Convertible tablet PCs – that is, tablet PCs that can turn into a regular laptop form factor – have traditionally had swivel screens on hinges that work the same way as the swivel screens on Sony’s Alpha DSLRs, for example. There was also one with an awkward sliding mechanism that nobody remembers, but we won’t go into that here. At the Intel Developer Forum being held right now in San Francisco, Dell introduced an upcoming addition to their Inspiron line with a 10-inch netbook that transforms into a tablet PC using a whole new approach. Once you open the lid of the laptop, the screen flips around on an axis halfway down the sides of the display, turning into a clamshell laptop!

The netbook itself has a dual-core Atom processor and runs Windows 7Premium.