Intel Reveals Ultrabook with Slider at IDF 2012

Utrabooks have so far been, in essence, notebooks with thinner cases, but Intel is exploring additional form factors now, especially those employed by other portable consumer electronics.

The idea of turning an ultrabook into a tablet, and vice versa, is not a new one at all, and has probably been around since ultrabooks were first thought up.

There is already a model with a 360-degree hinge, the Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga.

Now, Intel has shown a prototype ultrabook with a sliding mechanism not unlike that of certain convertible tablets.

Called Letexo, it is dubbed a “Hybrid Ultrabook” and might just be what laptop makers need to make ultrabooks really popular.

In addition to the regular notebook use, the screen can be slid forward, making it a touch-based all-in-one PC.

Of course, folding the screen flat is perfectly possible too, covering the keyboard and essentially completing the tablet transformation.

And since Ultrabooks have been advertising themselves as laptops with tablet-like thickness, even with a physical keyboard present, the Letexo is not bulky at all.

There is no information on the internal components of the “best of both worlds” device, beyond the reliance on the Ivy Bridge platform.

The slide of the presentation suggests at least two USB ports are included in the blueprint as well. Of course, this is not some sort of massive revelation. Every self-respecting PC has some USB ports nowadays, usually 3.0. Finally, an HDMI port appears to be present too.

No clue what companies, if any, have taken up the task of producing devices that fit this reference design. Knowing Intel, there would have probably been some special announcement to this effect if there had already been any takers.

Then again, this build is still barely out of planning stages, so OEMs might not have had a chance to analyze it yet.

Posted in: Hardware, Preview