个人电脑将进入轻薄时代

Intel Corp.'s crusade to redefine the personal computer is entering a crucial phase, as a new breed of sleek skinny portables jostle with tablet-style devices and smartphones for consumer attention.

随着新一代的轻薄便携产品加入到同平板设备和智能手机对消费者注意力的争夺之中，英特尔公司重新定义个人电脑的运动进入了一个关键阶段。

A host of companies are using next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to show off entries in a new category called Ultrabooks, a term the chip giant coined as part of an effort to spur its customers to make more desirable products.

Bloomberg News今年9月在旧金山的一个科技论坛上展出的华硕Ultrabook。一些公司正打算利用下周在拉斯维加斯举办的消费电子产品展(Consumer Electronics Show)推出一种名为Ultrabook的新产品。Ultrabook一词是芯片巨头英特尔的发明，目的在于刺激客户制造出更具吸引力的产品。

Manufacturers expected to introduce new thin laptops at the show include Dell Inc., Lenovo Group Ltd. and Acer Inc. The products follow portables using the Ultrabook moniker from companies such as Hewlett-Packard Co., Toshiba Corp. and Asustek Computer Inc.

即将在展览上介绍新的更薄的笔记本电脑的制造商包括戴尔公司(Dell Inc.)、联想集团(Lenovo Group Ltd.)以及宏基股份有限公司(Acer Inc.)等公司。惠普公司(Hewlett-Packard Co.)、东芝公司(Toshiba Corp.)以及华硕电脑有限公司(Asustek Computer Inc.)等均推出了以Ultrabook为名的便携式电脑。

Making portables smaller is hardly a new idea. Backers of Ultrabooks, inspired largely by Apple Inc.'s MacBook Air, hope to take stylish designs that typically command a premium to mainstream price points. Though Ultrabooks mostly start at roughly $899 to $1,400, hardware companies expect to soon reach more consumer-friendly prices of $699 or lower.

生产更小巧的便携式电脑不是什么新鲜想法。那些生产Ultrabook的厂商──他们大都受到了苹果公司(Apple Inc.)的MacBook Air的启发──希望将通常而言价格较高的设计华丽的产品降到与主流产品差不多的价格。尽管最起初大多数Ultrabook价格都在899美元到1400美元之间，但硬件厂商预期很快就能达到更亲民的699美元或者更低的水平。

Ultrabooks also take a page from Apple's iPad tablet computer by booting up more quickly and operating longer on a battery charge than conventional laptops. Backers expect future models to exploit touch screens, with some converting between tablet and clamshell-style configurations.

Ultrabook还从苹果的iPad 得到了启发，与传统笔记本相比运行速度更快，电池续航时间更长。生产厂商预计，未来的款式中将使用触摸屏，功能介于平板电脑和翻盖式笔记本电脑之间。