個人電腦將進入輕薄時代
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.
隨着新一代的輕薄便攜產品加入到同平板設備和智能手機對消費者注意力的爭奪之中，英特爾公司重新定義個人電腦的運動進入了一個關鍵階段。
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月在舊金山的一個科技論壇上展出的華碩Ultrabook。一些公司正打算利用下週在拉斯維加斯舉辦的消費電子產品展(Consumer Electronics Show)推出一種名爲Ultrabook的新產品。Ultrabook一詞是芯片巨頭英特爾的發明，目的在於刺激客戶製造出更具吸引力的產品。
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.
即將在展覽上介紹新的更薄的筆記本電腦的製造商包括戴爾公司(Dell Inc.)、聯想集團(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.)、東芝公司(Toshiba Corp.)以及華碩電腦有限公司(Asustek Computer Inc.)等均推出了以Ultrabook爲名的便攜式電腦。
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.
生產更小巧的便攜式電腦不是什麼新鮮想法。那些生產Ultrabook的廠商──他們大都受到了蘋果公司(Apple Inc.)的MacBook Air的啓發──希望將通常而言價格較高的設計華麗的產品降到與主流產品差不多的價格。儘管最起初大多數Ultrabook價格都在899美元到1400美元之間，但硬件廠商預期很快就能達到更親民的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還從蘋果的iPad 得到了啓發，與傳統筆記本相比運行速度更快，電池續航時間更長。生產廠商預計，未來的款式中將使用觸摸屏，功能介於平板電腦和翻蓋式筆記本電腦之間。
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.
對於許多廠商來說，賭注還是比較高的，但對英特爾和微軟來說就尤其如此。英特爾和微軟是PC製造商的供應商，長期以來佔據着市場主導地位。隨着對其他種類的移動設備需求的膨脹，這些PC製造商的增長率正在被趕超。據市場研究公司Gartner Inc.預測，2012年全球平板電腦的銷量將會提高63%，增加到1.03億臺以上。相比之下，全球的個人電腦預計會增長4.5%，達到3.7億臺。
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.
英特爾在5月末的臺灣商業展中推出了Ultrabook計劃，這是該公司對廣泛意義上的PC行業做出的一個迴應。英特爾已經設立了一個價值3億美元的風險投資基金，用於支持相關的技術公司。外界預期英特爾將加強對PC製造商在廣告和促銷方面的支持，拉動市場對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.
英特爾希望Ultrabook在尺寸和功能方面能夠更吸引人，爲筆記本行業帶來變革。該公司有計劃連續推出幾代芯片來提升Ultrabook的表現和電池續航時間。儘管多數Ultrabook都不像 MacBook Air那樣輕薄(最厚處1.7釐米，最薄處0.3釐米)，但英特爾期待着Ultrabook能夠迅速實現瘦身。
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.
據英特爾公司預測，Ultrabook將會佔到2012年便攜電腦銷量的約40%。據美國市場研究公司IHS iSuppli預計，到2015年，Ultrabooks將會佔據全球筆記本電腦出貨量的43%。
