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。

The stakes are high for many companies — but particularly for Intel and Microsoft Corp., dominant suppliers to PC makers whose growth rates have been surpassed as demand has swelled for other kinds of mobile devices. Sales of tablets across the globe, for example, are expected to rise nearly 63% in 2012 to more than 103 million units, predicts research firm Gartner Inc. World-wide PC shipments, by contrast, are expected to rise 4.5% to about 370 million units.

对于许多厂商来说，赌注还是比较高的，但对英特尔和微软来说就尤其如此。英特尔和微软是PC制造商的供应商，长期以来占据着市场主导地位。随着对其他种类的移动设备需求的膨胀，这些PC制造商的增长率正在被赶超。据市场研究公司Gartner Inc.预测，2012年全球平板电脑的销量将会提高63%，增加到1.03亿台以上。相比之下，全球的个人电脑预计会增长4.5%，达到3.7亿台。

Intel helped marshal a response for the broader PC industry by kicking off the Ultrabook initiative in late May at a Taiwan trade show. It has set up a $300 million venture-capital fund to support related technology companies, and is expected to boost its advertising and promotional support to PC makers to drive demand for Ultrabooks.

英特尔在5月末的台湾商业展中推出了Ultrabook计划，这是该公司对广泛意义上的PC行业做出的一个回应。英特尔已经设立了一个价值3亿美元的风险投资基金，用于支持相关的技术公司。外界预期英特尔将加强对PC制造商在广告和促销方面的支持，拉动市场对Ultrabook的需求。

The chip maker expects the more attractive size and features of Ultrabooks to transform the laptop category, bolstered by plans to roll out successive generations of chips to help drive up performance and battery life. Though not many Ultrabooks are quite as thin as the MacBook Air — which tapers from a thickness of 0.68 inch to 0.11 inch at one point — Intel expects dimensions to shrink rapidly.

英特尔希望Ultrabook在尺寸和功能方面能够更吸引人，为笔记本行业带来变革。该公司有计划连续推出几代芯片来提升Ultrabook的表现和电池续航时间。尽管多数Ultrabook都不像 MacBook Air那样轻薄(最厚处1.7厘米，最薄处0.3厘米)，但英特尔期待着Ultrabook能够迅速实现瘦身。

Intel predicts Ultrabooks will account for about 40% of consumer portable PC sales in 2012. IHS iSuppli sees Ultrabooks hitting 43% of world-wide notebook PC shipments by 2015.

据英特尔公司预测，Ultrabook将会占到2012年便携电脑销量的约40%。据美国市场研究公司IHS iSuppli预计，到2015年，Ultrabooks将会占据全球笔记本电脑出货量的43%。