[NewsPoster]

Asus is putting off US shipments of its dual-screen ultrabook-slate hybrid until December. The Taichi ultrabook, with its main selling point of a screen on both sides of the notebook's lid, was debuted at Computex in June and expected to be shipped in November, but delays have pushed the release date further back in the calendar, and possibly into 2013.

The hybrid device running Windows 8 have the 11.6-inch displays running at a resolution of 1920x1080, and come bundled with 4GB of RAM, a 5-megapixel webcam, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Ethernet, and dual USB 3.0 ports. Two versions will be available: One with a 1.7GHz Intel Core i5 processor with 128GB of SSD storage, and another powered by a 1.9GHz Intel Core i7 processor with a higher 256GB SSD drive. A spokeswoman for the company confirmed to PC World that there were delays that could push the release date even later, but declined to elaborate on what the hold-up was. The delays haven't stopped retailers from offering the tablet-laptop to customers, with Amazon, Newegg, and TigerDirect putting them all up for pre-order or as out-of-stock. The Core i5 version is priced at $1300 and the i7 for $1600.