Las Vegas ( CNN ) -- At the gadget industry 's annual crystal-ball convention , laptops look more like products of Aston Martin than Fisher-Price . With sales of budget laptops plummeting , computer makers are swinging the pendulum toward sleeker , metallic and pricier portable PCs that they 're calling Ultrabooks . Many of these were shown for the first time here this week at the International Consumer Electronics Show . Most PC giants have committed to building Ultrabooks . The laptops typically use flash memory instead of hard drives , have no disc readers in order to stay thin , and weigh less than three pounds . Some computer makers see Ultrabooks as an evolution of the laptop in response to demands created by lightweight tablet computers . This view is even shared by PC companies that produce tablets of their own . `` We have learned a lot from the tablet , '' Lenovo Group CEO Yang Yuanqing said in an interview . `` I do n't think the desktop will die . '' Similarly , Dell CEO Michael Dell told an audience in Bangalore , India , on Monday that tablets and smartphones are not a preferable way to browse the Web compared to computers . Dell has not had success in the smartphone market and failed in its brief foray into tablets , though the company plans to return this year , Reuters reports . Lenovo , the second-largest PC maker , makes tablets based on Google 's Android software but has not had much success with them . `` The tablet is a niche market , '' Yuanqing said . `` People still can not give up the keyboard and the larger screen . '' Ultrabooks often draw comparisons to Apple 's MacBook Air , which sells well in spite of the iPad 's continued dominance of the tablet computing market . Apple is expected to increase its sales of that line of laptops to 8.9 million next year , but competitors are expected to sell about 10 million Ultrabooks , according to International Strategy & Investment Group analyst Brian Marshall . The Ultrabook 's prospects for bolstering the PC industry come at an opportune time . Global shipments of PCs fell 1.4 % compared to the same three-month period last year , according to industry research firm Gartner . The rare decline comes amid a slowdown in computer demand from the United States and Europe , the Gartner report said . Companies such as Dell and Acer , the third- and fourth-largest Windows PC vendors respectively , were major proponents of netbooks and happened to be among those hit the hardest . Analysts have suggested that the past success of netbooks was a fad born in a bleaker economy and that consumers are now turning away from lower-quality equipment . Sprint Nextel plans to take a cautious approach rather than throwing its support behind the emerging Ultrabooks trend , Fared Adib , the company 's product chief , said in an interview . Sprint had sold cellular-equipped netbooks at its stores but got burned when customer interest evaporated . `` Instead of jumping in and being a first mover , sometimes be a follower , '' Adib said . Yet , the computer industry is embracing the Ultrabook , and at CES , the laptops have been met with enthusiasm . Hewlett-Packard announced that the Envy 14 Spectre will arrive in stores on February 8 costing $ 1,400 . The 14-inch laptop has reflective , black Gorilla Glass on its lid and weighs less than four pounds . Lenovo showed off several new Ultrabooks at CES . All laptops are poised to be like Ultrabooks in the future , said Yuanqing , the Lenovo CEO . However , `` the price is the main obstacle , '' he said . The IdeaPad Yoga from Lenovo , typically a bargain brand in the United States , won some fans at CES despite its $ 1,200 price tag . The laptop 's screen can bend backwards creating a stand for watching video or transforming into a traditional touchscreen tablet . It will be available in the second half of the year , after the launch of Microsoft 's Windows 8 , Yuanqing said . Dell 's Ultrabook may be the most practical option for many consumers . The XPS 13 has an aluminum lid and weighs about three pounds . It won major praise for its price , $ 999 , and overall features , which includes the ability to download e-mail while the laptop is in sleep mode . ARM Holdings , the mobile chip maker that will enter the PC market this year when Microsoft adopts its architecture in Windows 8 , welcomes the move toward slimmer computers . But the Ultrabook is a creation of Intel , a competitor of ARM . `` Ultrabooks is really just a marketing concept built around the success of Apple 's fashionable products , '' ARM CEO Warren East said in an interview . ARM was created as a joint venture in 1990 that included Apple , which now uses ARM chips in the iPhone and iPad , though not in laptops . Intel had pressed its partners to invest in lighter , high-end laptops , and those negotiations are now paying off . To promote Ultrabooks at its CES news conference , Intel brought on Black Eyed Peas band member Will.i.am , who described Ultrabooks as `` the new ghetto blaster . ''
Ultrabooks have drummed up buzz at CES . Ultrabooks are slimmer , lighter and metallic laptops . They're designed to be used on the go with a keyboard or tablet in place of a traditional laptop.