Why LCD is catching up, new “glass-only” flat screens, and the new must-have notebook feature.
The “world’s biggest electronics show” is only mid-way and already we’ve had some giant tech gimmicks, including the world’s biggest plasma (a 3.8m Panasonic giant), a 1-Terabyte Laptop, Intel’s vision for GPS-equipped mobile computing, and Bill Gates’ musings on life after Microsoft.
Amidst the 1.8million square feet of gadgets, a few things are clear – the line is rapidly blurring between phones and ultraportable computers, GPS is appearing everywhere, voice recognition is (slowly) on the way, and wireless connectivity will be key, whether it’s for TVs, PDAS, phones, or notebooks.
Here is our list of some of the most exciting products and trends on show across the first of 5 major categories:
Plasma vs LCD
Fujitsu may have backed out of the plasma race recently but if you were thinking of crossing plasma off your shopping list, think again. If CES is anything to go by, the war between LCD and Plasma is showing no signs of dying down.
While most of the hype has been about LCD – including’s Toshiba’s huge haul of 20 new LCDs – some vendors are pushing plasma. Example: Perhaps vying for Sony’s style-icon status, LG has also unveiled the PG60, a 180Hz plasma which has a “frameless” glass screen, for that oh-so minimalist look. LG is also pushing the PG70 plasma, which can can now stream Full HD wirelessly.
Meantime, LCD is truly catching up with plasma, at least in terms of features. LCD has exploded at CES, with new wireless screens and 120Hz models appearing from vendors across the industry. Sports fans in particular should be re-considering LCD, with screens like Toshiba’s Regza XV540 Series setting the bar with 120Hz refresh rates, and up to 52inches.
Screens are also getting thinner – the “glass-only” LG PG60 is one example, but others are shrinking the size of the panel itself. Toshiba is also claiming the record for the thinnest commercially available LCD bezel, at 0.9inches for the Cinema Series Regza XF550 – and the entire panel is reportedly less than 25mm thick. It’s no OLED screen, but until OLED comes down in price, LCD is a better bet than ever for your wall.
Notebooks
The big news is the update to ASUS’ incredibly popular cut-price EeePC, the Linux laptop which grabbed attention last year for its incredible combination of low price ($499) and tiny size (sub 1Kg).
The rumour mill was in overdrive at time of writing, but the most-touted outcome is for a new larger screen size at 8.9inches. We spoke to ASUS at length about new products, but all they’ll let slip now is their WiMax discussions with Intel. ASUS has already held events at CES to discuss WiMax, which we applaud, although given the lack of WiMax in Australia, we predict most Australians will be stuck with WiFi for the moment. We’ll bring you more updates on the new EeePC as it’s released.
Another notebook technology making waves at CES 2008 are solid state drives – the ultra-fast, low power drives that promise to save space and battery life in tiny laptops like the eeePC and Toshiba’s (rather more expensive) R500 ultraportables. CES adds a number of new models to the mix, although the capacity is still disappointingly low, including a 32GB drive in the upcoming luxury U2E notebook from ASUS.
There are bigger SSD capacities on the horizon. Toshiba is showing off a whopping 128GB drive in Vegas this week (price not announced, and we shudder to think). It’s 1.8inch form means it’s ultraportable friendly, and the official specs boast maximum read and write speeds of 100MB a second and 40MB a second. In related news, Lenovo’s yet-to-be released 11.1inch U110 Ideapad will reportedly come with a solid state option – Lenovo has not announced capacity, but reports online state a 160GB capacity. If that’s solid state (we’ll need to confirm this), then we’ll finally be looking at enough capacity for spreadsheets and your iTunes collection.
Next up, next-generation GPS, a 5-megapixel phone and more.