Photos: Acer unwraps 'world's thinnest' laptop at CES

Acer Aspire S5

Acer Aspire S5 ultrabook shaves 2mm off even the MacBook Air's svelte lines...

CES, the annual Vegas-based gadget-fest, kicks off today and kit-maker Acer has unwrapped what it describes as the world's thinnest laptop - thinner even than Apple's MacBook Air.

The Acer Aspire S5, pictured above, is one of a new category of laptops branded ultrabooks by Intel whose chips power the size-zero laptops. With their uber-portable form, ultrabooks aim to marry tablet-style fast boot features, performance and price, with a slender laptop form-factor.

CES is likely to see a deluge of ultrabooks, according to analyst Canalys, which predicts up to 50 Ultrabook devices will be announced at the show.

"Ultrabooks show some much needed, and long overdue, innovation in the notebook market and will pose a new threat to premium pads [tablets]," said Canalys analyst Tim Coulling in a statement. "With increased battery life and portability, the continued development of the ultrabook will bring some of the features that consumers love about pads to the notebook space."

Photo: James Martin/CNET