Up Close with Nikiski, Intel’s Concept Laptop of Tomorrow

Although Intel doesn’t build laptops, the chip maker showed off a bit of design flare at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas with Nikiski, a concept notebook that folds up into a touchscreen virtual assistant.

Nikiski uses a dual-sided touch panel that comes into play when the laptop is both open and closed. In the open position, it acts like an ultra-wide track pad and knows to ignore palms when they’re resting on the laptop to type. When closed, a slice of Nikiski’s display shows through from the other side of the touch screen, with e-mails, calendar appointments and RSS feeds that the user can interact with.

“When you close your PC and you’re running to another meeting … now you need to get your iPhone or your Android phone in order to get an immediate response,” Mooly Eden, Vice President and General Manager of Intel’s PC Client Group, said in an interview. “I say, why can’t we deliver it on the same device?”

Intel tried to develop a similar concept four years ago, but it was too complicated and expensive, Eden said. Now, Intel has the computing power and technology, and Eden thinks device makers could execute on the concept in a year to a year and a half. “There’s nothing over here, like transparent touch screens, that cannot be implemented in the near future,” he said.

Despite the Metro-style look of the secondary display, Intel didn’t work with Microsoft on the concept. Eden said Intel is working with Microsoft on ways to innovate with Windows 8, but not specifically on Nikiski.

No surprises here, but Intel has no plans to monetize the Nikiski concept or sell it as an Intel PC, Eden said. Instead, Intel’s hoping to inspire the companies who manufacture Intel-based laptops. “Many of them will innovate on top of it,” Eden said, “and at the end of the day they’ll deliver something to the market that is very jazzy, very interesting.”

Intel to help more companies build ultrabooks

Intel will step in to help smaller companies build ultrabooks, as the chipmaker continues its push to make the new supper-skinny laptop category a success, CNET has learned.

With the goal of getting smaller PC makers to supply branded ultrabooks, Intel will hold a meeting Wednesday in Taipei as a "matchmaker" between large device manufacturers--so-called ODMs or original design manufacturers--like Foxconn, Pegatron, Compal, and Quanta and smaller brands, according to an industry source familiar with Intel's plans.

The list of prospective ultrabook brands will include companies like Epson, Onkyo, Viewsonic, Mustek, Motion Computing, WiPro, and Positivo, according to the source. While some brands, like WiPro and Positivo, are not well known, they are big players in regional markets.

Smaller brands don't necessarily have the wherewithal to build ultrabooks, according to the source. The biggest brands, like Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer, Asus, and Toshiba, are already supplying or readying ultrabooks and are not the focus in this case.

Those larger companies are now preparing for the next phase of ultrabooks based on Intel's Ivy Bridge chip. Models are due by late spring or early summer 2012.

Intel has become intimately involved in ultrabooks on many levels. It has already established a$300 million Ultrabook Fund for the development of features critical to the laptops such as battery, storage, touch interface, and chassis technologies.

The latter two--chassis materials and touch--are turning out to be areas of intense focus with the goal of lowering costs. For example, more traditional ultraslim designs from Apple, Samsung, and Asus use metal for the chassis but that is proving to be too costly for less-expensive ultrabooks priced under $900. And Intel CEO Paul Otellini said last month that in order to hit $699 and $799 price points, the chipmaker has to accelerate the reduction in the cost of touch.

In these areas, Intel is working directly with the component manufacturers in the supply chain to spur ultrabook momentum in 2012 and beyond, said the source.