LAS VEGAS, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- Analysts say the hot product at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas will be "ultrabook," super thin and remarkably light notebook computers.
While tablet computers are still attracting most consumers' attention at the portable end of the computing spectrum, CES 2012 is expected to be dominated by this emerging notebook category, with a healthy push from Intel, Wired.com reported.
Intel has even gone as far as trademarking the ultrabook moniker for high-performance, ultra-portable, Intel-based notebooks.
To qualify as an ultrabook, Intel says, a notebook can weigh no more than 3.1 pounds, be no more than 0.71 inches thick and must provide at least 5 hours of battery life.
Dell, HP, Toshiba, Acer, Asus and Lenovo, among others, are expected to hit CES with their own take on the ultrabook this year.
The typical ultrabook's $1,000 to $1,200 price could be a problem in attracting mainstream consumers, Display Search analyst Richard Shim said, because they're much more comfortable with a sticker price of about $699.
"The challenge is that you're trying to make a premium product mainstream," Shim said. "It's sort of an oxymoron, because as soon as it's mainstream, it's not premium anymore."
