Ultrabooks Get Ready for Their Close-Up at CES 2012

If 2011 was the year of the tablet, 2012 may well be the year of the Ultrabook.

Up to 50 new models of the extremely thin, lightweight laptops are going to be unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January, one of the show organizers said.

At a CES event in London, Shawn DuBravac, director of research at the Consumer Electronics Association, said he was expecting a torrent of Ultrabooks to make a splash at the show. “We expect to see 30 to 50 new Ultrabooks launched at CES,” DuBravac said, according to PC Pro.

Intel CEO Paul Otellini is scheduled to give a keynote at the show, where he’s expected to announce the official launch of the company’s “Ivy Bridge” processors. These chips employ Intel’s much-hyped Tri-Gate transistor technology to reduce power consumption while improving performance.

Intel showed off some prototype Ivy Bridge Ultrabooks at its developer conference in September, and we believe most of the models launching at CES will pack the new chips.

Although small and thin laptops have been around in one form or another for years, they have spiked in popularity recently. The most recent version of the Apple MacBook Air has fueled much of that growth.

Intel invented (and trademarked) the term “Ultrabook” to refer to any thin-design laptop that uses the company’s processors and adheres to certain specs. Among them:

• The thickness must be no more than 0.71 inches (18 millimeters) at its thickest point
• The weight must be less than 3.1 pounds
• It must have a long battery life, offering more than five hours of general use
• It must have flash-based drive for storage
• It must use Intel’s Rapid start technology for fast boot times

Ideally, Ultrabooks should also have a “mainstream” price in the neighborhood of $1,000 — though Intel doesn’t appear to be that strict about pricing.

A handful of manufacturers have debuted Ultrabooks so far. Asus unveiled the UX21 in the spring, then followed up with the UX31 in October. Toshiba announced the Portege Z835 at Germany’s IFA show in the late summer, the same place Lenovo debuted its IdeaPad U300s. Acer also has an Ultrabook, the Aspire S3.

DuBravac also said he expected another big showing for tablets at CES 2012. Last year more than 100 slate-like devices debuted at the show, and the CEA expects a similar number this year.