Intel came packing at CES 2012, so they showed the world no less than two interesting form factors of portable devices. One of them was the Nikiski concept PC with transparent touchpad and the other was the slider you see below, that combines the traits of a tablet with the ones of an ultrabook.
The name of this ultrabook design is the Slider, that reminds me of a larger smartphone rather than a portable computer. It has a QWERTY keyboard on a sliding segment and it runs on the standard x86 hardware and low voltage chips. This reference design is actually functional, not only a mere concept and Intel hopes that its OEM partners will use this device to take into account the creation of smaller and lighter notebook replacements.
Specs weren’t available, but a 12 or 13 inch display may be included and the keyboard section features a full size layout of keys for comfortable typing. You can thumb type if you hold the device tablet-style, apparently. The concept looks and sounds nice and it’s pretty much like the ASUS Eee Pad Slider with a twist… It’s not much smaller or lighter than any other ultrabooks, but at least it’s got a different form factor and it might run Windows 8 in the end.
