Ambient Light Sensor (ALS) (recommended for Ultrabooks): Automatically detects lighting conditions so your laptop can adjust screen brightness based on the surrounding atmosphere.

Gyroscope (optional for Ultrabooks): Similar to the accelerometer--detects rotation and the rate of rotation. Many games make use of this sensor for motion control.

Many of these sensors have previously been built into laptops--the , for example, has an ambient light sensor, and accelerometers have long been lifesavers for hard drives plunging toward the ground.

Still, it's interesting that Intel is pushing more tablet- and smartphone-like sensors for Ultrabooks--and convertible tablets will get all of these sensors. Once these sensors become ubiquitous, we should see many more kinds of applications that makes use of these technologies.

Currently, smartphones and tablets are more capable than laptops when it comes to this smart detection. But the gap may be closing quickly with this next generation of Ultrabooks--it's really up to Ultrabook manufacturers to decide which sensors get put in their laptops. You can find out which sensors are in your current laptop by looking under the "Sensors" section in the Windows Device Manager, according to .