Taken from PCWorld Magazine, February 2012 Edition

Tablets and smartphones are in, but don’t count laptops out. Impressive models planned for 2012 promise to the thinner, lighter, and faster, with longer-lasting batteries.

Ubiquitous Ultrabooks – Thin, and lightweight are the watchword, thanks to Intel, which has trademarked the name for a new category of ultraportable laptops. The category will kick into high gear when Intel’s next-gen CPUs, code-named Ivy Bridge, hit the market. Their power use and performance, and steadily falling prices on solid-state drives, should make these laptops more affordable and appealing. Ivy Bridge CPUS – which may debut this spring – will have a new graphics architecture that runs faster, provides better video acceleration, and supports Microsoft’s DirectX 11. They will use much less power for longer battery life. The integrated graphics could mean 50 percent better performance in 3D games.

Windows 8: A Big OS – Windows 8 changes Windows more profoundly than any release since Windows 95. The new Start screen and Metro-style interface will put off some longtime Windows users. Other users will love the new look and feel. Most important, Windows 8 will undoubtedly inspire a major surge in PC purchases, and an enormous marketing push.  Windows 8 will provide a first-class touch interface without sacrificing good old-fashioned keyboard and mouse use. That means a better user experience on thouchscreen-equipped notebooks, so expect to see more of those machines. It will also support ARM-based processors for the first time, so we may see hybrid laptops with a detachable tabletlike display – or convertible Ultrabooks.