A few months after the iPad came out, computer makers who had made convertible laptops started phasing them out, believing the iPad usurped their need. What’s old is new again: several computer makers are planning to introduce new Windows 8 convertible laptops soon after Microsoft makes the OS official on October 26.
I agree with the assessment that the iPad stymied the need for convertible laptops; if you need a keyboard with the lighter-than-a-convertible iPad, or even an Android tablet, you could buy an auxiliary Bluetooth QWERTY keypad. In fact, your bag would probably be lighter with an iPad and an ultrabook both contained therein, as opposed to a single convertible laptop.
But if these new hybrids succeed, we can’t keep calling them "convertible laptops" (for one thing, it takes too long to type). So, I’m inventing a new name for these sometimes-a-laptop, sometimes-a-tablet combo computers.