Lighter laptops, longer-lasting batteries for computers at CES 2015

LAS VEGAS -- The halls and hotel suites of CES 2015 provided a huge number of noteworthy new computers, thanks to the introduction of new components, innovative new materials, and new ideas for how to make and sell PCs.

Leading the charge was Intel, with its long-awaited fifth-generation Core series CPUs, also known by the codename Broadwell. These processors will provide a modest boost to both performance and battery life in laptops, tablets, and hybrids, but more importantly, give major PC makers a good excuse to refresh product lines and add new models.

Some of those new PCs make major jumps over past models, thanks to new design innovations. The most notable, for me, was the Lenovo LaVie, a very thin and light 13-inch laptop made in conjunction with NEC. Thanks to a new magnesium-lithium alloy, it weighs less than any comparable system we've seen -- only 1.7 pounds or 0.8kg for a 13-inch clamshell laptop, or under 2.1 pounds or 1kg for a 13-inch hybrid.

Dell had perhaps the most-admired new aesthetic design of the show, with its updated XPS 13. That system added an eye-catching slim bezel, much like one would find on a current flatscreen TV, which allowed it to fit a 13-inch display into a body closer to an 11- or 12-inch laptop.