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Laptop and desktop computers aren't always the most high-profile of products shown at CES, but with an influx of new, thin, ultrabook laptops expected, as well as an updated CPU platform from Intel, you're sure to get a detailed view of what PCs will be on shopping lists for the rest of 2012.



Laptops get thinner

We've seen a good handful of ultrabooks already, but the rumor mill says that nearly every computer manufacturer will get in on the act with at least one 13- or 14-inch entry. Remember that an ultrabook (according to Intel's official definition) can include laptops in the 15-inch range, so we may see some of those as well.

There will also be laptops that will try to split the difference, with thin bodies but a hybrid combination of SSDs and platter-based hard drives, or optical drives. Finally, expect a lot of hard-to-quantify talk about fitting a 14-inch laptop into a 13-inch chassis (or a 13-inch into a 12-inch, and so on).



Nothing close to last year's evolutionary Sandy Bridge leap

Intel introduced its six-core Sandy Bridge-E series desktop CPUs at the end of 2011. We expect more chips in that lineup throughout the spring, but the industry is really waiting for Intel's next-generation CPU architecture, code-named Ivy Bridge, due out in mid 2012. Many vendors we've spoken with have said they will not demonstrate Ivy Bridge-equipped PCs at CES, which suggests a tame show in terms of core PC technology announcements.

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