops, however, is that aside from being able to be operated by touch screen, the top part can also be detached from the keyboards and turn into a tablet that can be toted around like your standard 10-inch tablet.

So far, the most popular of these makes is the Asus Infinity, which has received such great acclamation as a tablet/PC hybrid that it is the second most highly recommended tablet of choice of CNET.com. I’ve had my hands on the Infinity, and this beast truly is capable of running high-detail 3D games without a hitch. It runs Android but you might as well think that it has a PC operating system at how well it actually works.

Another famous hybrid PC, of course, is the Surface Pro. No, not the RT which has been universally loathed by so many in spite of Oprah’s advertising, but the actual Surface Pro. True, it is classified as a tablet, but the surface pro comes with the touch keyboard cover that makes it extremely efficient as a PC—something we would certainly need as this hybrid runs a fully-fledged Windows 8 Pro environment, capable of running even heavy-duty programs such as the Adobe Creative Suite.

And in the most recent news, even Apple seems to be planning on joining the fray. Recent reports in PCMag.com state that the electronics giant’s patents seem to be bearing evidence of a future Apple product that is capable of being both a tablet and a PC. Not that this would be a truly huge leap for Apple—the latest Macbook, after all, can be operated by touch as it is. It was simply a matter of being able to detach the screen and use it exclusively like an iPad.

If Apple, already the go-to name in tablets, were to create this hybrid, it could more than certainly usher a new wave of Tablet/PC hybrid computing devices.