Asus plans Eee PC and smartphone-tablet at Computex 2011

ASIA'S LARGEST TRADE SHOW, Computex, kicks off in Taipei next week and all the early talk has been on Intel showing off a stack of tablets, and Asus unveiling what could be a smartphone-tablet hybrid.

The show, now staggeringly in its 31st year, expects to welcome over 120,000 visitors to its five sites and nearly 2,000 exhibitors, many of which will be from the region given its heritage in chips and components manufacturing.

As reported earlier, Intel has hinted it will finally be leaping with both feet into the tablet market with over 10 devices set to be showcased, probably running the firm's Oak Trail processors.

The firm is being pretty tight-lipped on further details, although a netbooks and tablets press conference is scheduled for 1 June. Intel's new head of China Sean Moloney will be keynoting the day before that, and Intel will be holding a ‘PC client' event immediately following.

Not to be outdone, AMD is hosting a press conference on Wednesday around its Fusion roadmap, so we could see more tablet action from the firm as the two chip giants go head to head in Taipei.

Asus has been teasing its fans all week on its Facebook page with the obligatory close-up photos of brushed metal and thinly veiled marketing messages. What this probably means, given the "Pad or Phone" campaign, is a smartphone tablet hybrid device.

More certain is the firm's launch of a new Eee PC, possibly Linux-based. Will it ‘Break the rules' as Asus is intimating? We shall see.

So as you sit on the beach licking an ice cream this bank holiday Monday, spare a thought for your intrepid reporter tearing round Taipei to bring you all the breaking news and new product demos from Computex 2011. µ