A laptop that shows 3D without the glasses, an Intel-conceived notebook that works like a tablet, some laptops that boots and opens the Chrome browser in seven seconds, a notebook combined with a tablet, and laptops that roars on the Mac Lion are among the offerings lined up by top tier personal computer makers for the second half of the year.

While smartphone and tablet (mainly Apple's iPad) sales have increased, PC makers have seen this year softening sales in laptops and desktops. Among the top five worldwide PC makers, only Chinese PC maker Lenovo saw a double digit hike in volume sales. Overall, worldwide PC sales only rose 2.6% in the second quarter this year, compared to last year's figures, according to research firm IDC.

As consumers have declined to open up their wallets in the first half of this year, research firm IDC expects that volume sales will increase in the second half amidst new offerings by the top PC makers.

Below are details about unit sales of the top PC makers in the second quarter of this year, and interesting products they have lined up:

HEWLETT PACKARD (No. 1 Worldwide, No. 1 in U.S.). Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HPQ), according to reporting by DigiTimes, is vying to be the first PC maker to release an Ultrabook, an ultra thin notebook with tablet features that was conceived by Intel. The first generation of Ultrabooks will be powered by one of three Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs. Intel expects Ultrabooks to make up 40 percent of the PC market by the end of 2012. Note that an executive shake-up at HP recently could give a hint at HP's direction and future product mix. Just more than a week after the release of the Wi-Fi version of HP TouchPad, the first that runs on Palm's WebOS 3.0 operating system, HP announced that Palm's Jon Rubinstein will move to HP's desktops and laptops division. Amid a decline in sales of HP consumer PCs, HP plans on porting WebOS operating system, which it acquired as part of its $1.2 billion acquisition of Palm last year, beyond smartphones and tablets onto its desktops and laptops, according to eWeek.

Hewlett Packard is the world's largest PC maker, with an 18.1% market share in the second quarter, on account of 15.3 million units sold, according to IDC. HP grew 3% compared to the second quarter of 2010. HP is also the top PC seller in the United States, with a 26.3% market share on account of 4.7 million PCs sold. The U.S. sales though represent a 0.6% decline from last year's. According to IDC, the vendor saw good growth in key emerging markets and also EMEA, but also had a slight drop in volume compared to the previous quarter. Globally, HP achieved solid growth in the professional PC market, but it continued to face challenges in the consumer segment, according to research firm Gartner Inc.

DELL (No. 2 Worldwide, No. 2 in U.S.). Dell released in May this year the XPS 15z, a 15.6-inch laptop, the thinnest of its kind on the market. With a base-price of $999, the laptop can be customized up to the Intel Core i7 and its equipped with a NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1GB video card, and can be customized up to 8 GB of DDR3 memory. Dell has not announced a new laptop and, instead, recently said that its Latitude E6420 business laptop will now have support for Verizon's 4G LTE network in the U.S. Dell apparently has set it sights in the tablet market as its is currently working on a tablet equipped with Windows 7 set for release in October, according to PC World, citing leaked data.

Dell is the second largest vendor with a 12.9% market share, representing 10.9 million units sold, based on IDC's figures. Dell saw growth of 2.8% worldwide. Dell is also second in the U.S. with a 22.2% market share and 3.96 million units sold, though this represents a 10.2% decline. It managed to slow the pace of declines in key markets compared to the first quarter, with good gains in key emerging markets. Dell did well in Asia/Pacific, where it has invested heavily lately, according to Gartner.

LENOVO (No. 3 Worldwide, Outside Top 5 in U.S.). Lenovo (HKG:0992) recently released ads for the ThinkPad T240s, which has Lenovo's RapidBoot technology, booting up the device in as little as 10 seconds. Lenovo has also recently released the ThinkPad X1, which is the lightest and thinnest ThinkPad model ever, at 3.7 pounds and 0.67-inch thick. The ThinkPad X1 has 6GB RAM, an Intel Core i5 or i7 "Sandy Bridge" processor, a 320GB hard drive, a backlit and spill-resistant keyboard, and a 13.3-inch display. Lenovo will reportedly release "soon" the IdeaPad U1, a combination of an Android tablet and a Windows laptop. According to Planet Insane, the IdeaPad U1 will have separate microprocessors for the Android tablet and the laptop. Once the screen of the device is separated from the body of the laptop, the ARM microprocessor will turn on the Android. If the screen is returned to the body, Windows will be turned on by the Intel microprocessor.

Lenovo sold 10.3 million desktops and laptops in the second quarter to obtain a worldwide market share of 12.2%, according to IDC. The second quarter sales represent a 22.9% growth from last year. Lenovo has yet to reach most U.S. customers, as it is not in the top 5 largest PC vendors in the U.S. On a worldwide basis, Lenovo outpaced Acer Group to become the number 3 vendor. It continued to reap the results of its channel expansion in markets outside of Asia/Pacific, garnering notable gains in the U.S. and Japan. All regions saw positive growth. Lenovo achieved strong growth in Asia/Pacific, the U.S. and Latin America with both desktop and mobile PCs, according to Gartner.

ACER GROUP (No. 4 Worldwide, No. 5 in U.S.). Acer is releasing in the fourth quarter an "ultrabook," top desktop chipmaker Intel's vision of an ultra thin notebook with tablet features. The ultrabook will be less than 20mm (0.8 inch) thick, has a touch-screen, days of battery life on standby, and mainstream pricing under US$1,000. Acer is among the first PC makers to sell laptops based on search giant Google's Chrome operating system. Acer's 11.6-inch Chromebooks have been available in shelves starting June 15 for $349 each. The Chromebook is said to boot and open the Chrome browser only in "seconds", doesn't need an anti-virus software, and has a longer battery life than a full notebook. In addition, Acer announced early this month that it will release Gateway laptops that will have keys that give one-touch access to social networking sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The three new Gateway ID47 series laptop have an edge-to-edge 14-inch screen, will run Intel chips, support 4GB to 8GB of memory, and up to 750GB of hard drive storage.

Acer slid down to 4th place with a market share of 10.9%, selling only 9.2 million PCs in the second quarter, down 10.1% from the same period last year, according to IDC. In the U.S., Acer is 5th with an 8.5% market share, on account of 1.5 million PCs sold, representing a staggering 25.4% decline from last year's figures. Acer shipments continued to decline from a year ago, but at a slower pace than in the first quarter as the company was affected by a review of inventory handling, as well uncertainties from its recent management shake-up, according to IDC. Gartner says Acer's problems stemmed from its low-price, high-volume business model, which is no longer effective.

ASUS (No. 5 Worldwide, Not in the U.S. Top 5 .) ASUS on Friday launched another model to its growing Republic of Gamers (ROG) notebook line. The G74SX, the newest model, although sporting the same design as previous models, offers better gaming experience -- a second generation Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 560M graphics, up to 16GB of DDR3 memory, 8-channel audio with THX TruStudio and Creative EAX Advanced HD 5.0 compatibility, Blu-ray drive, and up to 1.5TB of hard disk storage (SSD options also available). ASUS is releasing by the end of the year the UX21 Ultrabook. ASUS said the "astonishingly thin" ultraportables are made possible through the use of a strong but light aluminum alloy shell with a unique 'spun' finish on polished surface.

ASUS had a 5.3% market share from selling 4.5 million PCs in the second quarter. ASUS grew 6% to overtake Toshiba for the number 5 spot. While the vendor has had some difficulties adjusting for the decline in Mini Notebook PCs, it mainstream notebooks did well, especially in emerging markets

TOSHIBA (No. 6 Worldwide, No. 5 in U.S.). In June, Toshiba announced a new family of premium laptops, the Satellite P700 Series. Last week they made another announcement that they are launching the "world's first" glasses-free 3D laptop in August. The Qosmio F750 3D will have the ability to display a combination of 2D and 3D images on screen simultaneously a lenticular screen and integrated webcam. The laptop will feature a 15.6-inch Full HD display, an HD webcam with eye tracking technology, Intel's second generation Core i7 processor and a 1.333 MHz Nvidia GeForce GT540M GPU (up to 2 GB), according to Techchrunch. The Toshiba Qosmio F750 3D will be available for $2,100.

Toshiba ranks 6th place in worldwide PC sales. It has a stronger presence in the U.S. though as it is 4th in the U.S. with 1.6 million units sold for a 9.1% market share. Aside from Apple, it is the only top 5 PC maker in the U.S. that has not suffered volume declines in the U.S.

APPLE (Now Top 5 Worldwide, No. 3 in U.S.). Reports indicate Apple Inc. will be releasing a new MacBook Air model in the next few weeks and the new model will be significantly faster than the $999 currently available in the market. The new MacBook Air's flash drives may feature 400MBs of flash storage, allowing the notebook to have speed 150 percent faster than the current model. The new models may feature NAND chips soldered directly onto the MacBook's motherboard, according to 9to5 Mac. Apple has previously said that its newest OS for laptops, the Mac Lion, will be released in July. News sites have said that the new OS will go with the the newest Mac Airs and Mac Minis. According to All Things D, Apple has plans to unveil the updated MacBook Airs line late next week.

Apple is not in the top 5 largest PC makers worldwide, as its laptops and PCs have yet to make a mark outside the U.S. But it is already third in the U.S. in PC sales with a 10.7% market share, from 1.9 million units sold. Sales in the U.S. rose 14.7% from last year. According to Gartner, Apple's jump from 5th to 3rd in the U.S. is partly driven by an iMac refreshment that attracted both consumers and buyers in the education sector.

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