THE IT GUY: Laptops get 'ultra' sleek for 2012

The 2012 Consumer Electronics Show was held this past week in Las Vegas. As usual, Apple dominated the show -- even though they weren't there. Speculation is rampant that they will introduce some sort of TV this year (my guess is they won't be able to secure the kind of licensing deals with the networks to make it worth their while, at least not this year).

Beyond that, the theme of the show was the "ultrabook," everyone's answer to Apple's MacBook Air. Here were some of the highlights (or, if you will, gadgets I would like to personally own):

VIZIO GETS INTO THE PC BUSINESS

Best known for their low-cost, high-quality TVs, Vizio will enter the Windows PC market this year with 24- and 27-inch all-in-one desktops, 14- and 15.6-inch laptops and a 10-inch tablet running a custom skin on top of Android (Honeycomb, apparently). The computers are beautifully designed and Vizio gets points for trying to out-Apple Apple instead of just copying them. If they can be competitive on price, they will be a welcome addition to the computer/tablet space.

ACER ASPIRE S5

Dubbed the "world's thinnest ultrabook," the Aspire S5 is a 13.3-inch laptop weighing just 2.97 pounds and is only 15 millimeters at its thickest point. It won't be seen until the summer, but when it arrives expect it to be using Intel's new Ivy Bridge processors, which means it will also have support for Thunderbolt, Intel's high speed 20Gbps I/O port currently in use in Apple computers.

ASUS TRANSFORMER PRIME TF700T TABLET

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the just-released-last-month Transformer Prime and now here comes its successor, the Transformer Prime TF700t (I can't imagine this will be its final name -- and that's not even counting the lawsuit Asus is currently facing from Hasbro over the use of the Transformers name). Upgrades to the already beefiest tablet on the market spec-wise include a 1920 x 1200 resolution screen for full 1080p HD video, a 2 megapixel front camera, and Android 4.0.

NOKIA LUMIA 900 (AT&T)

Finally Windows Phone lovers get a taste of 4G LTE (though not around here of course -- c'mon AT&T, get on it!) with the Lumia 900. Features include a 1.4GHz processor, 512MB of RAM, 8-megapixel rear camera and a 4.3 inch AMOLED display. If you're in the market and walk into an AT&T store, you'll probably still be pushed toward the iPhone and Android devices, but Windows Phone is a worthy competitor, so check it out.

MOTOROLA DROID RAZR MAXX

OK, current Razr owners, here comes the pain. Set for release less than two months after the new Droid Razr, the Droid Razr MAXX will be coming to Verizon shortly for $299 with contract. The big feature upgrade is a 3,300 mAh battery that can apparently last almost 24 hours. Somehow, Motorola achieved this by only adding a thickness of 0.0075 inches more than the Razr (which was absurdly thin to begin with). The bigger battery also should help if you feel like turning on the 4G radio, which on current phones is a recipe for needing a charge before lunch.

MOTOROLA DROID 4 (VERIZON)

If you still prefer that your smartphone come with a physical keyboard, Motorola and Verizon have you covered with the Droid 4. It will come with Android 2.3 (with a promise of an update to 4.0 -- we'll see ...), a dual-core 1GHz processor with 1GB of RAM. The 4G LTE enabled device will be released in the next few weeks.