Gone are the crisp pitches about faster, thinner and longer-lasting products, which allowed consumers who wanted the latest and greatest computer to look for simple metrics like more gigahertz, more hours of battery life or lighter weight. Instead, now there is baffling talk about things that improve visual performance like breathtaking tessellation, zippy transcoding speeds and DirectX 11 support — all of which will be highlighted by the chip makers at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, opening in Las Vegas on Thursday.