CES was a bit overwhelming, mainly because I spent the first day of the show completely off of the show floor and in off-site meetings as well as in my hotel room finishing up our Core Duo Notebook article. I really do love it when NDAs coincide with major tradeshows :)
The rest of the AT team was getting to see and interact with all of the cool stuff at CES, but eventually on the second day of the show I finally made it to the show floor. The stuff on the floor was amazing, and if you haven't read our coverage on it I strongly suggest it. Not everything is PC related but I think the PC and Consumer Electronics markets have been on a crash course for quite some time now, and it's tough to be an enthusiast of one and not the other these days.
Everyone always asks me what the coolest thing I saw at the show was, and I usually respond with a few different items. This year's CES was no different, so in no particular order here's what I thought was cool:
ATI's OCUR: Wow, I want one of these. Nothing makes me want Vista more than ATI's OCUR since I love MCE but I need HD-DVR support. ATI tells me there are only around 13 of these devices in existence right now, and I'd probably get tossed in jail if I somehow managed to get one and get it working on my cable network. Damn.
Motorola's In-Ear Bluetooth Headset: It looks a little weird (and the prototype charger is even stranger) but the chance of not having to yell to someone on the phone while in a crowded environment is all I care about.
Rollable Displays: There are few things cooler than a display being rolled and unrolled, and still having it work afterwards. Why do I get the feeling that in another 10 years I'm going to be talking about how today's kids are spoiled and remembering what things were like "back when I was in school."
Hitachi's OLED Demo: Thin is in, and you can't really get any thinner than the Hitachi's 7" OLED monitor. Toss a few of these things all over the house and 21st century, here we come.
Lenovo's Thinkpad X60s: It's small and it's Yonah, although I would like to see how the Core Duo based X60 fares in comparison.
Honestly, if you could somehow merge CES and the Geneva Motor Show I'd be in heaven.
If I had the time I would have loved to be at MacWorld today, but unfortunately there's too much work back here for me to have gone from CES directly to MacWorld. It is unfortunate, since it's looking like Apple will introduce their first Intel based notebook there tomorrow (among other things), but I guess I'll have to wait with everyone else to find out what happens at the show :)
The rest of the AT team was getting to see and interact with all of the cool stuff at CES, but eventually on the second day of the show I finally made it to the show floor. The stuff on the floor was amazing, and if you haven't read our coverage on it I strongly suggest it. Not everything is PC related but I think the PC and Consumer Electronics markets have been on a crash course for quite some time now, and it's tough to be an enthusiast of one and not the other these days.
Everyone always asks me what the coolest thing I saw at the show was, and I usually respond with a few different items. This year's CES was no different, so in no particular order here's what I thought was cool:
ATI's OCUR: Wow, I want one of these. Nothing makes me want Vista more than ATI's OCUR since I love MCE but I need HD-DVR support. ATI tells me there are only around 13 of these devices in existence right now, and I'd probably get tossed in jail if I somehow managed to get one and get it working on my cable network. Damn.
Motorola's In-Ear Bluetooth Headset: It looks a little weird (and the prototype charger is even stranger) but the chance of not having to yell to someone on the phone while in a crowded environment is all I care about.
Rollable Displays: There are few things cooler than a display being rolled and unrolled, and still having it work afterwards. Why do I get the feeling that in another 10 years I'm going to be talking about how today's kids are spoiled and remembering what things were like "back when I was in school."
Hitachi's OLED Demo: Thin is in, and you can't really get any thinner than the Hitachi's 7" OLED monitor. Toss a few of these things all over the house and 21st century, here we come.
Lenovo's Thinkpad X60s: It's small and it's Yonah, although I would like to see how the Core Duo based X60 fares in comparison.
Honestly, if you could somehow merge CES and the Geneva Motor Show I'd be in heaven.
If I had the time I would have loved to be at MacWorld today, but unfortunately there's too much work back here for me to have gone from CES directly to MacWorld. It is unfortunate, since it's looking like Apple will introduce their first Intel based notebook there tomorrow (among other things), but I guess I'll have to wait with everyone else to find out what happens at the show :)
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GTaudiophile - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
Okay, I vote for a off-topic headline at Anandtech.com: Anand Visits the Geneva Autoshow. Or why not Frankfurt? I've wanted to do the latter myself.Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - link
I'd be cool with Frankfurt too, it's just that Geneva is supposed to be pretty interesting this year :)Take care,
Anand
Wahsapa - Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - link
hey anand! you're going to review the first apple-intel notebook right? :)creathir - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
Why is the AT staff pushing Lenovo products so much?Personally, I feel the Thinkpad series of notebooks are built well, but they are not something to GAWK over. They look the exact same as they did 10 years ago (I know because I have a Pentium 75Mhz... "smokin'"...)
They are well built, but they certainly are not something I prefer as a laptop. The design needs to be updated. Dell used to get slammed left and right for their antiquated design, and I think it is time the same standard is held for IBM/Lenovo. Most laptops are the same under the hood... same CPUs... same chipsets... same memory and hard drive... What sets each one apart is its physical design or how the manufacture chooses to implement that design. The utter LACK of innovation on the part of IBM/Lenovo is utterly dumbfounding. I suppose if you want the same machine, over and over, but with updated internals, then IBM/Lenovo have your solution. If you want something that looks like it is newer than 1996, look elsewhere.
Any thoughts?
- Creathir
SLCentral - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
The great thing about Lenovo laptops is not the design, but rather the stability, durability, and quality. It may not be flashy and look the coolest, but if you need something reiable, it's the way to go.creathir - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
But if they are the same chipsets/cpus under the hood, how does it make any difference?I suppose implementation maybe? Board layout? ???
- Creathir
Anand Lal Shimpi - Tuesday, January 10, 2006 - link
Yeah it's mostly a build quality thing, there are also a lot of nice business user centric features that the Thinkpads offer that you don't see elsewhere. ThinkVantage continues to be one of the best recovery systems I've seen on a notebook, it's a great safety net for anyone who has ever had a catastrophic failure while on the road.Take care,
Anand
creathir - Wednesday, January 11, 2006 - link
I understand the build quality... they just feel dated to me.I would think they could revamp its looks just a LITTLE (not that it matters a WHOLE lot) and not sacrifice on the quality.
- Creathir
SLCentral - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
I'm not really sure what you don't understand. It's the CONSTRUCTION of the laptop. Not the motherboard/CPU/GPU/etc., but rather the material the case is made out of, the quality of the case, the quality of the LCD, etc., which makes Lenovo stand out.Aquila76 - Monday, January 9, 2006 - link
I liked the amount of actually usable stuff this year. A lot of times I've seen shows with 'Hey look what we can do, but we won't' type stuff.I am looking forward to the Moto BT in-ear headset, too. However, I'll always have this ever so micro subconscious feeling when I use it that I'm putting something in an orifice that really shouldn't be there for a straight man.